We had another powerful action today with about 125 people at Kaiser’s Pasadena regional headquarters, including patients, elected officials and community allies.
Kaiser locked the main doors to the headquarters, but a group of strikers, who are trained to perform acts of civil disobedience, found an open backdoor entrance and walked right past security guards into the building.
Once inside, the workers asked to see Kaiser executive Michelle Gaskill-Hames, who didn’t come down. One striker pressed the announcement button, saying “I’m here to deliver lunch. I have an order of social justice.” Eventually, Kaiser sent down an HR representaitve, and folks left after the police arrived.
Meanwhile outside the building, strikers and supporters amassed at the main entrance, chanting “send her down,” in reference to Gaskill Hames. There were lots of news outlets present including KTLA, ABC-7, KNX News Radio, KPCC/The LAist and Pasadena Now.
State mental health investigation again faults Kaiser
Earlier this week, the California Department of Managed Health Care issued a new 88-page report that revealed Kaiser still has not fixed long-standing deficiencies in its mental health services.
State investigators found that Kaiser has so far failed to remedy 19 of the 20 violations found in a 2022 “non-routine survey,” one of two separate investigations that led to the $200 million Settlement Agreement in 2023.
We sent out a press release today about the report, and have already talked to several reporters about it.
While the specific violations in the report date back to a 2022 state survey that was triggered by a sharp increase in patient complaints, investigators concluded shortly before the beginning of the strike that Kaiser had failed to correct its most serious deficiencies including:
- Failing to ensure that non-urgent mental health or substance use disorder appointments are offered within 10 days after the initial request.
- Failing to promptly reschedule appointments in a manner appropriate for the enrollee’s health care needs.
- Failing to ensure that patients are offered urgent care appointments within 48 hours.
If you read the report, you’ll see some of the more serious findings in Southern California are on page 59, which includes the facts that:
- Investigators reviewed a random sample of patient records in Southern California and determined that more than 85 percent of the cases “failed to demonstrate intake appointments were offered within 10 business days of the initial request for health care services.
- One enrollee waited 13 business days for an intake assessment, while another waited 78 business days for an intake appointment after requesting treatment for worsening symptoms of anxiety disorder and panic disorder.
This report demonstrates how dishonest Kaiser executives are when they claim Kaiser is meeting the needs of patients during the strike when once again state investigators show that Kaiser was violating the rights of patients seeking behavioral health care for years, including right up to the beginning of the strike.
We will be sharing the report with elected and community allies this week.
Picket line photos
See the gallery of photos below, and see more on NUHW’s social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
