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NUHW President Sophia Mendoza was quoted in a Fierce Healthcare story about Kaiser Permanente agreeing to pay $31 million to the federal government to settle multiple investigations over allegations that Kaiser failed to maintain adequate provider networks for mental health and substance use disorder care, and improperly used patient responses to questionnaires to deny care. Under the settlement agreement, Kaiser will compensate for the costs its members incurred when seeking out-of-network mental health and substance use disorder services and agreed to reform company policies by reducing wait appointment wait times and improving care review processes to ensure members receive medically necessary care. “Kaiser keeps paying huge penalties and pretending that it’s fixed its mental healthcare problems,” Mendoza said. “Kaiser denied there were any issues while these investigations were taking place, and it’s still claiming that nothing is wrong even though therapists report they’re still understaffed and that many patients are still waiting too long for care.”
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that three medical providers at a Rogers Behavioral Health clinic in West Allis were fired days after formally declaring they wanted to form a union with NUHW. The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA) and the Milwaukee Area Labor Council (MALC), made up of 80 affiliated unions representing 25,000 workers, issued a statement later calling on Rogers to immediately reinstate the three workers who were fired and to recognize the union.
NUHW member Ilana Marcucci-Morris, a licensed clinical social worker at Kaiser Permanente, is featured in a Los Angeles Times article about how Northern California mental health workers are fighting for more protections against AI. Kaiser says AI could save employees from tedious, time-consuming tasks such as taking notes and paperwork. Workers say it could take jobs and harm people’s health. Kaiser already uses AI software to transcribe conversations and take notes between healthcare workers and patients, but therapists have privacy concerns about recording highly sensitive remarks. The company also uses AI to predict when hospitalized patients might become more ill. It offers mental health apps for enrollees, including at least one with an AI chatbot. NUHW members who are negotiating their next union contract in Northern California want Kaiser to pledge that A.I. will be used only to assist, but not replace, workers.
Fox News, OCRegister, Voice of OC, the Fullerton Observer and Becker’s Hospital Review covered the three-day strike by more than 300 NUHW members at Kindred Hospital Brea and Westminster in Orange County who are negotiating their next union contract. The workers seek better wages that help them retain and attract caregivers amid high turnover rates.
In a recent study, 94 percent of those surveyed individuals aged 14 to 25 reported mental health struggles, with a third rating their mental health as fair or poor. Kids’ access to care is hindered by a lack of providers. Capital and Main reported that federal Medicaid and Obamacare cuts threaten coverage for millions of Californians, with some only discovering care denials after seeing their doctor. Kaiser Permanente, the largest health program with 9.5 million members, has been fined and cited multiple times for inadequate mental health services, most recently paying a $50 million fine as part of a $200 million settlement. Denials are often vague and appeals complex. State Sen. Scott Wiener’s Health Insurance Accountability Act would require insurers to disclose denial rates and face fines if their denials are overturned too often.
A coalition of community and labor groups is asking the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to put a half-cent sales tax on the June ballot to help protect health care services for residents who could lose coverage due to federal cuts to Medi-Cal. If the board does not act, MyNewsLA reported that Restore Healthcare for Angelenos plans to organize a petition drive to qualify an initiative for the November ballot. Nearly half the money from the tax would provide free or reduced cost health services to uninsured, low-income county residents. The rest would go to the Department of Health Services and county Department of Public Health, school-based health programs, correctional health services, nonprofit “safety net” hospitals, in-home supportive services and the Long Beach and Pasadena public health departments.
