Kaiser’s mental health strike moves to Maui today as the open event enters its third day. National Federation of Health Care Workers The picket will be held today, August 31, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kaiser Maui Lani Medical Office, located at 55 Maui Lani Parkway in Wailuku.
Across the state, mental health care workers for Kaiser Permanente, represented by the NUHW union, began striking Monday with picket lines in Honolulu and other locations on Oahu. After Maui’s sit-in today, the strike line will move to the island of Hawaii on Thursday before returning to Oahu during the Labor Day holiday. Mental health care workers in Kaiser, California have also been on strike over the same issues since August 15.
According to the union, Kaiser Permanente employs 57 mental health care workers, including nine in Maui. With 266,000 subscribers across Hawaii, NUHW says the percentage isn’t enough, “resulting in dangerously long waiting times that exceed clinical standards.”
The health care provider issued a statement saying, “We take any potential disruption of services seriously and have plans to ensure that our members and patients continue to receive safe, high-quality care.”
According to Kaiser Permanente Employment Update website, health care provider added 11 new behavioral health clinical positions to fill in 2022, has hired 28 physicians in Hawaii since the beginning of 2021, eight of whom will begin work in the next two months.
“The simplified math of dividing the total membership of Kaiser Permanente Hawaii by the number of NUHW employees represents inflates the number of inaccurate and misleading cases,” according to KP Labor update.
The health care provider explained their reasons for reaching this conclusion:
- The approximately 60 behavioral health physicians represented by NUHW are just one part of the mental health care team at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, along with an additional 15 psychiatrists and behavioral health care staff.
- Not every member of Kaiser Permanente seeks mental health services.
- KPHI continues to recruit more clinical staff and is currently recruiting 14 vacancies for Psychologists, LCSWs, and LMHPs.
The union disagrees, saying: “Although Kaiser has told state officials in writing that it plans to hire an additional 44 doctors, the number of Kaiser full-time workers who provide direct mental health treatment in Hawaii has decreased since November of this year from 51 to 48, and many Of them doctors have reported that their schedules are now fully booked well into October.”
Rachel Kaya, a psychologist and Kaiser Medical Office also on Maui Lani Disputes The health care provider’s argument, saying her next available appointment wouldn’t be until November. “We actually have fewer therapists seeing patients today on Maui than we did when we went on strike in May due to a severe staff shortage. Kaiser claims it employs a lot of people, but is really just trying to refill the jobs of the dedicated doctors who They don’t want to work for Kaiser anymore.”
She is among a roster of psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, and chemical dependence counselors, who provide care at seven clinics and call centers on Oahu, Maui and the island of Hawaii.
“Kaiser could not be more hypocritical when it comes to mental health care,” said Sal Rosselli, president of the National Federation of Health Care Workers in a press release issued earlier this week. “When she gets into trouble for violating mental health access standards, she pledges to increase staff, but then turns around and demands cuts that leave her clinics understaffed more than ever.”
The surprising group argues that despite profits of $8.1 billion last year, mental health clinicians are facing wage freezes and cuts in retirement benefits they say will make hiring “more difficult, if not impossible.”
The speculative group filed a 57-page complaint last November, citing internal Kaiser records, saying patients wait months for initial treatment sessions and that only 28% of Kaiser’s out-of-network mental health providers are actually accepting new Kaiser patients.
The National Quality Assurance Committee recently lowered Kaiser’s accreditation status in Hawaii and placed the HMO under the title “corrective action. ”
However, Kaiser Permanente Hawaii recently made the Forbes Top-10 . list existing One of the best employers in Hawaii.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Kaiser Permanente Hawaii said: “It is disappointing that the National Federation of Health Care Workers has once again called on dedicated and passionate mental health professionals to step away from their patients in Hawaii at a time when mental health is needed. Care is so critical. We continue The focus is on providing high-quality care and we urge the union to work with us through the negotiation process to finalize a new agreement.”
Kaiser Permanente and NUHW, which represents about 60 mental health professionals in Hawaii, are negotiating an initial contract.
We continue to bargain in good faith and are committed to reaching a fair and equitable agreement. We have the greatest respect and gratitude for our mental health professionals, and we are committed to supporting them in their important work,” according to a Kaiser Permanente Hawaii statement.
“People’s lives are at risk,” Andrea Komura, a licensed clinical social worker at Kaiser Medical Center in Waipiʻo, said in a statement. “Kaiser makes us violate our professional ethics by providing care that does not meet the needs of our patients, and the proposal that Kaiser puts on the table will cause people to wait longer for care.”
The provider reports that if changes in appointment or service are needed, they will contact any affected patients.