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"content": "\u003cp>Dozens of nurses rallied outside \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser\">Kaiser\u003c/a> San Francisco on Monday to advocate for a San Francisco nurse who is set to lose her job — after the federal government did not process her temporary legal status in time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The surgical nurse, who has lived in the U.S. for most of her life and will remain anonymous due to safety concerns, immigrated from the Philippines when she was two years old. As an employee of Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center on Geary Boulevard, the nurse filed her DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, renewal application on Dec.1 — exactly 135 days before her status was set to expire on April 15. Despite applying well within the recommended window, she said she has not heard back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When her status lapsed, Kaiser placed her on 30 days of unpaid leave. That window closes on May 14. In response to her inquiries, Kaiser wrote that “It is your responsibility to keep your work authorization current,” according to \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2026/05/kaiser-nurse-daca-renewal-delay-san-francisco/\">\u003cem>Mission Local\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, which first reported her case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Kaiser said the organization was evaluating potential solutions. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have been working directly with our employee to support her through this as best we can. We have been working with the union as well, and appreciate their advocacy on behalf of our employee. We are currently evaluating what potential solutions are available,” a spokesperson said in a statement. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside of Kaiser on Monday, dozens of nurses chanted: “Defend DACA now,” calling on the hospital to extend the nurse’s unpaid leave. In a statement read aloud by fellow nurses at the rally, the soon-to-be-terminated nurse wrote: “I feel devastated and torn to pieces to be in a position where the fault lies with the innocent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So, I ask Kaiser to extend my leave, because I want to thrive, too,” it said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hers is not an isolated case. According to the Migration Policy Institute, an estimated 500,000 immigrants currently hold DACA status, and many have been caught in a surge of federal processing delays — a trend that advocates told KQED accelerated this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12083226\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12083226\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-KAISERDACA00122_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-KAISERDACA00122_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-KAISERDACA00122_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-KAISERDACA00122_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diana Alfaro, a registered nurse, rallies against Kaiser’s plans to terminate a DACA recipient registered nurse outside of Kaiser Permanente on Geary Street in San Francisco on May 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, which serves more than 1,000 active DACA clients, said that over half of renewal requests filed since November 2025 remain pending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lisa Hoffman, the organization’s co-executive director, said delays of 150 days or more are now common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is just the latest attack,” Hoffman said. “It feels like DACA is being chipped away at piece by piece every day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sydney Simpson, a registered nurse at Kaiser San Francisco, said the hospital’s decision is both morally and practically wrong.[aside postID=news_12082440 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/04/240408-FCIDublin-018-BL_qut-1020x680.jpg']“To replace a nurse with her level of expertise is extremely painful for the organization — it’s expensive, it hurts our morale as nurses and it hurts patient quality of care,” Simpson said. “It seems like a really easy decision, but for whatever reason, they are holding their ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nurses pointed to a stark contrast with the University of California health system. Maureen Dugan, a UCSF registered nurse, said at Monday’s rally that the UC’s union contract explicitly protects DACA nurses from termination during renewal delays — and guarantees recall rights if they are temporarily let go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“UC is committed to supporting DACA staff,” Dugan said. “We won that language in our last contract negotiations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, a coalition of Bay Area immigrant rights groups — including Justice Action Center, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area and Cornell Law School’s Path2Papers — filed a Freedom of Information Act request, demanding the Trump administration release data on how it is processing DACA renewals and what, if any, policy changes are driving the delays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates say DACA recipients are now making major life decisions — about their jobs, their housing, their families — without knowing when or whether their renewals will come through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vanessa Rivas-Bernardy, a staff attorney at Justice Action Center, said the delays reflect a program under sustained administrative pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12083229\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12083229\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-KAISERDACA00360_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-KAISERDACA00360_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-KAISERDACA00360_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-KAISERDACA00360_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supervisor Connie Chan rallies against Kaiser’s plans to terminate a DACA recipient registered nurse outside of Kaiser Permanente on Geary Street in San Francisco on May 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“DACA recipients have been living in two-year increments — all their decisions, their whole lives are in these two-year chunks,” Rivas-Bernardy said. “This is just an exacerbation of that uncertainty and risk, but it’s been completely ramping up in recent months in a way we really haven’t seen before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the government does not respond to the FOIA request within 20 calendar days, Rivas-Bernardy said the coalition is prepared to file a federal lawsuit to compel disclosure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan attended Monday’s rally and called on Kaiser to change course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our nurses — DACA or otherwise — should not be punished for the Trump administration’s incompetence,” Chan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her written statement, the nurse said she is still holding on to hope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know I am worthy, good enough, an exceptional nurse and member of this society,” she wrote. “I am a DACA recipient — a dreamer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“To replace a nurse with her level of expertise is extremely painful for the organization — it’s expensive, it