The complaint, filed with state regulators by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, targets Kaiser’s online e-visit screening tool, which patients use when they believe they’re dealing with anxiety or depression. Patients answer a series of multiple-choice questions, and the system then generates care recommendations and referral pathways “automatically and instantly” based on those answers, according to the filing.

Those recommendations don’t necessarily lead to a session with an in-person therapist. The complaint states that patients may instead be directed toward virtual therapy, health education classes or self-guided wellness apps.

The union represents therapists, social workers and other clinicians employed at Kaiser facilities. The state’s Department of Managed Health Care says this marks the first time a union has filed a grievance against a health plan specifically over the alleged use of algorithms and artificial intelligence in mental health treatment decisions.

Union members say they have seen no proof that licensed mental health professionals review patients’ e-visit answers in real time — or at all — before the tool spits out follow-up care recommendations. At a hearing held last week by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors examining the issue, therapists and social workers testified that automated digital screenings cannot substitute for a trained clinician’s judgment.

“AI and algorithms don’t capture what trained humans can,” said Ilana Marcucci-Morris, a therapist and member of the union’s bargaining committee. She noted that people experiencing depression often downplay their symptoms, meaning a tool relying solely on self-reported answers could miss warning signs of a more serious condition.

Kaiser did not send a representative to last week’s hearing. But in a written statement emailed to CalMatters, the company pushed back on the union’s characterization of its mental health processes.

The e-visit tool “does not use artificial intelligence to diagnose patients, make clinical decisions, or determine medical necessity. Clinical decisions remain the responsibility of licensed health care professionals,” said Kaiser spokesperson Lena Howland. She did not provide additional details about the technology powering the tool.

Howland added that patients can still reach a live person by calling a phone number provided during the e-visit process. “The online assessment tool is an additional pathway to care, not the only one,” she said.

In a blog post published last year, Kaiser described the e-visit tool as increasingly popular, particularly among younger members, and said it’s available for roughly 30 different health concerns. The post stated that patient responses “are reviewed by a health care professional” and that members “receive a response by secure message within 4 hours, and often sooner.”

Union leaders counter that care recommendations often arrive almost instantly after a patient completes the questionnaire — far too quickly, they argue, for any clinician to have actually reviewed the responses.

The union contends Kaiser’s screening practice violates state law, which requires that medical decisions be made by a licensed health care professional and bars “artificial intelligence, algorithms or other software tools” from replacing that judgment.

The Department of Managed Health Care confirmed it received the union’s complaint and is looking into the matter. “Details of ongoing investigations are confidential, pursuant to law and to protect the integrity of the investigation,” the department said in a statement.

A Shift in Mental Health Triage

The complaint arrives amid stalled contract negotiations between the union and Kaiser Northern California, which have dragged on for more than a year without resolution.

Therapists and health workers who spoke at last week’s hearing said a new triage system, which includes the e-visit tool, was rolled out in 2023. Before that, Kaiser relied on specialized triage teams made up of licensed clinicians — professionals trained to pick up on cues like tone of voice — who gathered patient history over the phone, screened for self-harm risk, and offered preliminary diagnoses along with next steps for care.

Now, the union says, much of that case evaluation work has shifted to administrative staff or the digital tool itself. The union filed a separate complaint last year alleging that Kaiser was using call-center representatives, rather than clinicians, to field mental health-related calls.

Marcucci-Morris said she often doesn’t see patients until roughly two weeks after they’ve gone through Kaiser’s new screening system. “The severity and critical nature of the symptoms I’m seeing have increased significantly because the app, the AI, an algorithm or an unlicensed phone operator wrongly determined they could wait 10 days to see me,” she said.

San Francisco Supervisor Chyanne Chen said she called last week’s hearing after hearing concerns from constituents — both Kaiser employees and patients — about the health system’s mental health services. Kaiser provides coverage to roughly a third of San Francisco’s population.

Chen called Kaiser’s absence from the hearing “unacceptable,” saying it left many of her questions unanswered.

“As a San Francisco resident, I’m not against technology,” Chen said. “For me, this is about making sure we’re not compromising the quality of our care and safety.”

Kaiser’s Troubled Mental Health Record

This isn’t the first time Kaiser has skipped a hearing focused on its mental health services. Last year, state lawmakers criticized the health plan after it declined to participate in an informational hearing on its behavioral health programs.

