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NBC Bay Area quoted Kindred Hospital San Francisco Bay Area nurse and NUHW member Sammi Alazar in a story covering an informational picket held by 250 healthcare workers at the facility as they continue bargaining for a new contract. Nurses are demanding better pay and are facing shortages of medical supplies.
KALW, Becker’s Behavioral Health, SFGate, KRON-4, and the San Francisco Examiner covered the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopting a resolution urging Kaiser Permanente to withdraw its “terrible three” contract proposals that would reverse patient care gains therapists won through their 10-week strike in 2022 and set the stage to lay off therapists, outsource care, and push patients onto A.I. treatment platforms.
SB 903, a measure backed by NUHW and introduced by State Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego), has passed both chambers of the California Legislature and is now at Governor Newsom’s desk for his signature, EIN Press Wire reported. The bill would prohibit A.I. algorithms from providing or advertising “therapy” and set standards for professionals’ use of A.I. to promote human-centered care. According to clinicians, chatbot therapists pose data and privacy concerns, have a limited understanding of clients’ backgrounds, can lead to client overreliance on chatbots, can give incorrect treatment recommendations, and are unable to detect subtle communication cues, such as tone and eye contact.
Several revelations have come out about SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan this month. The LA Times broke the news that Regan allegedly tried to “extort” an SEIU state council endorsement of the billionaire tax ballot measure from other California union leaders. The paper also reported that an internal investigation found merit to charges that Regan threatened and intimidated women who worked for the state council, and in one instance, physically assaulted a former executive director of the labor organization. One week later the LA Times reported that The California Primary Care Assn. and five clinics filed a civil lawsuit in federal court Friday accusing SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West and Regan, of racketeering and using ballot initiatives to “shake down” community health centers. A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle cited a 2011 lawsuit filed by NUHW alleging that Regan bullied rival union leaders and threatened to call immigration agents on their supporters. Other allegations in a 2018 lawsuit, reviewed by the paper, alleged he oversaw a work culture rife with harassment and retaliation. Misconduct charges against Regan will go before a panel overseen by a former federal labor official in early December.
Governor Gavin Newsom has become the latest politician to push for stronger artificial intelligence regulations following claims from A.I. experts that the technology could lead to widespread death and destruction. The Los Angeles Times reported that Newsom issued an executive order to create a panel to recommend safety rules, including the development of a possible “kill switch” for A.I. programs that go rogue. Newsom’s announcement is a reversal of his veto of a law proposed in 2024 by state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), which would have required tech firms to be able to turn off the A.I. models they directly control if things go awry. State Senator Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento), who chairs the state committee overseeing technology issues, has said he’ll hold hearings on artificial intelligence this fall and believes the state’s rules around A.I. don’t go far enough.
Rogers Behavioral Health, whose workers in the West Allis and Madison clinics organized with NUHW earlier this year, is expanding its footprint across Wisconsin with a new clinic in Eau Claire. The clinic will provide partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient mental health services for teens and adults. Becker’s Behavioral Health reported that care at the location will address depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, trauma, and post-traumatic stress disorder. At the same time, adults can also receive treatment for substance use challenges. Rogers operates three inpatient behavioral health hospitals, 17 residential programs, and 11 clinics offering partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient treatment across Wisconsin.
MedPage Today reported that a gender gap long seen in the suicide rates of 10- to 14-year-olds in the U.S. has tightened, new research indicates. In 2017, the suicide rate of boys was twice that of girls (3.28 vs 1.66 per 100,000 population), but by 2024, it was only 4 percent higher (2.38 vs 2.28). The suicide rate for boys decreased by 35 percent from 2018 to 2024, while it increased by 13 percent for girls. From 2007 to 2024, the suicide rate for 10- to 14-year-old boys nearly doubled (from 1.20 to 2.38), while for girls it more than quadrupled (from 0.51 to 2.28), she wrote in JAMA Pediatrics
