customer service representative

project manager

patient services representative

medical clerk

director of recruiting

TriWest Healthcare Alliance

There has never been a moment in my eight total years at TriWest Healthcare Alliance that I wasn’t aware of the actual people we serve, one of whom is my own son.  Half of my family has served in the military.  My aunt is a career Air Force nurse and Vietnam Veteran, who uses the services we provide.  My father is currently a resident in at that Richard M. Campbell Veterans Nursing Home in Anderson, SC.  I know the people we serve.  I make a strong connection with the results of our work and the people we serve.  I wish I felt proud of the results we provide them like I did when we served in TriCare.
I worked for TriWest for seven years before the previous company closed.  I enjoyed working there on those years.  The mission of the company was clear, and the company truly cared about the veterans and their employees.  I was truly looking forward to being back, but I soon realized that the leadership was really ineffective:  lack of resources to do my job, multiplied inefficiencies (coming from leadership), and slow and cumbersome technology.  
There is an overwhelming culture of defeat and/or failure.  Any kind of praise or encouragement is nonexistent.  Of course, when something goes wrong, we hear all about it immediately.  At the end of each day you leave work feeling worthless and defeated.  The culture of blame is so pervasive that workers spend more time doing CYA and protecting their turf than concentrating on doing their job.  C Level leadership and their immediate reports never accept responsibility for their decisions.  C level leadership and their consultants can check off their transactions and walk away to leave middle management and workers to suffer the blame and consequences of bad executive decisions.  The weight of blame for their failures fall on the people who have to work with their projects and recommendations.  From there, the blame begins.  The saying is, “cr*p always travels downhill.”  The evidence of that phenomenon is the continually high attrition of the workers at the bottom of the hill.   The workers at the bottom have no recourse but to do what they are told to do and then the blame rests with them.
TriWest Healthcare Alliance has a culture that celebrates mediocrity while forbidding or even punishing innovation.  The project management emphasis on collaboration, while failing to recognize competence, will always create results no greater than the lowest common denominator in the group.  Since I am an innovator, and this is the overwhelming culture of TriWest Healthcare Alliance, there is nothing this company could do to keep me here.

● Work-life balance
I was told that I was being hired as a lead because I had Medical Office experience as a medical assistant.  I got there, and I was not a lead, I had been demoted and my pay adjusted down by $3/hr. but I needed a job so I took it. 

Then we are in our training class, and everyone keeps asking me questions because I am the only one who understands because I am one of the few who has worked with this type of program before, plus all the medical terms; so I end up training just about everybody on my team and others. 

Then. a couple of us were talking one day and some girl butts in giving me attitude, telling me to watch my mouth and getting super nasty with me; and I was reprimanded for my private conversation about sports that someone else inserted themselves into. 

The final straw was an interview for a promotion in which I was told by everyone they liked me and I was a shoe in. My supervisor at the time was jealous of me, because she had no medical background, her experience was in cable television,  so she did not want me promoted in her team as she was afraid I would take her job. She was right I would have. 

I left there, not by my decision,  they asked me to go, I happily obliged. My supervisor said she didn't want to hear anything about our personal issues/lives and why we would need time off, (I had recently asked for 2 hours to have a biopsy done on a growth on my chest that turned out to be cancerous). This was the best thing that could have ever happened.  

Not only did I get to leave there and go on to something much better and more fulfilling. my supervisor,  her supervisor,  and the VP I all know on a personal basis and they actually care when I am off for medical leave. They care when something happens in my family, they worry about my mental health, they lift me up and encourage me to grow.  Sometimes the grass is greener!

● Pay & benefits
They did do a bait and switch on me said I'd be getting $18 but gave me $15

● Job security and advancement
They will let you go if you don't fit in with the main clique

● Management
They aren't helpful. Some don't even have a healthcare background let alone an understanding of what it's like to be military.

● Culture
Super clique-y and cutthroat

● Overall
If you are looking security, you won't find it here. If you don't fit in with the clique you're out. And don't expect the managers to know anything about the military or healthcare, or the benefits, most of them come from random backgrounds

I loved working at TriWest as the atmosphere was one of dignity and respect.  I only wish it hadn't ended.  
A typical work day as a customer service representative in call center environment was what you would usually find except the beneficiaries and providers were mostly active duty or retired armed forces individuals and or family members.  The encounters and calls were those if you can imagine to be like in a military setting as they were to the point, very polite,  dignified, professional and respectful.  

Also, my coworkers were willing to be of assistance to anyone who was in need with enthusiasm. 