Kaiser’s mental health struggles are well documented. In 2023, the company agreed to pay a $50 million fine and invest $150 million to improve its programs, settling state findings that mental health patients faced serious delays in care. In 2021, California regulators noted a rise in mental health-related complaints, prompting a survey that ultimately led to that settlement. Kaiser currently operates under a corrective action plan and must submit quarterly progress reports to the state.

Back in 2014, state regulators fined Kaiser $4 million over lengthy waits between therapy appointments. Kaiser has largely attributed its past troubles to a shortage of mental health professionals statewide.

The health plan is also facing growing scrutiny over its expanding use of artificial intelligence and digital tools across its broader operations.

Kaiser’s own mental health clinicians have pushed back against transcription tools used to record patient appointments, arguing the company hasn’t disclosed how that data is used or shared. Separately, call-center nurses have raised concerns about Kaiser’s use of AI and software to monitor their calls.

This coverage is supported by the California Health Care Foundation, which works to ensure people have access to the health care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford.

Original source: CalMatters

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The National Union of Healthcare Workers filed the complaint with the state Department of Managed Health Care, taking aim at Kaiser’s e-visit screening system used for patients who suspect they may be dealing with anxiety or depression. Under the process, patients fill out a multiple-choice questionnaire, and the system immediately spits out care recommendations, according to the complaint. Those recommendations don’t necessarily mean a session with an in-person therapist — patients may instead be pointed toward virtual therapy, educational classes or self-help apps.

The Department of Managed Health Care, which regulates health plans statewide, said this marks the first time it has received a complaint from a union alleging misuse of algorithms or artificial intelligence in behavioral health services.

Union members say they’ve seen no proof that a licensed clinician reviews patients’ responses before the system generates its recommendations. At a San Francisco Board of Supervisors hearing last week, therapists and social workers testified that automated screenings simply can’t substitute for a trained professional’s judgment.

“Artificial intelligence and algorithms don’t capture what trained humans can,” said Ilana Marcucci-Morris, a therapist who sits on the union’s bargaining committee. She noted that people struggling with depression often downplay their symptoms, meaning a tool that relies purely on self-reported answers could easily overlook a more serious condition.

Kaiser did not send a representative to last week’s hearing. In a written statement to CalMatters, spokesperson Lena Howland disputed the union’s account of how the health system handles behavioral health screening.

The e-visit tool “does not use AI to diagnose patients, make clinical decisions, or determine medical necessity,” Howland said. “Clinical decisions remain with licensed healthcare professionals.” She declined to elaborate on the technology powering the tool.

Howland added that patients can still speak with a live person by calling a phone number provided during the e-visit process, describing the online tool as “an additional path to getting care — not the only path.”

A blog post Kaiser published last year touts the e-visit tool’s growing popularity, particularly among younger patients, noting it covers roughly 30 health concerns. The post states that patient responses “are reviewed by a health care professional” and that members typically get a reply within four hours.

Union representatives dispute that timeline, saying care recommendations often arrive almost instantly after a patient submits the questionnaire — too quickly, they argue, for any clinician to have reviewed the answers.

The union maintains Kaiser’s approach violates a state law requiring that medical decisions be made by licensed healthcare professionals and explicitly prohibiting “artificial intelligence, algorithms, or other software tools” from taking over that role.

The Department of Managed Health Care confirmed it received the complaint and is looking into it, though officials said details of the investigation remain confidential while it’s underway.

A change in how patients are triaged

The complaint arrives amid contract negotiations between the union and Kaiser Northern California that have stretched on for more than a year without resolution.

Workers who testified at last week’s hearing said the current system, including the e-visit tool, was rolled out in 2023. Previously, they said, dedicated triage teams of licensed clinicians took brief patient histories by phone, screened for signs of self-harm, and offered an initial diagnosis along with next steps — all while picking up on cues like tone of voice that a written questionnaire can’t capture.

Now, the union alleges, much of that triage work falls to clerical staff or the automated tool itself. The union filed a separate complaint last year claiming Kaiser was using telephone service representatives, rather than clinicians, to field mental health calls.

Marcucci-Morris said she often doesn’t see patients until roughly two weeks after they’ve been triaged under the new system. “The acuity and critical nature of symptoms I am seeing has increased significantly because the app, AI, an algorithm, or an unlicensed telephone operator incorrectly determined that they could wait 10 days to see me,” she said.

