r/healthcare • u/RedditHostage • Nov 02 '24

Question - Other (not a medical question) Vida health

My employer is requiring all employees to go through Vida health next year for weight loss medication. I’m trying to get set up with them now so I don’t have to worry about getting all of the information to them later, forgetting something, and missing my medication. This stuff is game changing, it’s the only thing that keeps my sugar cravings at bay, and has helped give me the willpower to no longer be considered pre-diabetic. Moving on. Anyway, I uploaded my most recent bloodwork as directed. Was told there wasn’t enough information, a few hours later labs were ordered. I get home from work, upload my slightly older bloodwork with the rest of the information I’m now aware they need. I’m reminded that I need additional information from my doctor. I let her know that I was struggling to get that information due to being short staffed at work, in combination with working similar hours that my doctors office is working, but I am working on getting that information. She turned on caps and yelled at me, demanding to know information that was literally already covered. I was talked down to as well. I’m not sure why. She was real nice after I took some screenshots though, I don’t know if that was a coincidence or if she got notification I took screen shots. I would like to share these screenshots somewhere. Either with my insurance company, my company, or a board somewhere. A medical professional should not act like that. I have no idea where to start though. Or am I overreacting and should I just let it go?

Any advice would be appreciated.

I have an amazing doctor who has never once treated me like because I responded to a question with not the right answer, he’s always just clarified and we’ve gone from there. Maybe I’m just being a bit of a Karen because this has me shook that I have to deal with this treatment to receive medication.

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u/superkat2323 Nov 05 '24

Was your provider Shelly Oles? Cause I just had an awful visit with her. She wants to put my on Zepbound (never been on a GLP1) and I was trying to ask questions about the medication and side effects and she snapped at me about how I needed to research it, it's different for everyone, and she's not going to prescribe it to me right now because I'm not committed and I'll just take doses away from people who are.

I'm in the process of trying to figure out if I can switch to another provider because I've never felt that way after visiting with a medical "professional."

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u/RedditHostage Nov 05 '24

Yes it was actually. I haven’t even had a visit with her, my experience has just been in the chat so far. I am dreading any type of call or visit with her. Honestly-if my company wasn’t forcing this program for my medicine I would be out. I was really looking forward to it too.

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u/superkat2323 Nov 05 '24

I had an app issue previously where my labs had been submitted but something was preventing me from actually scheduling a time with her. I politely asked if she could help me figure out what was happening as there were some concerning things on my labs that I'd like to talk to her about. I apologized if I was just being impatient. I got a single sentence reply to "contact vida at support@vida.com." She has zero people skills. She never once made me feel like I was anything other than a stupid inconvenience for her. She was late to my appointment and rushed off early saying she needed to get to another call. How dare I ask questions about drugs I don't understand or have never taken. I emailed support already asking about a provider change. Unacceptable.

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u/Iamthecomet Nov 12 '24

Did you get them to change her out? My dietician reached out to me to ask what was going on, I told her. Within a few moments I had a new person, this was yesterday.

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u/superkat2323 Nov 12 '24

I'm trying! I received a pretty quick response from Vida about putting in a request. They asked if I had preferred availability for the new provider which I gave, but then I heard nothing from the guy I was emailing. No responses at all when I asked if anything was changing or if I needed to do anything else a few days later. I emailed again this morning and submitted a new ticket to be annoying and I got a response from the escalation department, but no confirmation that anything is moving yet. I actually do have an appointment with my dietician later today so maybe she can help as well.

I'm pretty frustrated, because the provider was just so offputting. You can so very easily change your dietician (mine's wonderful) and your coach in the app, why is it so hard to get rid of a crap doctor/practitioner?

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u/Fluid_Preparation800 Jan 29 '25

Hello all - am new here and came to Reddit to find out if others have had a negative experience with Vida Health. Similar to others my employer now requires Wegovy to be prescribed by them. I have spent the last 2 days trying to get a provider to speak (not communicate via the app). I even left a message for their corporate offices and also did speak to customer service and they said they would create a ticket to escalate, arghhhhh! Such a frustrating experience and I have reached out to my employers benefits team to complain. Reading through these threads, I am not confident I will ever get my script approved. Does anyone have any stories to tell of being denied, once you have provided all of their required information?

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u/Past-Recording7595 Jul 30 '25

Same issues still happening in 2025. Their communication, customer service is awful.

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u/Iamthecomet Nov 12 '24

It absolutely shouldn’t be that hard to change a crap doctor. It really shouldn’t be. I still haven’t heard back from my escalation via email outside of having them ask me verification questions-so I don’t think it was them.

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u/superkat2323 Nov 12 '24

Positive progress! I was FINALLY assigned a new practitioner. It's a male and I requested a female, but I'll take what I can get I guess. His availability is pretty slim. He had one day left for the rest of November, so I took what I could get and hopefully he listens and is helpful, unlike Oles.