Meeting the monthly DoD (Department of Defense) contract standards was one of high concerns.  However I would point out my first and foremost concern was to meet the needs of our beneficiaries.  The providers as well so they could care for the beneficiaries needs too.  I cared for them as though a member of my own family and when applicable see they were always treated as such by others as well.  Next to this concern was meeting the DoD monthly contract standards set in place which were indicated  through scorecard figures.  These figures were made available to each representative not only on a monthly basis but also a daily basis throughout each work day via emails through supervisors showing the latest and most current results up to the minute.  In my opinion this was a very helpful and effective tool in meeting DoD contract standards. 

Successfully addressing a complicated case and overcoming an obstacle whether its depicting an error or maybe doing some research and find if or where there is a miscommunication or maybe  figuring where the error was in documentation, etc. and correcting which ever it was, thus enabling the patient to get the care they need. This being very rewarding and probably among one of the most enjoyable parts of this job. 

The only bright side or positive to the CAS position is that it is work from home. However the offering pay rate varies based on the city you live in. It makes absolutely no sense how they determine the pay though. For a larger metro area they actually pay less as opposed to smaller cities. For instance, people working in Texas make less than people in Missouri. Odd. You only make a decent enough amount of money to get by if you work tons of overtime which negates any work life balance you’d hope to have. The position itself is pretty much a dead end position. They like to brag about possibility for promotion but even though it’s work from home they are very clannish and you’re not getting promoted unless you’re  among the management teams favorite. Also this is probably the worst health insurance coverage I’ve ever had and I’ve worked for temp agencies before. The health plan is one hundred dollars pay period for just a single person and that’s on a plan with a one thousand deductible and a six thousand dollar out of pocket. And that’s the top tier plan they offer. Management is condescending and borderline rude. Actually they’re just rude. You’ll receive multiple emails throughout the day advising of changes to protocols and before you’ve completely read that email you’re reading another email changing that very same process. Also I’ve notified the management staff does not want input from the actual staff doing the work. They don’t want to hear about trending errors you see even though it can improve processes and alert them to issues that affect work. I don’t see this as a long term position because the management is poor and they don’t treat employees well and there is a huge pressure on you to “make your numbers” however the daily goal is absurd considering frequent system outages and the errors in documents. Fast food places would be less stressful and you’d probably make as much or more.

I am young as I have just graduated high school, and over that summer, I had gotten the job offer. I got to training and the first thing that everybody learned was that the building was under contract! HUH?? Nobody that was new was aware of that as nothing regarding a contract was mentioned during the interview nor orientation. Other than that, I thought training was a good atmosphere, with an hour long lunch! A lot of the training in the classroom was pretty irrelevant to the work on the production floor, such as how to work the phone, all of the documents that are actually needed, and the different systems we used. The people are nice, while others are loud, but I like to keep myself so no biggie. Overall it's a great job with good pay, especially for my young age. They are always hiring and bringing new people due to the turnover here. I would say out of the 35 people in my training class, I've SEEN about 15 or so of them... not good at all. now that I'm on the floor, a typical day at work includes getting a call and helping them out the best way that I can. A lot of times there is miscommunication which really makes people upset which they take it out on the Rep. Now time for lunch, only 30 minutes which really only feels like 15 due to there being a lot of people at once. Good luck at the microwave! As for management, I feel like if you ask a manager or a supervisor anything, it's always something different from each one. My supervisor is really great and helpful and he's there when we need him. And as for policy and protocol; these are contently changing overnight and the company expects us to just keep adapting to them which is getting really annoying.

I left a stable position in a hospital clinic to take the work at home role with Triwest. During the hiring process they dropped the ball and didn't send my equipment. After several emails and phone calls from me, I finally received it. That delayed my start date by almost 2 months. Once training was over, the person who was supposed to be my supervisor per the email received, wasn't. They had a new supervisor step in who we met via company chat. After the first 6 months the company lost a major contract, and from there everything went downhill quickly. We were in several trainings for various roles to help clean up a mess from the old contract, once that was over everyday a new assignment was issued to spread out any work. At the beginning of 2020, Covid hit hard and most of us were furloughed. No meetings or warnings, I logged in one morning and checked my email as usual only to find out that I was being furloughed effective immediately. I was told to sign documents, shut down the computer and wait for any further updates that would be sent to my personal email account. That happened in April. June comes and I received an email informing me that my position was being terminated. During this time, thankfully I received unemployment and a tiny severance equal to 1 months pay. I spent a total of 1 year with Triwest. I wouldn't recommend this company at all, as they are unstable. To my knowledge there were few states who continued employment with that company, but only in office. I also know a small handful of people that I was hired with who got to keep their positions due to them being in the region Triwest served. 

