A therapist is “guardedly optimistic” the health care giant is taking the shortage seriously, and the union says Kaiser may now realize it must invest billions to comply with the law.
A California settlement compels the state’s largest health care provider to spend $150 million on behavioral health services.
Once known for strong employee-management relations, its workers now say staffing and pay need to rise to attract and retain the staff Kaiser needs.
While it ponders ambitious new laws to improve mental health, California could strengthen what’s already on the books.
After 10 weeks of workers walking the picket line, core issues regarding patient care remain unresolved.
Legislators struggle to make good intentions mean something in the face of lax enforcement.
In the second month of the Bay Area strike, HMO says a majority of union clinicians have returned to work.
A quarter of 1,500 Kaiser clinicians surveyed in California said they had patients who could not access care in their primary language.
Striking Kaiser Permanente mental health workers say children may suffer even more than adults from delays in treatment.
Economists say fines are far cheaper than hiring staff. Kaiser says the union creates crises.
The HMO needs to hire more clinicians to ensure that patients wait no more than the legally mandated 10 days between appointments, says veteran therapist.
Striking Kaiser therapist says patients stuck without appointments ‘don’t have that backup.’
Her patients are waiting months for therapy. ‘This strike is not about money,’ says Sacramento therapist Jane Kostka.
Long waits for care, understaffing lead 2,000 workers to give walkout notice.
With the health giant again under scrutiny by California regulators for alleged denial of care, many therapists are leaving for private practice.
The sweetheart deal cut with the largest managed-care organization in California may have some messy implications.
Union members say a long-running partnership between Kaiser employees and management is under attack.
For Kaiser member Victor Gomez, getting help meant going out of network.
Critics accuse the medical provider of not matching the level of its treatment of mental illnesses with that of its care for physical health.
Co-published by Fast Company
Mark Kreidler speaks to Jenny Wong-Swanson, a Kaiser Permanente nurse in Woodland Hills, about the pandemic’s explosion.