Kaiser Permanente and the National Union of Healthcare workers signed a proposed four-year contract on Tuesday, ending a 10-week standoff between mental health workers and the Oakland-based integrated health system.
More than 2,000 therapists, chemical-dependent counselors, and social workers in Northern California went on strike August 15, claiming that unqualified staff and long wait times endanger patients. core. About 50 mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente sites in Hawaii joined the strike in late August, which occurred more than a year after negotiations began.
The union alleges that the delay in scheduling mental health appointments violated state law. Kaiser has hired nearly 200 mental health workers since January 2021 and launched a $500,000 recruitment initiative, a health system spokesman countered.
No details of the proposed contract were disclosed. The organizations said a two-day vote would begin on Tuesday night.
California regulators investigated Kaiser during the strike to ensure the health system booked an intake appointment within 10 days and followed up 10 days later. State officials received 19 complaints about accessibility in the first five days of the strike, according to the California Department of Managed Health Care.
According to 2020 figures from George Washington University, half of all counties in the US do not have a psychiatrist or a drug specialist. The university’s analysis found that the shortfall had a negligible effect on low-income consumers, as nearly 1 in 4 behavioral health providers did not see any beneficiaries. Medicaid in 2020. That’s partly because behavioral health clinicians are often paid less than other specialists with a similar education level. Additionally, patients often have difficulty booking mental health appointments in a timely manner due to the limited networks of many pay plans.