This is a horrible place to work. Attrition is high. Morale is low. Dysfunction is rampant. Where to begin with this place. Lets start with inferior computer network. This place has one of the worst IT systems I have ever seen. It literally can take up to 10-12 seconds just to move from one tab to the next within the same application. Saving something? The same time frame. Their answer to this? Logoff and back on during your breaks and lunches to reset the memory usage otherwise your desktop might crash on you and then you spend the next 45 minutes waiting to get chewed out by IT. Does that sound right to you? Spend our break time rebooting their system? How about shortened training because they say it really is so complicated that you just need to be out there on the floor to learn. Then when you are out there on the floor and ask a question, "Didn't you learn this in class?" Oh and did I mention that the person who trains you in class never actually has ever taken a call using these procedures or applications. How well do you think that helped us who absolutely never used these applications or took a call for this company? No more than a 2 minute hold time. Then get dinged on a QA for being at 1:53 seconds. Ahh well, you can do better. Just suck it up. So what if the system moves slow. Don't ever put in notes a TeamLead said this or a supervisor said that because that means you didnt take ownership of the call and  you fail. I could go on an on about the dysfunction. They beg you not to quit, but do everything they can to make you consider it. They really don't care about serving veterans, they only care about serving themselves. Don't believe the hype.

I've worked here for almost two years. I was promoted very quickly and I am in the lowest form of supervisory position - Team Lead. I'm generally over a team of about 8-16 people. 

The systems are extremely slow, making it extremely difficult to meet the strict goals and advance within the company - or even take care of the callers. It's normal for the computer to utterly freeze up or even shut down while you're on a call. 

I was in Inbound, meaning that my team took incoming calls. We were forever patching or triaging mistakes or emergencies. It was hard to trust the broken processes when we would see the callers come back and tell us that the other departments weren't doing their jobs. They have a bad reputation with the public - it's hard to think their contract will be renewed this year. 

There is nothing stable about this position at all, other than it's full-time. Your shift isn't sure and the processes change almost weekly. 

The utter disregard for employees' work/life balance is appalling. It would be one thing if it was a rotational shift, but it's not. We put in shift bids and hope to God that we don't get stuck with the horrible shift. I had high senority, so I didn't have this issue, but there were at least two Supervisors and one Team Lead who almost got stuck with shifts they absolutely could not do, due to their home life. The company was going to force them into it. The Team Lead is quitting and the other Supervisors probably are as well. "I won't work for a company who won't take care of my family." - the TL.

The only reason I would recommend this job is just for you to progress from PSR to Team Lead, wait 6 months and then move on to better paid opportunities with that 6 months of supervisory experience.

I worked from 0800 to 1630 Monday through Friday. I worked as a regular Patient Service Representative whose main objective was to schedule Veterans their appointments in the community outside of the VA. I learned that with the VA's rules and regulations are constantly changing which required me to be adaptable. It taught me to be proactive and self-manageable to the work I provided by calling and scheduling appointments necessary to the need of a bigger purpose. I learned to be meticulous and thorough when reviewing documentation necessary to the patient's healthcare manageability. Triwest enabled me to be social and learn different communicative techniques when speaking to a multitude of people with different personality traits. I quickly became promoted to Team Lead only after being there for about 3 months. I was promoted for my skills as becoming a Point of Contact for all Gastroenterology Care associated with the Anchorage VAMC. The hardest part of the job is being able to multitask and to manage the workload given by creating a work flow necessary to provide results that will set you apart from the others in the Call Center. The most enjoyable experience working for Triwest is knowing that each and every day that you go into work you are making a difference in someone else's life no matter how small the significance is we are part of a bigger cause. We are managing the healthcare needs for Veterans who have made sacrifices for our Country.

If you like being micro managed; unappreciated; treated worse than a veteran; under valued; around a high turn over rate;stuck in the same position; working for upper leadership that could care less;treated like a high schooler then this is the job for YOU! If it sounds bad, it's cause it is. 

TriWest portrays that they care about the veterans but they don't care about their employees let alone the veterans. TriWest is reactive instead of proactive and hence the reason there is always a backlog.

There is ZERO flexibility when it comes to work/life balance. Supervisors like to hand out occurrences like candy. Examples: your car gets stolen and you can't come to work-occurrence. You get sick at work and taken out by ambulance-occurrence. You have a contagious disease and don't come to work-occurrence. You're stuck in traffic due to a major accident-occurrence. But the best is how TriWest "is all about the veteran" and yet we have employees whose spouses are veterans and the employees get occurrences if they are the only caretaker and need to leave work to take care of family. 

There's so much wrong with this company and when you try to voice concerns with upper leadership they genuinely don't care and will tell you if you don't like it, you can leave. But leadership is so disconnected from those doing the true work so it makes sense for their lack of empathy. If the Veterans Administration renews their contract with TriWest, it will be another setback for veterans.

You've been warned.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Customer service representative 2 salaries reported	$16.00 per hour
Project manager 4 salaries reported	$124,000 per year
Patient services representative 2 salaries reported	$15.50 per hour
Medical clerk 1 salary reported	$17.00 per hour
Director of recruiting 1 salary reported	$165,000 per year

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