An estimated 2,600 Kaiser California mental health clinicians continue to strike statewide due to the HMO’s failure to provide timely, adequate care to patients.
The strike at Kaiser Permanente mental healthcare clinics across California entered its second day on Tuesday, Jan. 13, after the mental health clinicians represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) walked out Monday in response to the hospital chain’s unwillingness to correct what the employees call a systemic problems in its clinics that treat patients seeking help with mental health issues.
Newly released documents show that despite a near-record $4 million fine last year and a “cease and desist” order, a large number of Kaiser patients endure lengthy and illegal waits for appointments. Califor-nia law mandates a maximum wait time of 10 business days for non-urgent mental health appointments.
Records dated Sept. 25, 2014, from just one Kaiser facility in Northern California, and made available by NUHW this week, captured patient experiences. One set of records indicates that 83.1 percent of patients (162 of 195 enrollees) experienced wait times of 10 days or more for first-time appointments.
A second set of records indi-cates that 20 percent of the patients (38 of the 190 patients) waited for 10 or more days without being scheduled for an appointment, let alone attend-ing an appointment. In addition, these records indicate that, of these 190 patients, 56.3 percent had not been contacted at all since requesting an appointment.
Many of these enrollees were seeking treatment for possibly severe diagnoses such as PTSD, depres-sion, bipolar disorder and peripartum depression. According to Kaiser’s records, Kaiser waited eight days to contact three separate enrollees for whom appointments were requested for “domestic violence” and “possible sexual assault.”
NUHW has reported Kaiser’s vio-ations to the California Department of Managed Health Care, the state agency charged with enforcing the cease and desist order.
