Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Weeklong Strike Set To Start For 4,000 Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Professionals In California
The Hill: 4,000 Mental Health Professionals To Go On Strike In California
Four thousand Kaiser Permanente mental health professionals will begin a five-day strike Monday demanding the HMO address their concerns about what they called understaffing problems. The workers claimed that shortages of clinicians has limited patients' access to appropriate treatment, according to a statement from National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). (Rodrigo, 12/7)
San Jose Mercury News: Kaiser Mental Health Workers Planning 5-Day Strike Monday
As a result, mental health care appointments during the week may be canceled, but the union’s president says the strike is in the long-term best interest of patients, who currently have to wait a month or more for follow-up mental health appointments due to low staffing levels. “They’ve canceled appointments for these five days, but there’s a critical situation every day of the year,” Sal Rosselli, the union’s president, said Sunday. Rosselli said Kaiser needs to hire hundreds more clinicians to address what he called an “access crisis” for patients. (Geha, 12/9)
San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser Mental Health Workers To Strike For 5 Days
Kaiser says the union’s main concern is increasing its workers’ wages, which it says are already the highest in the state. Sal Rosselli, the union president, said negotiators are seeking pay increases as well as benefits packages equal to those given to other medical professionals. Staffing for mental health care has been a lingering and contentious issue at Kaiser. In 2015, Kaiser agreed to pay a $4 million fine levied in 2013 by state regulators over inadequate access to its mental health services. (Cabanatuan, 12/9)