hurts our morale as nurses and it hurts patient quality of care,” Simpson said. “It seems like a really easy decision, but for whatever reason, they are holding their ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nurses pointed to a stark contrast with the University of California health system. Maureen Dugan, a UCSF registered nurse, said at Monday’s rally that the UC’s union contract explicitly protects DACA nurses from termination during renewal delays — and guarantees recall rights if they are temporarily let go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“UC is committed to supporting DACA staff,” Dugan said. “We won that language in our last contract negotiations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, a coalition of Bay Area immigrant rights groups — including Justice Action Center, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area and Cornell Law School’s Path2Papers — filed a Freedom of Information Act request, demanding the Trump administration release data on how it is processing DACA renewals and what, if any, policy changes are driving the delays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates say DACA recipients are now making major life decisions — about their jobs, their housing, their families — without knowing when or whether their renewals will come through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vanessa Rivas-Bernardy, a staff attorney at Justice Action Center, said the delays reflect a program under sustained administrative pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12083229\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12083229\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-KAISERDACA00360_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-KAISERDACA00360_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-KAISERDACA00360_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260511-KAISERDACA00360_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supervisor Connie Chan rallies against Kaiser’s plans to terminate a DACA recipient registered nurse outside of Kaiser Permanente on Geary Street in San Francisco on May 11, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“DACA recipients have been living in two-year increments — all their decisions, their whole lives are in these two-year chunks,” Rivas-Bernardy said. “This is just an exacerbation of that uncertainty and risk, but it’s been completely ramping up in recent months in a way we really haven’t seen before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the government does not respond to the FOIA request within 20 calendar days, Rivas-Bernardy said the coalition is prepared to file a federal lawsuit to compel disclosure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan attended Monday’s rally and called on Kaiser to change course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our nurses — DACA or otherwise — should not be punished for the Trump administration’s incompetence,” Chan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her written statement, the nurse said she is still holding on to hope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know I am worthy, good enough, an exceptional nurse and member of this society,” she wrote. “I am a DACA recipient — a dreamer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "As Kaiser’s Presence in Downtown Oakland Dwindles, So Does Foot Traffic",
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"content": "\u003cp>For decades, lunchtime at Roy Mejia’s downtown \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> bar meant a steady stream of Kaiser Permanente workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors, nurses and office staff from nearby buildings would stop in for a soda or a sandwich.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’d come in, have a soda, bring a sandwich,” recalled Mejia, adding that he was “surrounded by Kaiser.” “We all got along. It was beautiful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Mejia looks out at blocks of empty storefronts — and far fewer customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And every day there’s one more,” he said. “One more, one more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mejia arrived in Oakland from Sacramento in 1970. By January 1992, he opened his 19th Street Station, a bar in the heart of downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I fell in love with Oakland,” Mejia said. “It was a beautiful city back then.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, his bar had thrived on a stream of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser\">Kaiser Permanente employees\u003c/a> who worked nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076762\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076762\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-08-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-08-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-08-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roy Mejia tends bar at 19th Street Station in Oakland on March 16, 2026. Mejia says he’s able to keep costs down by not employing others to work at the bar. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kaiser Permanente — long one of downtown Oakland’s largest employers — has been steadily shrinking its local office presence in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The health care giant has relocated workers to suburban offices, reduced its real estate footprint and laid off hundreds of employees across California, changes that economists say are contributing to quieter streets and struggling small businesses in the city’s core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser Permanente, once an anchor of downtown Oakland’s office workforce, has in recent years pulled workers out of the city’s core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kaiser Layoffs by County in California\" aria-label=\"Column Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-bE2I4\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/bE2I4/3/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"553\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, Kaiser relocated over 1,000 members of its Oakland workforce to a suburban hub, citing “changes in how and where employees have been working since the COVID-19 pandemic.” Not too long after, they issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.ktvu.com/news/kaiser-to-oakland-workers-stay-inside-for-work-and-lunch\">a memo\u003c/a> directing downtown Oakland employees to stay inside for lunch due to safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in 2025, Kaiser laid off over 400 employees across 16 California counties. Alameda County — home to Oakland, the company’s national headquarters, and the Kaiser Pleasanton campus — accounts for nearly half of these layoffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a written statement, a spokesperson from Kaiser said that it “remains committed to the City of Oakland, which is an integral part of Kaiser Permanente’s history and future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The layoffs coincided with Kaiser’s decreasing real estate footprint in Oakland, a trend that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the Kaiser Center at 300 Lakeside Drive was \u003ca href=\"https://www.tmgpartners.com/news/tmg-partners-acquires-future-oakland-pge-headquarters\">sold to TMG Partners\u003c/a>, and Kaiser terminated their occupancy in the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076765\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076765\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-12-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-12-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-12-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-12-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An empty storefront at 19th Street and Harrison Street in Oakland on March 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Similar acquisitions happened in 2024: Kaiser’s 2000 Broadway building was sold to BART, the office tower and garage on Franklin Street went to Behring Companies, and 10% of Kaiser’s Oakland-based employees were moved to Pleasanton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/908311/000090831125000007/cmct-20250108.htm\">SEC filing\u003c/a> shows that in January 2025, Kaiser extended its lease for 236,692 square feet of the Ordway building through 2027. The space, listed as Kaiser’s corporate office on Google Maps, is down from the 366,000 square feet that Kaiser occupied in 2024, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/kaiser-oakland-19932710.