San Francisco Supervisor Chyanne Chen said she called last week’s hearing after hearing concerns from both Kaiser patients and employees in her district. Kaiser serves roughly a third of San Francisco’s population.

Chen called the company’s absence from the hearing “unacceptable,” saying it left many of her questions unanswered. “As a San Franciscan, I’m not against technology,” she said. “For me it’s making sure we’re not shortcutting our quality of care and safety.”

A pattern of scrutiny

This isn’t the first time Kaiser has declined to appear before lawmakers examining its mental health services. Last year, state legislators criticized the company after it skipped an informational hearing on the same topic.

Kaiser’s behavioral health track record has drawn scrutiny before. In 2023, the company agreed to pay a $50 million fine and invest $150 million toward improving its programs, settling state findings that behavioral health patients were facing serious delays in care. That settlement followed a 2021 spike in behavioral health complaints that prompted a state survey. Kaiser now operates under a corrective action plan and must submit quarterly progress updates to regulators.

Further back, in 2014, state regulators fined Kaiser $4 million over lengthy gaps between therapy appointments. Kaiser has largely blamed its past struggles on a broader shortage of mental health providers.

The company is also facing growing criticism over its use of artificial intelligence and digital tools more broadly. Kaiser’s own mental health staff have objected to transcription software that records patient sessions, arguing the company hasn’t been transparent about how that data is used or shared. Separately, call center nurses have raised alarms about Kaiser using AI-driven software to monitor their phone calls.

Original source: CalMatters

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Seven current and former nurses told CalMatters that spending more than 15 minutes on a call routinely draws criticism from supervisors or triggers formal performance reviews. Call length, they said, feeds directly into monthly evaluation scores. Beyond simply tracking how long calls last, nurses said Kaiser has deployed software that forecasts, on a daily basis, whether a worker appears unproductive or slow to pick up calls. At one point, the company even tested AI designed to grade nurses on their tone of voice and apparent empathy.

The complaints surface as the California Nurses Association opens contract talks with Kaiser this month, with artificial intelligence expected to be a central sticking point. Kaiser nurses staged a one-day strike over AI in March and picketed the issue last fall. The union represents roughly 25,000 nurses systemwide, including about 1,000 who work in call centers.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers are weighing several bills aimed at regulating AI in health care workplaces, including one that would shield doctors and nurses from retaliation if they override computer-generated care recommendations.

Kaiser disputes that it manages nurses by the clock. A company spokesperson said the health system does not use “average handle time” to judge performance and that any technology used in its call centers is meant to support quality assurance, with human oversight built in.

Still, the stakes are significant. Kaiser is California’s largest private employer and serves more than 9 million people in the state, along with roughly 3 million patients elsewhere in the country. How it handles AI in the workplace could set a template for other health systems grappling with the same tension between automation and hands-on patient care.

Raquel Alvarez Sanchez, an advice nurse based in Vallejo since 2010, recalled a call last year with a suicidal patient that stretched past an hour because she stayed on the line until police arrived. Even as she tried to comfort the man, she knew the extended call would skew her average handle time for weeks and could invite scrutiny from management. As a union steward, Sanchez said she has sat in on performance reviews where colleagues did everything right clinically but were still flagged for going over 15 minutes. She hasn’t seen anyone fired over it, but she worries the constant pressure is pushing nurses toward burnout, early retirement or resignation.

“I think at some point all of the nurses have been talked to about their average handle time,” she said. “The only thing I can think of is they’re doing it for profit.”

Another nurse, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, described a call last year with an elderly woman who had just received a terminal cancer diagnosis. The nurse initially suspected the patient was suicidal but soon realized she was simply in shock and needed someone to talk to — a woman who also serves as caregiver for her own daughter. The nurse wanted to linger and offer comfort but held back, worried it would hurt her monthly score and draw a reprimand. She had become a nurse to provide compassionate care, she said, but found herself asking, “Am I going to get disciplined for going off script or saying more than what is necessary?”

Kaiser maintains its performance reviews are meant to improve outcomes, not punish nurses for spending time with patients. “Kaiser Permanente does not use Average Handle Time to assess agent performance or enforce call time metrics,” spokesperson Vincent Staupe said, adding that any tools used in its contact centers are subject to human review. Staupe said Kaiser deploys AI responsibly, with attention to patient safety, privacy and equity, but declined to detail its internal systems, citing security and operational concerns.

