Pros
Providence Hospice of Seattle was bought by Compassus, and it's marketed as a "joint venture." The remaining old PHOS staff are talented, smart, and dedicated hospice clinicians. The clinicians and local managers who are left from PHOS go above and beyond to provide good care to patients, in the most adverse circumstances I've ever seen in my 20-year career in healthcare.
Kontras
After many years of service to Providence Hospice of Seattle, I fled from the Compassus takeover. Let's be clear, this is NOT a joint venture with Providence. Providence abandoned their staff on 5/1/25. Compassus did little to nothing to support operations. We didn't have mail service, access to clinician PPE, or adequate training for the EMR, supply, DME and med delivery. It was like providing healthcare in a disaster zone, except we BEGGED for help. We worked 12-18 hour days, driving all of King and Pierce counties with insurmountable (and preventable) barriers to effectively provide hospice care. Patients and families complained about the palpable shift in our quality-of-care post take over and our reports of this internally was met with silence or finding a way to somehow blame Providence who was clearly not in the picture anymore. Staff ran themselves into the ground to "make this work" in spite of Compassus' failings. Most of the old PHOS employees are gone and the ones still present have been battered. There was dishonesty from the beginning about what they would offer the agency and community at large. Staff are run into the ground with little care or respect by Compassus executive leadership about their well-being. The technology that they promote is basic with limited functionality. They make boasts about using AI to support documentation. It sounds good to stakeholders, but it's a means to pile more work onto field staff with increased productivity expectations and running a leaner fiscal model so stakeholder stocks go up. They don't actually respond to real concerns about legitimate access to basic technology for field clinicians, nor do they invest in efficient equipment for their employees. Clinicians voiced concern about obtaining meds, PPE, supplies and DME in a safe and timely manner, REPEATEDLY. While some of these things have improved a tiny bit because the staff have fought to keep going, it's been at a brutal cost to the organization and the individual employees (and now former employees.) There was no real onsite guidance or leadership during the WA roll out. Concerns were fielded by middle management from the south and midwest offices who responded with canned answers, much of it spinning a tail about how the fault or barrier was in local leadership. There is a blame and deflect culture. Staff and local managers were battered, gaslit and abused. When Compassus showed up for a town hall meeting months later, they told staff they were "unaware" of the concerns. This is a blatant lie. Staff filled out surveys, made reports to their compliance line, and managers begged for help. By all appearances, it seems as if this joint venture is yet another way for a private equity firm to drain assets of a failing company while abusing their employees, until it fails. There are good people in pockets throughout the company and while they appear genuine in their faith in the company and the purported mission, they are detached from the reality of these takeovers, and repeat whatever rhetoric has been given to them. It is also telling that most staff from IT to "trainers" to leadership positions have only worked there a few years. The ones who have worked there longer and think it's a fine company to work for are in a silo and are also being gaslit about what's happening in other regions. They send internal newsletters that showcase the warm and fuzzy things they're doing. I'm sure there is a kernel of truth to the story, but it's a complete distraction from what they're actually doing to agencies in these takeovers. When you leave, they refer to your resignation as "termination." Part of the "termination paperwork" is a form you are asked to sign informing if you were aware of illegal activity as part of your employment at Compassus. RED FLAG! Do yourself a favor, avoid employment at Compassus. Look into how private equity firms ruin companies after draining their assets. Look into the lawsuits and fines that Compassus has paid out across the country. They're getting away with it by creating these "new business licenses" and turning over staff. I don't know how they get away with it, but it feels like it's as ethical as a Ponzi scheme.