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The broader health care sector remains one of Oakland’s few stable pillars supported by the presence of hospitals, clinics and social service providers,” said Christopher Skerritt, an economist at\u003ca href=\"https://kweconomics.com/services/health-economics/california/oakland\"> Kincaid Wolstein\u003c/a>. “But office consolidation and telehealth adoption have limited in-city job growth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, big cities like Oakland and San Francisco are losing commercial real estate to suburban hubs like Pleasanton and Walnut Creek, which have seen comparatively faster rates of economic recovery since the pandemic, according to Skerritt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076764\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076764\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-11-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empty storefronts along 19th Street in Oakland on March 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many of the health care workers who remain in the city are remote or hybrid employees, Skerritt said, a change that, combined with Kaiser’s downsized office footprint, has contributed to downtown Oakland’s quieter streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The shift has cut daytime population density, reducing spending at restaurants, coffee shops, small retailers that depend on office workers for business,” Skerritt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Small businesses in downtown Oakland have felt these effects. Tierra Mia Coffee, a six-minute walk from 1 Kaiser Plaza, has “most definitely” seen a drop in business since early 2024, according to its supervisor, Odiseo Castrejon.[aside postID=news_12076753 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-07-KQED-1.jpg']Since Kaiser’s early 2024 decision to move part of its Oakland workforce to Pleasanton, its sales have shrunk by more than a quarter, according to Castrejon. Before, customers wearing scrubs or hospital badges were noticeable, Castrejon said. Now, not so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This obvious decrease in foot traffic can be felt all throughout the downtown area. Nearly 38% of office space in Oakland’s central business district is vacant, according to \u003ca href=\"https://assets.cushmanwakefield.com/-/media/cw/marketbeat-pdfs/2025/q3/us-reports/office/eastbayoakland_americas_marketbeat_office_q3_2025.pdf?rev=f9920db83ed249778a3790b110e88270&_gl=1*1pz1tnl*_gcl_au*ODM3MjQxMTU5LjE3NjE1Mjg5Mjc\">a report\u003c/a> by commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“COVID has really changed the way that people work, and companies’ need for space,” said Cushman & Wakefield’s East Bay research manager, Wescott Owen, who authored the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Small business owners like Mejia are hit hard by these changes. On a recent afternoon, he stood behind the bar he opened more than three decades ago, watching pedestrians pass by outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the nearby offices are quieter than they once were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve got 32 years here,” he said. “I don’t know how much longer I’m going to hang in there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://cjlab.stanford.edu/projects/big-local-news/\">\u003cem>Big Local News\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is a data-sharing platform and collaborative at Stanford University that supports local journalism. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After Kaiser’s decision to relocate part of its workforce away from Downtown Oakland, everyone from small business owners to economists is feeling the impacts, bracing themselves for an uncertain economic future.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For decades, lunchtime at Roy Mejia’s downtown \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> bar meant a steady stream of Kaiser Permanente workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors, nurses and office staff from nearby buildings would stop in for a soda or a sandwich.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’d come in, have a soda, bring a sandwich,” recalled Mejia, adding that he was “surrounded by Kaiser.” “We all got along. It was beautiful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Mejia looks out at blocks of empty storefronts — and far fewer customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And every day there’s one more,” he said. “One more, one more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mejia arrived in Oakland from Sacramento in 1970. By January 1992, he opened his 19th Street Station, a bar in the heart of downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I fell in love with Oakland,” Mejia said. “It was a beautiful city back then.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, his bar had thrived on a stream of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser\">Kaiser Permanente employees\u003c/a> who worked nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076762\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076762\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-08-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-08-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-08-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-08-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roy Mejia tends bar at 19th Street Station in Oakland on March 16, 2026. Mejia says he’s able to keep costs down by not employing others to work at the bar. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kaiser Permanente — long one of downtown Oakland’s largest employers — has been steadily shrinking its local office presence in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The health care giant has relocated workers to suburban offices, reduced its real estate footprint and laid off hundreds of employees across California, changes that economists say are contributing to quieter streets and struggling small businesses in the city’s core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser Permanente, once an anchor of downtown Oakland’s office workforce, has in recent years pulled workers out of the city’s core.