Whether the pressure nurses describe translates into harm for patients is difficult to measure. Nurses say their contact with patients typically ends once they hang up the phone, making it hard to track downstream effects. A 2024 records request by CalMatters to the state Department of Managed Health Care turned up no formal patient complaints tied specifically to call times. Still, nurses insist the risk to care quality is real.

Michele Ramos, a patient advocate with Consumer Watchdog, said many Kaiser members’ first contact with the health system comes through the advice line, and complaints she later hears about problems inside Kaiser facilities may often trace back to what happens on those calls. She sees the time pressure as consistent with a broader pattern at Kaiser of prioritizing costs over care. The health system was fined a record $50 million in a settlement with the state’s managed health care regulator over delayed behavioral health appointments and overuse of group therapy instead of individual sessions. It also reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor following investigations into its substance abuse and mental health services. In 2002, Kaiser faced criticism for paying bonuses to non-nurse call center staff who kept calls short — though nurses who spoke with CalMatters said they’ve seen no similar incentive structure today.

“Kaiser’s been known through the years to manage dollars over managing care, and I think this would be a contributor to that, which is only going to fail patients,” Ramos said.

Nurses say the 15-minute benchmark is especially difficult to meet on calls that inherently take longer — patients with multiple symptoms or chronic conditions, new parents seeking reassurance, people processing devastating diagnoses, or callers who need an interpreter, which can add 30 minutes or more to a conversation. Nearly four in 10 Californians speak a language other than English at home, and roughly half of them are not fluent in English, according to state data.

“The amount of time that Kaiser is giving us to complete a call is sometimes not safe,” said one nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Charlotte Capulong, who has worked in nurse call centers for 22 years and helped organize opposition to the AI tone-monitoring tool, said she has watched colleagues get pulled into meetings and criticized even when they did everything else correctly except finish a call within the allotted time. “People can get hurt,” she said. “You aren’t calling Comcast. We’re dealing with life here.”

In the summer of 2024, Kaiser began piloting an AI system designed to evaluate empathy and tone in conversations between nurses and patients, according to several nurses interviewed by CalMatters. Workers responded by circulating a petition demanding more transparency, protection of patient privacy and respect for nurses’ clinical judgment, echoing the “Trust nurses, not AI” slogan used at protests outside San Francisco hospitals earlier that year. The pilot ended in November 2024, though union representatives say management has indicated it could return.

“That was intensified when they said we’re going to use AI to evaluate our calls and grade us,” Sanchez said. Another nurse, speaking anonymously, said flatly: “AI did not understand our job and would grade us wrong all the time.”

Kaiser declined to answer questions from CalMatters about the tone-monitoring tool or how AI and other automated systems are used to evaluate nurses, including whether patients were told their calls might be analyzed for empathy and tone.

Nurses also described shrinking breaks between calls — even after conversations involving suicidal patients, mental health crises or dying patients. Where nurses once had roughly 10 minutes to finish notes or simply regroup after a difficult call, they say they now often get 30 seconds or less during busy periods, though more time may be available late at night or with a supervisor’s approval following an especially hard case. That pace, they say, increases the odds of missing important warning signs about a patient’s condition.

Union representatives declined to detail specific AI-related demands ahead of this summer’s bargaining sessions with Kaiser.

Researchers who study workplace surveillance say the concerns raised by Kaiser nurses reflect a much broader trend. Annette Bernhardt, who directs the Technology and Work program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, has warned that algorithmic management can strip workers of autonomy and reduce them to mere extensions of the systems monitoring them. A 2023 academic study of call centers in four countries found that AI-driven monitoring left workers with less recovery time between calls and higher rates of emotional exhaustion; nearly half of respondents said AI tools made their jobs more stressful.

Virginia Doellgast of Cornell University, who co-authored that research, said what Kaiser nurses describe fits a pattern seen across industries where constant monitoring adds strain to work that is already emotionally demanding. “Stress and burnout can lead to more mistakes across a range of areas, and in the health care setting that is much higher risk because you’re dealing with people’s lives and their health,” she said. Conversely, research shows workers given more control over their pace tend to report higher job satisfaction and fewer absences.

