Speaking on the production coding team specifically, when I was working for them, the pay rate was laughable. The production coders are paid per chart, and often many of the facilities they code for are paying less than $1 per chart. These pay rates are negotiated with the medical facility and Ventra, not the coders so there is no room whatsoever to negotiate higher pay, even if you've been coding the same contract for years. You also have no say in what facilities you are assigned to. Two contracts I worked on, only paid me $0.84 per chart coded and $0.79 per chart. They had high production quotas (25 charts per hour for ED charts). That means I was making at least $19.75 per hour - with 12 yrs of coding experience, that pay rate is pathetic. I was making that back when I was 5 years into my coding career. In order to make more money, you have to code faster and in turn risk reducing your accuracy and therefore risking your audit score. So you're stuck between a rock and a hard place. Plus, humans can only code so fast.
The company also required coders to maintain audit scores above 95% to avoid losing your job. This is pretty much an industry standard, but with such high quotas and such low pay rate, it can be difficult for some to hit those high audit scores and still be excited about work. If you consistently got 97% or higher on the audit reports, they'd give you little bonus every quarter. The bonus was not much at all either. If you "failed" an audit by scoring lower than 95%, the company can decide to put you into a "probation period" and audit 100% of your charts until you get back up to 95% or fire you.....but when they audit you normally, they only sample 2% of your total charts coded....makes no sense why they do that. The supervisors are nice, but they are essentially glorified time watchers. They are constantly instant messaging people to check in and that cuts into your coding time cause you have to take your focus off the chart you're coding to respond to their message, and then get back into the focused mindset you were in. This cuts into production. Production coders don't need micromanagers.
The company also made it close to impossible for me to request time off. I was told only 1 person on a team could be off on any given day - however, there was at least 4 instances where 2+ coders on my team were absent the same day(s) leading me to believe the company fosters a toxic cherry-picking attitude towards who gets to follow the rules and who doesn't.
Lastly, I lucked out with my manager but I worked under another one for some time and it was a nightmare. They actually yelled at me through intra-office IM. I was smart enough not to take it personally because I knew this person was dealing with some personal family issues at the time, but it's still absolutely no excuse for treating your subordinates like trash. I vividly remember crying to my partner about how it made me feel and I have never cried about work before I came to Ventra.