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kaiser Layoffs by County in California\" aria-label=\"Column Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-bE2I4\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/bE2I4/3/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"553\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, Kaiser relocated over 1,000 members of its Oakland workforce to a suburban hub, citing “changes in how and where employees have been working since the COVID-19 pandemic.” Not too long after, they issued \u003ca href=\"https://www.ktvu.com/news/kaiser-to-oakland-workers-stay-inside-for-work-and-lunch\">a memo\u003c/a> directing downtown Oakland employees to stay inside for lunch due to safety concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in 2025, Kaiser laid off over 400 employees across 16 California counties. Alameda County — home to Oakland, the company’s national headquarters, and the Kaiser Pleasanton campus — accounts for nearly half of these layoffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a written statement, a spokesperson from Kaiser said that it “remains committed to the City of Oakland, which is an integral part of Kaiser Permanente’s history and future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The layoffs coincided with Kaiser’s decreasing real estate footprint in Oakland, a trend that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the Kaiser Center at 300 Lakeside Drive was \u003ca href=\"https://www.tmgpartners.com/news/tmg-partners-acquires-future-oakland-pge-headquarters\">sold to TMG Partners\u003c/a>, and Kaiser terminated their occupancy in the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076765\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076765\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-12-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-12-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-12-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-12-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An empty storefront at 19th Street and Harrison Street in Oakland on March 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Similar acquisitions happened in 2024: Kaiser’s 2000 Broadway building was sold to BART, the office tower and garage on Franklin Street went to Behring Companies, and 10% of Kaiser’s Oakland-based employees were moved to Pleasanton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/908311/000090831125000007/cmct-20250108.htm\">SEC filing\u003c/a> shows that in January 2025, Kaiser extended its lease for 236,692 square feet of the Ordway building through 2027. The space, listed as Kaiser’s corporate office on Google Maps, is down from the 366,000 square feet that Kaiser occupied in 2024, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/kaiser-oakland-19932710.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The broader health care sector remains one of Oakland’s few stable pillars supported by the presence of hospitals, clinics and social service providers,” said Christopher Skerritt, an economist at\u003ca href=\"https://kweconomics.com/services/health-economics/california/oakland\"> Kincaid Wolstein\u003c/a>. “But office consolidation and telehealth adoption have limited in-city job growth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, big cities like Oakland and San Francisco are losing commercial real estate to suburban hubs like Pleasanton and Walnut Creek, which have seen comparatively faster rates of economic recovery since the pandemic, according to Skerritt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076764\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076764\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260317-KAISER-RETREATS-MD-11-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Empty storefronts along 19th Street in Oakland on March 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many of the health care workers who remain in the city are remote or hybrid employees, Skerritt said, a change that, combined with Kaiser’s downsized office footprint, has contributed to downtown Oakland’s quieter streets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The shift has cut daytime population density, reducing spending at restaurants, coffee shops, small retailers that depend on office workers for business,” Skerritt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Small businesses in downtown Oakland have felt these effects. Tierra Mia Coffee, a six-minute walk from 1 Kaiser Plaza, has “most definitely” seen a drop in business since early 2024, according to its supervisor, Odiseo Castrejon.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Since Kaiser’s early 2024 decision to move part of its Oakland workforce to Pleasanton, its sales have shrunk by more than a quarter, according to Castrejon. Before, customers wearing scrubs or hospital badges were noticeable, Castrejon said. Now, not so much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This obvious decrease in foot traffic can be felt all throughout the downtown area. Nearly 38% of office space in Oakland’s central business district is vacant, according to \u003ca href=\"https://assets.cushmanwakefield.com/-/media/cw/marketbeat-pdfs/2025/q3/us-reports/office/eastbayoakland_americas_marketbeat_office_q3_2025.pdf?rev=f9920db83ed249778a3790b110e88270&_gl=1*1pz1tnl*_gcl_au*ODM3MjQxMTU5LjE3NjE1Mjg5Mjc\">a report\u003c/a> by commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“COVID has really changed the way that people work, and companies’ need for space,” said Cushman & Wakefield’s East Bay research manager, Wescott Owen, who authored the report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Small business owners like Mejia are hit hard by these changes. On a recent afternoon, he stood behind the bar he opened more than three decades ago, watching pedestrians pass by outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the nearby offices are quieter than they once were.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve got 32 years here,” he said. “I don’t know how much longer I’m going to hang in there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://cjlab.stanford.edu/projects/big-local-news/\">\u003cem>Big Local News\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is a data-sharing platform and collaborative at Stanford University that supports local journalism. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Up to 2,400 mental health professionals at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> in Northern California are set to hold a one-day strike on Wednesday over what they warn is the company’s increasing use of artificial intelligence to the detriment of patient care and, potentially, of their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unions representing tens of thousands of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/kaiser-nurses-to-hold-24-hour-sympathy-strike-in-solidarity-with-kaiser-mental-health-workers\">nurses\u003c/a>, as well as hospital and facility maintenance professionals, announced they will join picket lines in support of the therapists, including psychologists and social workers, in the Bay Area, Central Valley and Sacramento regions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During monthslong labor contract negotiations, Kaiser has proposed making it easier to lay off therapists and has resisted language stating that the company won’t \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999553/will-ai-replace-your-therapist-kaiser-wont-say-no\">use AI to replace them\u003c/a>, according to the National Union of Healthcare Professionals, which represents the striking mental health employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really sad that this is how they are choosing to behave,” said Leemore Federman, a Kaiser therapist in San Leandro who specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety and is part of the union’s bargaining team. “If Kaiser wanted to, they have abundant resources to make the mental health department at Kaiser the best, and instead they’re doing everything to make it the worst.