The concerns extend beyond Kaiser. A 2024 survey by National Nurses United found that half of more than 2,000 nurses said their employers use algorithmic systems to analyze patient records, including predicting how much care a patient will need. Two-thirds said their own clinical judgment had, at some point, conflicted with an algorithm’s recommendation, and 60% said they didn’t trust their employer to prioritize patient safety when deploying AI.

Pa Vue, who has worked in call centers for nearly a decade, said she has had her performance score docked for repeating advice to a patient she worried might be having heart problems. As a union representative, she has watched managers question the length of calls and seen nurses penalized for exercising professional judgment that ran counter to software recommendations, or for scheduling appointments without first consulting a doctor. She says the emphasis on efficiency undercuts the quality of care patients are paying for.

“I’m not against the use of AI as long as it’s beneficial to the patient, but in this particular use [empathy and tone monitoring] it’s to increase productivity and improve efficiency and cut costs,” Vue said. “Kaiser is forgetting we aren’t just a call center for customer support, we’re nurses, and we’re there to take care of patients.”

AI is also a flashpoint in separate negotiations covering roughly 2,400 mental health workers at Kaiser facilities in Northern California, who have raised concerns about therapy session transcripts potentially being used to train AI models, and about automation threatening their jobs altogether. A spokesperson for the National Union of Healthcare Workers said those talks are ongoing.

Kaiser’s use of artificial intelligence extends well beyond call centers. The health system uses AI to flag hospitalized patients at risk of complications by analyzing electronic health records, and an AI tool called Preventus helps determine discharge timing. Doctors and therapists use a program called Abridge to transcribe in-person visits instead of taking handwritten notes. Nurses say Kaiser has also tested AI-based remote monitoring for higher-need patients at some Bay Area facilities.

California Nurses Association President Cathy Kennedy, who also leads National Nurses United, sees the tone-detection experiment as part of a broader effort by Kaiser to squeeze more efficiency out of nursing staff at the expense of professional autonomy. She argues AI systems should be proven effective and fair before they’re rolled out on real patients and workers.

Under its existing contract, Kaiser is supposed to notify the nurses’ union before deploying new technology, though the union says that doesn’t always happen. As a result, CNA has been trying to compile its own inventory of AI tools in use across the system, asking members to flag anything unfamiliar. That grassroots tracking helped the union push back against the empathy-tone AI last year and stop a separate pilot that would have replaced in-person nurse monitoring of confused patients with cameras.

Debru Carthan, a Kaiser radiologist and member of the Service Employees International Union, sits on a labor-management committee examining AI use across the company as part of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. The coalition runs a “see something, say something” campaign encouraging frontline workers to report AI tools introduced without notice. Carthan said she worries the tone-detection technology could disadvantage nurses from different cultural backgrounds, and she has grown increasingly convinced that AI adoption in health care is driven more by cost-cutting than by improving patient outcomes.

State lawmakers have taken notice, though efforts to pass new protections have stalled repeatedly. Assembly Bill 1018 and Senate Bill 7 — both backed by the nurses’ union — would have required employers to notify workers before using automated systems to make decisions about hiring, discipline or performance evaluation. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed SB 7, and AB 1018 failed for a third straight year amid opposition from major employers, including Kaiser.

Lawmakers have since revived the effort with a new version of the bill, now numbered Senate Bill 947. Another proposal would bar employers from using AI to predict employees’ emotional states, while a separate bill would protect doctors and nurses from retaliation for overriding AI-generated recommendations and require health care employers to give staff an annual inventory of the automated systems in use. Kaiser declined to provide CalMatters with such a list.

In total, the nurses’ union and the California Labor Federation are backing roughly half a dozen bills aimed at regulating workplace AI. Earlier this year, labor leaders — framing AI regulation as a defining issue heading into the next presidential election — held a Sacramento news conference urging Newsom to strengthen worker protections if he hopes to pursue national office. “It’s an ongoing fight, and it’s a fight well worth having,” Kennedy said. “Whenever there are other unions in discussion about artificial intelligence, we are in solidarity with them.”

The nurse who held back compassion from the cancer patient she feared was suicidal said she believes the monitoring and scoring systems are turning nurses into box-checkers rather than caregivers.