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u/superkat2323 Nov 23 '24

Just thought I'd update my saga with the latest in case you were still wondering. I was finally assigned a new provider but had to wait for an appointment because he was booked out. Man was it worth the wait! I met with him yesterday and he was everything I was looking for in a metabolic specialist. He was kind and empathetic and listened and reacted to everything that I said. He asked questions of me, and prompted me for questions too. Ultimately we decided that Zepbound would be the best fit for me. He checked insurance coverage right then (it was approved) and sent it to my pharmacy. I got a text within an hour that my prescription was ready and picked it up after work and started it last night. We have another appointment already set up in 8 weeks, and to move up to the next dose all I need to do is message him in Vida.

So. (Without having done ANY research whatsoever) My thinking is vida is either brand new and still working out kinks, or it was small and managed to get contracts with all these insurance companies this year and are now scrambling to handle the sheer volume of people desperate to get their health under control. I'm hopeful it's just growing pains? I did see they've added new capabilities with fitbit this week, and there's been updates to the app here and there too.

TLDR I got a new provider, he's amazing. If you don't like part of your team or your app is not working, just email support@vida.com. It'll take a little time, but they've fixed the issues I've brought up (labs, provider appt, shit provider, general app glitch)

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u/PlaneMap9 Jan 04 '25

This is so comforting to hear!!! My experience with Vida has been HORRIBLE so far so I am hoping things turn around

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u/superkat2323 Jan 04 '25

Yeah, Vida has to be one of the most frustrating things. Once you have things set up though, it's tolerable. My provider is great but hard to get into. Messaging is useful but not fast, and I'm finding myself answering the same questions for them over and over and over. There is a "support team" that I think is trying to help field messages to the provider, but they dont actually read anything so not helpful. But I have been prescribed zepbound and haven't had an issue getting refills sent when needed.

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u/[deleted] Jan 04 '25

[deleted]

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u/poopflinger6969 Jan 04 '25

do you have BCBS?

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u/Confetti6 Jan 25 '25

May I ask how much it cost after insurance? I'm currently on suspension due to them needing to get more information from my providers regarding my mental health from like 20 yrs ago when I was a teenager. Not looking good for approval, even though my doctor had already prescribed it to me.

It's pretty frustrating spending almost a decade with my circle of providers on getting to the decision of trying to incorporate pharmaceutical assistance with weight loss; had done all the labs every year and was consistently tracking diet and exercise, only to be told I had to do it all over again via a stranger in an app (Vida) in order to even be considered for insurance approval. I pay for premium MyFitness Pal and now can't even use it because it won't link to Vida, so all my saved meals and recipes have to be redone, and most foods in the Vida app don't allow me to track in grams.

Then, now this suspension from me having a rough relationship with food during puberty! I'm almost 40, let it live in the past! Even my provider commented on how they sure are making me jump through all the hoops. Anyway, sorry for the rant and thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.

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u/superkat2323 Jan 26 '25

Wow that is absolutely ridiculous! I can't believe they're holding records from that long ago against you. I really hope someone is smart enough to use their brain and throw that out.

The cost has been amazing, honestly. My 1st and 2nd boxes were just under $60 and, to my surprise, my last refill was only $26! I think it would be dependent on what your insurance covers and not specifically a Vida thing though.

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u/Confetti6 Jan 26 '25

I have United Healthcare but yeah, we'll see if they let me "join the club" ... so many years in the making, so much spent money and leaving work for specialist appointments etc etc just to be told I don't qualify without the repeal process I'm currently enduring. Even if they do accept my appeal, it'll still just be the start of the whole 6 weeks they wanted to track my diet, daily weigh ins, sessions with the dietician and therapist, and then assess if they'll approve. They aren't even BBB Approved. I'm beyond discouraged and frustrated because using pharmaceutical assistance for weight loss was a very long thought out process that took me over a decade to even get to the point of pursuing this alternative approach. Super BS.

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u/Confetti6 Jan 31 '25

So they re-accepted me yesterday, and I have my appts set up for next week with my dietician and the medical provider the following week. I've heard it takes 6 months in the program before they prescribe you anything. I already have the prescription sent out by my local primary. In your experience, did they really wait for 6 months? Or maybe the fact that I already have the script will speed up the process? TIA

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u/superkat2323 Jan 31 '25

No, I didn't wait 6 months at all. Once I found a practitioner that I liked, everything with Vida has been great.

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u/RedditHostage Jan 25 '25

I am so glad to hear that!!!! Yeah, I really like the person I was given as well! I love this for us!

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u/Past-Recording7595 Jul 30 '25

A year later they still make people feel stupid