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland-based health care giant, which has been under pressure to improve timely access to mental health and substance use disorder services, denies that AI makes any medical or care decisions or is being used to replace therapists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser said it has invested nearly $2 billion since 2020 to expand mental health facilities, hire and train clinicians, and grow its provider network so its more than 9 million California health plan enrollees can get care faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076878\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076878\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mental health workers strike at the Kaiser Oakland Medical Facility in Oakland on March 18, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We are growing our workforce, not shrinking it, and our commitment to building a pipeline of trained therapists is unquestionable,” the company said in a statement. “We see technology — and AI, in particular — as a way to support our clinicians in managing their practice and provide them with tools that facilitate greater access to care and connection with patients — all to achieve the best possible outcomes for our patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe AI can be helpful when it supports clinicians — by reducing administrative work or improving efficiency — but it does not replace clinical judgment or human assessment,” Kaiser said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the AI boom advances with few guardrails, workers in health care and other industries are feeling anxiety about how their employers may use the technology, said Adam Horwitz, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s Department of Psychiatry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, health care companies have introduced AI tools mostly for administrative support tasks, such as note-taking during appointments or patient scheduling, rather than direct patient care. But company decisions to roll out the technology are often happening at high-level meetings behind closed doors without much worker input, which fuels mistrust, he said.[aside postID=news_12072837 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8137B-KQED.jpg']“It’s connected to the broader anxiety that we just don’t know where all this is going,” said Horwitz, who studies how digital technologies, including AI, can improve access to care. “Across industries, there’s a lot of like, ‘Well, wait a minute, having these AI things definitely makes money for people at the top at the expense of workers doing the jobs. Why are we all getting in line to just try to keep propelling this forward without having a thoughtful approach to it?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday morning, therapists walked off their jobs and headed to picket lines outside Kaiser facilities in Oakland, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Santa Clara and Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Oakland, Harimandir Khalsa, 55, said her team of clinicians who screen patients seeking mental health services in the Walnut Creek area has been reduced by two-thirds. Instead, Kaiser is increasingly using telephone operators and online surveys or questionnaires that use AI to screen patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have seen firsthand patients who were screened by a telephone service operator and sent to an external referral network. In some cases, they were self-harming … they should never have been sent out, they should have talked to a clinician to assess risk, to come up with safety planning and get them a more urgent appointment,” Khalsa told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This latest walkout comes about a month after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074265/widespread-kaiser-strike-to-end-after-4-weeks-with-no-deal-yet\">end of a four-week strike\u003c/a> that initially involved up to 31,000 nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, optometrists and other health care employees in California and Hawaii. Those workers are currently voting on whether to ratify tentative agreements the union said included wage increases, as well as staffing and AI protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, therapists at Kaiser represented by the same union \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11923034/were-drowning-why-kaiser-mental-health-workers-are-striking\">went on strike for 10 weeks\u003c/a>, over concerns about patient care delays, workloads, understaffing and other issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076877\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12076877 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mental health workers strike at the Kaiser Oakland Medical Facility in Oakland on March 18, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kaiser has agreed to multimillion-dollar settlements with state and federal regulators in recent years related to long wait times for patients seeking mental health services. Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ebsa/ebsa20260210\">announced \u003c/a>the company will pay a $2.8 million penalty, and at least $28.3 million to reimburse patients who sought out-of-network care after Kaiser delayed or improperly denied care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, the state’s largest health plan said it would invest $150 million over five years to improve behavioral health for its patients and pay a $50 million fine to resolve a California Department of Managed Health Care \u003ca href=\"https://wpso.dmhc.ca.gov/enfactions/docs/4367/1697136977902.pdf\">investigation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the agency, which oversees mental health services in the state, said it is monitoring Kaiser’s progress and investigating a union \u003ca href=\"https://nuhw.org/wp-content/uploads/NUHW-Complaint_DMHC_NorCalTriageServices_2025.docx-1.pdf\">complaint\u003c/a> alleging that Kaiser is flouting a state law requiring licensed health care professionals to initially assess patients to determine what care they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UNHW maintains that beginning in 2024, Kaiser changed how it screens patients when they call or go online seeking care. The company unilaterally replaced many trained clinicians with unqualified telephone operators and an online questionnaire with AI to make recommendations on next steps, according to the union, which considers the move an unfair labor practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076882\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076882\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-06-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mental health workers strike at the Kaiser Oakland Medical Facility in Oakland on March 18, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Federman, the therapist in San Leandro, said the new system is missing high-risk patients, making them wait longer than recommended to see a provider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m seeing a lot of people, where it’s like, ‘wow, they’re really acute,’ and by the time triage [sends them], it’s been a month that they’ve waited — and that’s really dangerous,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The therapists’ contract with Kaiser ended last September. During bargaining, the company has sought to eliminate current workload limits that allow therapists to have enough time to care for existing patients, Federman said. She worries that the employer may seek to lay off in-house therapists and increasingly refer patients to outside contractors, who won’t offer the same quality of integrated care Kaiser advertises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit health organization countered that it is seeking flexibility to adjust to a “higher than ever” demand for its services, and does not plan to eliminate therapists’ jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our contract proposals are aimed at achieving the flexibility we and our therapists need to improve mental health access for our members even as patient needs continue to rise,” the company’s statement said. “We have nearly doubled our mental health workforce over the last 10 years and have never had a reduction-in-force of mental health clinicians in Northern California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Up to 2,400 mental health professionals at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> in Northern California are set to hold a one-day strike on Wednesday over what they warn is the company’s increasing use of artificial intelligence to the detriment of patient care and, potentially, of their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unions representing tens of thousands of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/kaiser-nurses-to-hold-24-hour-sympathy-strike-in-solidarity-with-kaiser-mental-health-workers\">nurses\u003c/a>, as well as hospital and facility maintenance professionals, announced they will join picket lines in support of the therapists, including psychologists and social workers, in the Bay Area, Central Valley and Sacramento regions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During monthslong labor contract negotiations, Kaiser has proposed making it easier to lay off therapists and has resisted language stating that the company won’t \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999553/will-ai-replace-your-therapist-kaiser-wont-say-no\">use AI to replace them\u003c/a>, according to the National Union of Healthcare Professionals, which represents the striking mental health employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really sad that this is how they are choosing to behave,” said Leemore Federman, a Kaiser therapist in San Leandro who specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety and is part of the union’s bargaining team. “If Kaiser wanted to, they have abundant resources to make the mental health department at Kaiser the best, and instead they’re doing everything to make it the worst.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland-based health care giant, which has been under pressure to improve timely access to mental health and substance use disorder services, denies that AI makes any medical or care decisions or is being used to replace therapists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser said it has invested nearly $2 billion since 2020 to expand mental health facilities, hire and train clinicians, and grow its provider network so its more than 9 million California health plan enrollees can get care faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076878\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076878\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mental health workers strike at the Kaiser Oakland Medical Facility in Oakland on March 18, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We are growing our workforce, not shrinking it, and our commitment to building a pipeline of trained therapists is unquestionable,” the company said in a statement. “We see technology — and AI, in particular — as a way to support our clinicians in managing their practice and provide them with tools that facilitate greater access to care and connection with patients — all to achieve the best possible outcomes for our patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe AI can be helpful when it supports clinicians — by reducing administrative work or improving efficiency — but it does not replace clinical judgment or human assessment,” Kaiser said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the AI boom advances with few guardrails, workers in health care and other industries are feeling anxiety about how their employers may use the technology, said Adam Horwitz, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s Department of Psychiatry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, health care companies have introduced AI tools mostly for administrative support tasks, such as note-taking during appointments or patient scheduling, rather than direct patient care. But company decisions to roll out the technology are often happening at high-level meetings behind closed doors without much worker input, which fuels mistrust, he said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It’s connected to the broader anxiety that we just don’t know where all this is going,” said Horwitz, who studies how digital technologies, including AI, can improve access to care. “Across industries, there’s a lot of like, ‘Well, wait a minute, having these AI things definitely makes money for people at the top at the expense of workers doing the jobs. Why are we all getting in line to just try to keep propelling this forward without having a thoughtful approach to it?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Wednesday morning, therapists walked off their jobs and headed to picket lines outside Kaiser facilities in Oakland, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Santa Clara and Fresno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Oakland, Harimandir Khalsa, 55, said her team of clinicians who screen patients seeking mental health services in the Walnut Creek area has been reduced by two-thirds. Instead, Kaiser is increasingly using telephone operators and online surveys or questionnaires that use AI to screen patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have seen firsthand patients who were screened by a telephone service operator and sent to an external referral network. In some cases, they were self-harming … they should never have been sent out, they should have talked to a clinician to assess risk, to come up with safety planning and get them a more urgent appointment,” Khalsa told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This latest walkout comes about a month after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074265/widespread-kaiser-strike-to-end-after-4-weeks-with-no-deal-yet\">end of a four-week strike\u003c/a> that initially involved up to 31,000 nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, optometrists and other health care employees in California and Hawaii. Those workers are currently voting on whether to ratify tentative agreements the union said included wage increases, as well as staffing and AI protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, therapists at Kaiser represented by the same union \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11923034/were-drowning-why-kaiser-mental-health-workers-are-striking\">went on strike for 10 weeks\u003c/a>, over concerns about patient care delays, workloads, understaffing and other issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076877\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12076877 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mental health workers strike at the Kaiser Oakland Medical Facility in Oakland on March 18, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kaiser has agreed to multimillion-dollar settlements with state and federal regulators in recent years related to long wait times for patients seeking mental health services. Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ebsa/ebsa20260210\">announced \u003c/a>the company will pay a $2.8 million penalty, and at least $28.3 million to reimburse patients who sought out-of-network care after Kaiser delayed or improperly denied care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, the state’s largest health plan said it would invest $150 million over five years to improve behavioral health for its patients and pay a $50 million fine to resolve a California Department of Managed Health Care \u003ca href=\"https://wpso.dmhc.ca.gov/enfactions/docs/4367/1697136977902.pdf\">investigation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the agency, which oversees mental health services in the state, said it is monitoring Kaiser’s progress and investigating a union \u003ca href=\"https://nuhw.org/wp-content/uploads/NUHW-Complaint_DMHC_NorCalTriageServices_2025.docx-1.pdf\">complaint\u003c/a> alleging that Kaiser is flouting a state law requiring licensed health care professionals to initially assess patients to determine what care they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UNHW maintains that beginning in 2024, Kaiser changed how it screens patients when they call or go online seeking care. The company unilaterally replaced many trained clinicians with unqualified telephone operators and an online questionnaire with AI to make recommendations on next steps, according to the union, which considers the move an unfair labor practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076882\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076882\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260318-KAISER-MENTAL-HEALTH-STRIKE-MD-06-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mental health workers strike at the Kaiser Oakland Medical Facility in Oakland on March 18, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Federman, the therapist in San Leandro, said the new system is missing high-risk patients, making them wait longer than recommended to see a provider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m seeing a lot of people, where it’s like, ‘wow, they’re really acute,’ and by the time triage [sends them], it’s been a month that they’ve waited — and that’s really dangerous,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The therapists’ contract with Kaiser ended last September. During bargaining, the company has sought to eliminate current workload limits that allow therapists to have enough time to care for existing patients, Federman said. She worries that the employer may seek to lay off in-house therapists and increasingly refer patients to outside contractors, who won’t offer the same quality of integrated care Kaiser advertises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit health organization countered that it is seeking flexibility to adjust to a “higher than ever” demand for its services, and does not plan to eliminate therapists’ jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our contract proposals are aimed at achieving the flexibility we and our therapists need to improve mental health access for our members even as patient needs continue to rise,” the company’s statement said. “We have nearly doubled our mental health workforce over the last 10 years and have never had a reduction-in-force of mental health clinicians in Northern California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A four-week strike by thousands of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> health care workers in California and Hawaii ended Tuesday morning, even though no full contract deal has been reached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The walkout \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071014/kaiser-strike-sees-thousands-walk-out-in-california-this-time-with-no-end-in-sight\">initially involved\u003c/a> up to 31,000 nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, optometrists and others. Following significant movement at the bargaining table over the weekend, according to the union, no picket lines were held Monday as return-to-work agreements were finalized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We decided to end this because we were making meaningful progress at the tables. And returning to work allows us to closely deal with the issues, the few that are still outstanding, while getting back to taking care of our patients,” said Elizabeth Hawkins, secretary of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nurses and other health care workers who walked picket lines several days a week are now expected to return to clinics and hospitals as early as Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Kaiser, which hired contingency staffers during the strike, said it was working to schedule returning employees over the coming days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland-based health care organization said union leadership recently accepted an across-the-board 21.5% wage increase over four years that Kaiser had offered since October 2025. The union sought a 25% raise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073903\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073903\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. Kaiser workers on the picket lines have gone without their paychecks for four weeks, and many are facing financial and other difficulties. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have remained committed to reaching agreements that recognize the vital contributions of our employees while ensuring excellent, affordable care for our members,” Kaiser’s statement said. “Importantly, the increase is higher than any other health care provider in the country and keeps our employees at above market pay and among the best paid caregivers in the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the strike dragged on, the nation’s largest private nonprofit health care organization drew a hard line, maintaining that anything higher than a 21.5% raise would be unsustainable and lead it to increase premiums for its more than 9 million customers in California. The union said it acquiesced on wages because Kaiser agreed to additional improvements in safe staffing, recruitment and retention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both parties have been focused on completing contracts for each of dozens of local units forming UNAC/UHCP, Hawkins said. Kaiser walked away from bargaining on a long-standing national contract in December, a move the union calls unlawful and said partly led to the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pressure had been mounting on both parties to end the walkout, which began Jan. 26 and was dubbed the largest open-ended strike by nurses and other health care workers in the U.S. Top priorities in negotiations for Kaiser employees have been staffing levels and compensation, common concerns for health care workers nationwide.[aside postID=news_12073887 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01224_TV-KQED.jpg']The company reassigned non-picketing staffers, rescheduled non-urgent surgeries and modified other appointments at affected locations. But some patients were frustrated by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072837/kaiser-strike-delays-surgeries-disrupts-care-as-more-workers-walk-off-jobs\">delays\u003c/a> in their operations, especially in Southern California, where most striking union members are located.