“I used to use humor as a way to help patients heal, and I don’t feel comfortable doing that here because I know the calls are being recorded,” she said. “You can always tell when a patient appreciates the humor or your personal compassion, but I don’t feel like call centers have tolerance for that because that’s not part of the script. That really takes away from the whole point of being a nurse and what patients come to know from nurses.”

Original source: CalMatters

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Officials with the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals said in a statement there has been “significant movement at the bargaining table” over the past 48 hours, prompting them to call for an end to the strike as of 7 a.m. Tuesday.

The union also called off all picketing activity on Monday as the union and Kaiser “finalize return-to-work agreements.”

The nurses’ strike began on Jan. 26. Union officials called it the “largest open-ended strike of registered nurses and health care professionals in United States history.”

There were no immediate details available about the how close the two sides were to reaching a contract agreement, or what issues may have been resolved.

The roughly 31,000 members of the UNAC/UHCP had vowed to stay on strike until a fair contract agreement was reached. UNAC/UHCP members include registered nurses, pharmacists, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, midwives, physician assistants, rehab therapists, speech language pathologists, dietitians and other specialty health care professionals.

“We’re striking because Kaiser has committed serious unfair labor practices and because Kaiser refuses to bargain in good faith over staffing that protects patients, workload standards that stop moral injury and the respect and dignity that Kaiser caregivers have been denied for far too long,” registered nurse Charmaine Morales, president of UNAC/UHCP, said previously.

Kaiser Permanente countered that it had “proposed 21.5% wage increases — our strongest national bargaining offer ever — and we are prepared to close agreements at local tables now. Employees deserve their raises and patients deserve our full attention, not prolonged disputes.”

Camille Applin-Jones, senior vice president at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, previously described Kaiser’s latest contract offer as “one of the strongest nursing contract offers in California this year” once step increases and local adjustments are factored in.

“Despite the union’s claims, this strike is about wages. This open- ended strike by UNAC/UHCP is unnecessary when such a generous offer is on the table. The strike is designed to disrupt the lives of our patients — the very people we are all here to serve,” Applin-Jones said.

The union filed an unfair labor practice charge against Kaiser with the National Labor Relations Board alleging the company walked away from the bargaining table in December and has attempted to bypass the agreed-upon national bargaining process. The union has been bargaining with Kaiser since last May.

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During National Volunteer Week, Kaiser Permanente recognized Gloria Hayward, who is a volunteer at Moreno Valley Medical Center, and Carol Nelson, who has volunteered at Riverside Medical Center for the past six years.

Haywood makes rounds with hospital patients to ensure their issues are quickly addressed. She is a retired nurse and former day shift manager of a 73-bed emergency department at Kaiser Permanente Northern California.

Meanwhile, longtime volunteer Nelson assists at the information desk, helping members, patients and visitors find their way. She previously served as office manager at the County of Riverside Mental Health department for 13 years, according to KP Riverside.

“We thank our volunteers for their commitment and compassion towards patients and the community. Meet some of the dedicated individuals who are making a difference in Riverside County,” KP Riverside wrote on X.

The Riverside facility’s Volunteer Services program currently offers a range of opportunities for teens, college students and adults. Volunteers can assist in nursing units, the emergency department, pharmacy services, and physical therapy, as well as through programs such as pet therapy visits and music performances for patients.

For students interested in healthcare careers, the Care Ambassador Program offers hands-on experience in a clinical setting. Volunteers also support mobile health outreach, including the facility’s efforts to serve under-resourced communities like Hemet via its Mobile Health Vehicle.

During the summer months, teens ages 14 to 17 can apply for a six-week volunteer program that includes administrative support, hospitality roles and creative tasks such as making “Notes of Kindness” for inpatients. Though this year’s application window has closed, the 2026 cycle is expected to open in January.

Applications for adult and college-aged volunteers will reopen in June.

All volunteers are required to attend orientation and health screenings before placement, according to the hospital.
Kaiser Permanente Riverside officials said the volunteer program not only helps bolster patient care but also creates a sense of community and compassion throughout the hospital.

Interested in volunteering? Get more information here.

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Mental health workers represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers prepared for the strike over the weekend after declining Kaiser’s terms on Friday.

Kaiser in a written statement said it is notifying patients whose appointments could be affected by the strike. “Patients will have the opportunity to be seen by another professional in our extensive network of highly qualified, licensed therapists, if their regular provider is engaged in a strike,” the statement read.

