Somnia Docs

[AwakeinSeattle]

We have an anesthesiologist, who formerly worked for Somnia, applying for a position with our practice. What we are concerned about is the character of a person who would work for a company like Somnia given the history of the company being predatory. Our concerns are essentially whether the person would make a trustworthy partner?

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[imfrankie]

We have an anesthesiologist, who formerly worked for Somnia, applying for a position with our practice. What we are concerned about is the character of a person who would work for a company like Somnia given the history of the company being predatory. Our concerns are essentially whether the person would make a trustworthy partner?

You must be kidding, what is your question?

 

[pgg]

We have an anesthesiologist, who formerly worked for Somnia, applying for a position with our practice. What we are concerned about is the character of a person who would work for a company like Somnia given the history of the company being predatory. Our concerns are essentially whether the person would make a trustworthy partner?

Are you serious?

Honestly, I think I might actually rather work for a predatory AMC than a bunch of guys who had the gall to question my character over such a thing.

At least a predatory AMC is behaving rationally.

 

[deleted126335]

Are you serious?

Honestly, I think I might actually rather work for a predatory AMC than a bunch of guys who had the gall to question my character over such a thing.

At least a predatory AMC is behaving rationally.

 

[AwakeinSeattle]

Are you serious?

Honestly, I think I might actually rather work for a predatory AMC than a bunch of guys who had the gall to question my character over such a thing.

At least a predatory AMC is behaving rationally.

The question of character is important when looking for future partners. When a person goes into mercenary mode, it doesn't seem to bode well for them in a team cohesive environment. With the coming payment structure, anesthesiology groups that can compete as a team and trust each other will fare well.

 

[pgg]

The question of character is important when looking for future partners.

Of course. I thought that was what references and interviews were for.

Are you offering full partnership from day 1? If not, surely that's what your year+ partnership track is meant to evaluate.

When a person goes into mercenary mode, it doesn't seem to bode well for them in a team cohesive environment. With the coming payment structure, anesthesiology groups that can compete as a team and trust each other will fare well.

Mercenary mode?

Can you identify something specifically unethical that he did? Not everybody has the freedom to be real picky about their employer. Lots of people put up with temporary jobs they don't especially like because of family considerations or geographic restrictions.


What are you really trying to do? Find a future partner, or make some kind of political statement about blacklisting people who used to work for AMCs?

 

[deleted126335]

The question of character is important when looking for future partners. When a person goes into mercenary mode, it doesn't seem to bode well for them in a team cohesive environment. With the coming payment structure, anesthesiology groups that can compete as a team and trust each other will fare well.

First post. Troll or idiot. Not sure which yet.

 

[cincincyreds]

Seems like a little bit of a silly question. People sign up for jobs cause they want to make some money to eat. If it is with Somnia, so what? What does Somnia and someone's character have to do with each other? I am kind of curious as to your answer about this. Just check out the references as any good employer should do.

 

[imfrankie]

The Rohrschach is reflected in the eyes of the beholder

A. What to make of that someone who quit the sleezy organization?
B. What to make of that someone who joined the sleezy organization?

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

Never heard of this group till now.

What makes this group "sleezy"?

 

[gtb]

The only Somnia gig within the Seattle area is Providence Everett hospital, where the CRNA providers are completely independent and unsupervised by anesthesiologists. Anesthesiologists do their own cases, but do not supervise the midlevels (from what I hear). So, it seems you'd be interviewing someone with good experience, and the good judgement to find another employer beside Somnia.

 

[Gern Blansten]

Reminds me of a quote that I have modified for the scenario:

I would never want to be a member of an anesthesiology group that would sink so low as to have me as a member.

 

[urge]

We have an anesthesiologist, who formerly worked for Somnia, applying for a position with our practice. What we are concerned about is the character of a person who would work for a company like Somnia given the history of the company being predatory. Our concerns are essentially whether the person would make a trustworthy partner?

This has to be the crazies post I have ever seen.

The guy needed a job and he took it. What is wrong with that?

 

[cchoukal]

This has to be the crazies post I have ever seen.

The guy needed a job and he took it. What is wrong with that?

Agreed. I don't think we should harsh the OP too much, but I think s/he would get a lot farther asking the applicant why s/he joined/quit Somnia and what s/he thought about what companies like Somnia do to the market.

 

[AwakeinSeattle]

First post. Troll or idiot. Not sure which yet.

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum! I thought I had a legitimate question regarding an issue that our group is grappling with, and was looking to see what the ideas and opinions of the membership is.

Don't know what you mean by troll.

 

[Mman]

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum! I thought I had a legitimate question regarding an issue that our group is grappling with, and was looking to see what the ideas and opinions of the membership is.

Don't know what you mean by troll.

