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From the doc: LifeStance provides advances to clinicians who expect to eventually reach the company’s lofty compensation promises. This often results in burdens

From the doc: LifeStance provides advances to clinicians who expect to eventually reach the company’s lofty compensation promises. This often results in burdensome debt when expectations fall short. One former LifeStance manager described the situation as “a crappy thing, to owe your employer money.”

derbOac 3y ago
This is so messed up. It shouldn't happen. If a company thinks some compensation is warranted, it should be given as pay, period. Sometimes I'm amazed at what contemporary society thinks is reasonable in terms of compensation norms. This is obviously extreme if true but it's like the US has been collectively brainwashed in terms of merit, pay, and compensation practices.
- simple10 3y ago
  I've been seeing this model popup a lot in the lead gen space. Practitioners pay a fee to be part of a network with the promise of getting a steady stream of clients. Lifestance took it to a new level with practitioners being employees and then not delivering on the promise.
NickC25 3y ago
And this is the type of shit that should have been snuffed out during the IPO vetting process, and something VC firms with any brains at all would have taken a huge objection to before investing. "So, your whole business model is effectively a digital pill mill for ADHD stimulants and antidepressants, and the mechanism for service delivery involves putting your service providers into debt so they can cut corner after corner to get more and more people taking this medication faster than if a customer went through the traditional evaluation-and-prescription model with a real doctor?" Yeah, that's fucking dumb. I'd nope out of that so quickly. ADHD pills are over prescribed (often to the wrong people), and that's super dangerous. I have pretty severe ADHD and even I don't think these pills should proliferate as much as they have society-wide.

derbOac 3y ago

This is so messed up. It shouldn't happen. If a company thinks some compensation is warranted, it should be given as pay, period. Sometimes I'm amazed at what contemporary society thinks is reasonable in terms of compensation norms. This is obviously extreme if true but it's like the US has been collectively brainwashed in terms of merit, pay, and compensation practices.

simple10 3y ago
I've been seeing this model popup a lot in the lead gen space. Practitioners pay a fee to be part of a network with the promise of getting a steady stream of clients. Lifestance took it to a new level with practitioners being employees and then not delivering on the promise.

NickC25 3y ago

And this is the type of shit that should have been snuffed out during the IPO vetting process, and something VC firms with any brains at all would have taken a huge objection to before investing. "So, your whole business model is effectively a digital pill mill for ADHD stimulants and antidepressants, and the mechanism for service delivery involves putting your service providers into debt so they can cut corner after corner to get more and more people taking this medication faster than if a customer went through the traditional evaluation-and-prescription model with a real doctor?" Yeah, that's fucking dumb. I'd nope out of that so quickly. ADHD pills are over prescribed (often to the wrong people), and that's super dangerous. I have pretty severe ADHD and even I don't think these pills should proliferate as much as they have society-wide.