No negotiations scheduled. Picket line locations have been updated with actions still starting at 8 a.m. throughout Southern California
Glendale, Calif. – The California Department of Managed Health Care has opened an enforcement investigation against Kaiser Permanente that will allow the regulatory agency to more easily capture a broad range of documentation showing whether Kaiser is complying with patient care requirements during the strike.
An enforcement investigation opened by the agency during a 2022 mental health strike in Northern California found that Kaiser had canceled 111,803 individual and group therapy appointments during the 10-week strike. The investigation resulted in a $200 million Settlement Agreement last year between Kaiser and the agency that included a $50 million fine, the largest penalty ever levied against a California health plan for violating mental health parity laws.
This new enforcement investigation comes after Kaiser submitted a plan to maintain services during the strike that lacked any detail as to how the state’s largest HMO is providing critical mental health services for its 4.8 million members from San Diego to Bakersfield.
“Kaiser produced a far more detailed plan for maintaining care during the strike in Northern California when it canceled over 111,000 therapy appointments,” NUHW President Emeritus Sal Rosselli said. “There’s no way Kaiser is complying with state rules for maintaining access to care for its patients when it already had huge access issues before its health professionals went on strike.”
No bargaining sessions are scheduled for this week. The key issues remain Kaiser’s unwillingness to provide its nearly 2,400 mental health professionals in Southern California the same amount of time for critical patient care duties that can’t be done during appointments as their counterparts in Northern California — as well as the same wage levels and retirement benefits as comparable workers throughout the Kaiser system.
Picket line locations have been adjusted this week, but picket lines will still begin at 8 a.m. and run through 2 p.m. On Monday, workers will picketing be at the following locations:
- Los Angeles Medical Center (LAMC), 4867 W. Sunset Blvd.
- San Diego Medical Center, 9455 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
- Fontana Medical Center, 9961 Sierra Ave., Fontana
- Anaheim Medical Center, 3440 East La Palma Ave., Anaheim
On Tuesday, workers will be picketing at the following locations:
- Riverside Medical Center, 10800 Magnolia Ave., Riverside
- Woodland Hills Medical Center, 5601 De Soto, Ave. Woodland Hills
- San Diego Medical Center, 9455 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
- Downey Medical Center, 9333 Imperial Highway, Downey
There will be a lunchtime rally with community and elected leaders at all strike locations. Click here for a full list of picket line locations and times and click here for a fact sheet about the strike.
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The National Union of Healthcare Workers is a member-led movement that represents 19,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawai’i, including more than 4,700 Kaiser mental health professionals.