The bottom line is you don't know why somebody took a job in the first place. And you really can't call someone a mercenary when they work for a big anesthesia company because you know they aren't getting paid much. They used to work for Somnia and now looking for something better. I can't imagine that would influence your decision to hire or not. I'd be more worried about their personal character, personality, and skill set.


A red flag in hiring is an individual that has had lots of different jobs in a relatively short time period. But any individual job itself is not a red flag. As already mentioned in the thread, people take jobs for all kinds of reasons (geographic, personal, professional, etc), and you can't hold who they worked for in the past against them.

 

[periopdoc]

As someone who considered a job with Somnia at Prov Everett, I can tell you that it isn't the "worker bees" there that you have to worry about. There were some very well trained, quality anesthesiologists who arrived there for a variety of reasons.

Prov Everett is a great hospital with a surprisingly large reputation nationally given how small of a town it is located in. This is largely because of the Businessweek article in Jan. 2010.

I interviewed there and would likely have hired on if the Somnia administration weren't such jerks to work with. It was the closest thing to my ideal job that I found (good combination of cardiac and neuro with no OB and a cardiac group that was really interested in group improvement). They offered a reasonable salary (for the location) and reasonable benefits. My wife really wanted to remain in the Seattle area, and Somnia was the only one at the time who definitively had openings. There are compromises to every job that you take, and I would have gone in holding my nose about the management structure.

There is a prominent anesthesiologist in Seattle who interviewed with them. He is a guy that any practice would scoop up in a heartbeat. He decided to not go with them for the same reasons that I did.

I know another guy that ended up there because he was duped into a job in the SE where he ended up being nothing more than a rubber stamp for the CRNA's in a non opt-out state. He was desperate to get out of the situation that he was in and Somnia was hiring so he went there temporarily.

I know of a doc or two who were not creme of the crop and landed jobs at Somnia because Somnia would hire just about any warm body. They are still trying to recruit me.

Like I say, it isn't the worker bees I would worry about. You need to evaluate their reasons for hiring on and their reasons for leaving the same as you would with any other applicant. Their association with Somnia doesn't automatically equate to an endorsement of their business practices.

Now if it were one of the two local managing anesthesiologists, I would be very wary. They are sellouts of the worst sort. They both left very lucrative jobs to join the Somnia group and do whatever it is that they do. Their actions are a direct endorsement of the business model.

Just my humble opinion although I understand the concern.

- pod

 

[AwakeinSeattle]

As someone who considered a job with Somnia at Prov Everett, I can tell you that it isn't the "worker bees" there that you have to worry about. There were some very well trained, quality anesthesiologists who arrived there for a variety of reasons.

Prov Everett is a great hospital with a surprisingly large reputation nationally given how small of a town it is located in. This is largely because of the Businessweek article in Jan. 2010.

I interviewed there and would likely have hired on if the Somnia administration weren't such jerks to work with. It was the closest thing to my ideal job that I found (good combination of cardiac and neuro with no OB and a cardiac group that was really interested in group improvement). They offered a reasonable salary (for the location) and reasonable benefits. My wife really wanted to remain in the Seattle area, and Somnia was the only one at the time who definitively had openings. There are compromises to every job that you take, and I would have gone in holding my nose about the management structure.

There is a prominent anesthesiologist in Seattle who interviewed with them. He is a guy that any practice would scoop up in a heartbeat. He decided to not go with them for the same reasons that I did.

I know another guy that ended up there because he was duped into a job in the SE where he ended up being nothing more than a rubber stamp for the CRNA's in a non opt-out state. He was desperate to get out of the situation that he was in and Somnia was hiring so he went there temporarily.

I know of a doc or two who were not creme of the crop and landed jobs at Somnia because Somnia would hire just about any warm body. They are still trying to recruit me.

Like I say, it isn't the worker bees I would worry about. You need to evaluate their reasons for hiring on and their reasons for leaving the same as you would with any other applicant. Their association with Somnia doesn't automatically equate to an endorsement of their business practices.

Now if it were one of the two local managing anesthesiologists, I would be very wary. They are sellouts of the worst sort. They both left very lucrative jobs to join the Somnia group and do whatever it is that they do. Their actions are a direct endorsement of the business model.

Just my humble opinion although I understand the concern.

- pod

This is the kind of information I was looking for. Thanks for your honest and candid opinion!

 

[MTGas2B]

I'm in agreement with POD. The Seattle job market isn't the kind of place with lots of openings. When Somnia moved to town it displaced a large number of sharp, seasoned anesthesiologist from the previous group at Prov who other groups tried to scoop up, plus a few years prior a shake up the group at Northwest hospital put another bolus of anesthesiologist on the market who also were picked up by other local groups. If someone had ties to the region and had to stick around the options can be thin. Somnia may have been the only option at the time for someone in that boat.