The previous strike in 2022 among mental health clinicians in Northern California lasted 10 weeks and led to a commitment from Kaiser to hire more therapists and to give employees specific work hours away from face-to-face patient care.

Southern California Kaiser workers now are asking for more time in between appointments to prepare for patients. They also want wage increase and a pension benefit that the company provides to its Northern California clinicians. 

“It’s pretty simple,” said psychological social worker William Johnson, a union steward who serves on the bargaining committee. “We’re looking for the same three top priorities that Kaiser already said ‘Yes’ to for our Northern California mental healthcare workers.”

Johnson said his current workload includes seeing 32 to 35 patients a week in one-hour sessions.

Kaiser released a statement in response to the union’s plans to strike, saying, “unfortunately this comes as no surprise, as this seems to have been their intention all along.”

The company has offered wage increases amounting to 18% over four years and a number of other perks, according to the statement. Kaiser representatives said they have invested more than a billion dollars expanding mental health capabilities in California and increased the number of  licensed mental health clinicians in Southern California by 30% over the past four years.

But union members say turnover has been a problem, with a quarter of therapists hired between January 2021 and August 2024 leaving their jobs. 

“Kaiser leadership has consistently been dismissive whenever we voice our concerns or experiences,” said Johnson. “They like to tell us things like, ‘We get that it’s not ideal,’ and they also add, ‘But it works for us.’”

Jared Garcia, another union steward on the bargaining committee, said he’s hoping the strike lasts less than a month, but he’s prepared to see it go on as long as it takes.

“Scabs aren’t going to work,” said Garcia. “Kaiser knows the limitations of finding mental health professionals – let alone to replace 2,400 of our union members at this time.”

A year ago, Kaiser entered into a $200 million settlement agreement with the state of California, agreeing to pay a $50 million fine and invest another $150 million over five years to address delays in behavioral health appointments.

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Two Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals are among the top cardiothoracic surgery hospitals in the United States after being recognized by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) with the highest rating for isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures.

In the latest STS ratings, Kaiser Permanente San Francisco and Santa Clara received an overall three-star rating for CABG procedures from January 2021 to December 2023. Kaiser Permanente Sacramento’s cardiovascular surgery team also received an overall three-star rating for CABG procedures. Kaiser Permanente Northern California has three cardiac surgical programs in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Santa Clara.

The STS three-star rating, which denotes the highest category of quality, places Kaiser Permanente San Francisco and Santa Clara along with the Kaiser Permanente Sacramento’s cardiovascular surgery team among the top 23% of participants performing heart bypass surgery in the United States and Canada.

“This recognition highlights our commitment to cardiac-care excellence, which saves lives and sets a remarkable standard for health care professionals nationwide,” said Maria Ansari, MD, FACC, chief executive officer and executive director of The Permanente Medical Group. “I’ve witnessed the commitment, dedication, and expertise of our cardiac teams, and it gives me great pride to see all of our centers of cardiac excellence achieve this milestone again.”

Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara and San Francisco have performed approximately 2,800 CABG procedures over the past three years. Kaiser Permanente Sacramento’s cardiovascular surgery team has performed approximately 1,100 CABG procedures over the past three years. CABG is a procedure used to treat coronary artery disease and improve blood flow to the heart. The procedure is also known as bypass surgery, coronary artery bypass surgery, and heart bypass surgery.

Cardiac care specialists in Kaiser Permanente Northern California perform a full array of adult cardiac surgical procedures, including coronary artery bypass, valve repair or replacement, aortic dissection and aneurysm repair, repair of adult cardiac anomalies, and surgical treatment of cardiac tumors, leading to excellent patient outcomes. In our communities, Kaiser Permanente members are 33% less likely to experience premature death due to heart disease, according to a 2022 research study.

“Our Kaiser Permanente teams are committed to providing the highest quality of care leading to positive outcomes for our patients as they chart their journey back to good health,” said Carrie Owen Plietz, FACHE, president of Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California region. “Receiving this three-star rating speaks to the outstanding skills of our cardiac surgical teams and the excellence of our cardiac program throughout Northern California.”

The STS Star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care, rating the benchmarked outcomes of cardiothoracic surgery programs across the United States and Canada. The star rating is calculated using a combination of quality measures for specific procedures performed by an STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database participant.

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