Kaiser mental health patients waiting months for appointments in Sacramento-area, employees say
Sacramento resident Jasmin Hakes said her daughter Riana Mutabdzija has attempted suicide several times but their family still can’t manage to get a Kaiser Permanente therapist to see her on a regular basis.
“We were told multiple times that they did not have a therapist that she could see regularly and she was given pamphlets for meditation and sent home and told to go to the emergency room if it got worse.”
Hakes and her daughter joined a press briefing with Kaiser therapists, union leader Sal Rosselli and state
Sen. Scott Wiener, D-san Francisco, Thursday morning to urge Kaiser to reduce excessive wait times for followup appointments that therapists said currently extend at least 2.5 months in the Sacramento region.
Wiener co-authored Senate Bill 221, which beginning Friday, mandates that health care plans provide patients with follow-up appointments within 10 business days if a therapist recommends subsequent sessions. This year, he’s carrying another bill that would increase fines against the companies by tenfold if they don’t meet the mandated timetable for appointments.
“You can’t give someone a first appointment and then make them wait two or three months for the second and subsequent appointments because that completely undermines effective mental health treatment,” said Wiener.
Thursday’s press conference followed news in May that the California Department of Managed Health Care into Kaiser’s mental health services following an increase in patient complaints.
“I work as a triage therapist where I help people in crisis and those needing linkage to an initial appointment,” said Sarah Soroken, a Kaiser employeenu on Thursday’s video briefing. “Many of the calls I receive are from patients who have been waiting weeks or months for their individual therapy appointments. In many cases, their mental health has worsened since their last appointment.”
Kaiser described the news conference as “a public pressure campaign,” saying that the National Union of Healthcare Workers had organized the news briefing to pressure the health care giant to give into labor contract demands in the latest round of bargaining.
“There is a national shortage of mental health clinicians that was already a challenge before the pandemic, and over the past 2.5 years, the demand for care has increased everywhere,” said Kaiser leaders in a statement.
“We have been taking action to address the shortage of caregivers and to ensure care is available to our members. We have the greatest respect and gratitude for our mental health professionals and are committed to supporting them in their vitally important work,” the statement read.
Kaiser hiring mental health positions
The California Legislative Analyst’s Office projects the state will face a shortage of behavioral health specialists by 2028. In a report last year, it noted “California graduates with professional mental health degrees increased significantly over the previous decade,” but acknowledged that some regions of the state are comparably underserved.
Kaiser leaders said they have added 170 net new clinicians in California to address patient needs and that the rate at which they are hiring mental health clinicians continues to be faster than the rate that our membership is growing. Currently, the company has more than 300 open clinical positions.
Company leaders said they also had significantly expanded the availability of virtual appointments to patients who want it, increasing convenience and access since patients can get on a computer or handheld device and speak with therapists over a video call.
But a number of patients and Kaiser employees say their experiences show that video visits haven’t made a dent in reducing waits and that the health care company is struggling.