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the picket lines, several workers told KQED they were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073887/californias-striking-kaiser-workers-without-pay-for-weeks-feel-the-financial-pressure\">financially and emotionally stressed\u003c/a> by forgoing their paychecks for weeks, as the union did not offer assistance via a strike fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Kaiser said about 40% of nurses and pharmacists across striking locations had returned to their jobs, though union officials countered that those figures were inflated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While they will keep negotiating, they are losing leverage by going back to work, which suggests that they didn’t feel they had the capacity to sustain the strike any longer,” said Rebecca Givan, an associate professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University who specializes in the health care industry. “This is a tough outcome for these workers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Givan contrasted the outcome in California and Hawaii with a weeks-long strike by about 15,000 nurses in New York City, which led to significant employer concessions, including maintenance of health care benefits and improvements to pay and staffing, before workers agreed to return to their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michelle Baird, a nurse midwife at Kaiser Oakland, said she would have preferred to end the strike with a contract deal in hand, but she’s cautiously optimistic about what’s left of the bargaining progress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073902\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073902\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Baird, a nurse midwife from Kaiser Oakland, poses for a portrait while on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser really saw how united we were and how strong we were, and even though we don’t have a contract in place now, I believe that my employer is negotiating in good faith and has been at the bargaining table,” said Baird, 53. ”I’m definitely feeling more like there’s a good chance of getting the things that we need in a contract, even if we don’t get everything we want.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baird said she was looking forward to seeing patients and regaining her income. She’s nervous about the strain that the long strike could have on her relationships with co-workers who pitched in more hours to continue caring for patients. Still, she feels the strike will likely lead to improvements for patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even with the disruptions in patient care, if we have a solid contract, we’ll have much more staff continuity. We’ll have people who are dedicated to being there, it will decrease the risks of turnover. And I think in the long run, it’s better for patients,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073905\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hawkins, the UNAC/UHCP secretary, said the union had not held a walkout at Kaiser for about 45 years prior to last year, when two much shorter strikes were held.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor experts said the company had a shining reputation as an employer with positive labor relations, but the recent walkout suggested a turning point for Kaiser, which has expanded to eight states and the District of Columbia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser, which has dismissed employee claims of chronic understaffing and long delays for patients, said its health care workers are already paid on average more than those at other companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health care workers in California often earn more money than in other states, which labor experts say is due to the state’s high cost of living and unionization in the industry. Registered nurses, for example, make an annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/oes/2019/may/oes291141.htm\">mean of $113,200\u003c/a> in California, significantly higher than the national mean of $77,500, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nurses and other health care workers who walked picket lines several days a week are now expected to return to clinics and hospitals as early as Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Kaiser, which hired contingency staffers during the strike, said it was working to schedule returning employees over the coming days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland-based health care organization said union leadership recently accepted an across-the-board 21.5% wage increase over four years that Kaiser had offered since October 2025. The union sought a 25% raise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073903\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073903\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00368_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. Kaiser workers on the picket lines have gone without their paychecks for four weeks, and many are facing financial and other difficulties. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have remained committed to reaching agreements that recognize the vital contributions of our employees while ensuring excellent, affordable care for our members,” Kaiser’s statement said. “Importantly, the increase is higher than any other health care provider in the country and keeps our employees at above market pay and among the best paid caregivers in the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the strike dragged on, the nation’s largest private nonprofit health care organization drew a hard line, maintaining that anything higher than a 21.5% raise would be unsustainable and lead it to increase premiums for its more than 9 million customers in California. The union said it acquiesced on wages because Kaiser agreed to additional improvements in safe staffing, recruitment and retention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both parties have been focused on completing contracts for each of dozens of local units forming UNAC/UHCP, Hawkins said. Kaiser walked away from bargaining on a long-standing national contract in December, a move the union calls unlawful and said partly led to the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pressure had been mounting on both parties to end the walkout, which began Jan. 26 and was dubbed the largest open-ended strike by nurses and other health care workers in the U.S. Top priorities in negotiations for Kaiser employees have been staffing levels and compensation, common concerns for health care workers nationwide.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The company reassigned non-picketing staffers, rescheduled non-urgent surgeries and modified other appointments at affected locations. But some patients were frustrated by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072837/kaiser-strike-delays-surgeries-disrupts-care-as-more-workers-walk-off-jobs\">delays\u003c/a> in their operations, especially in Southern California, where most striking union members are located.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the picket lines, several workers told KQED they were \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073887/californias-striking-kaiser-workers-without-pay-for-weeks-feel-the-financial-pressure\">financially and emotionally stressed\u003c/a> by forgoing their paychecks for weeks, as the union did not offer assistance via a strike fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, Kaiser said about 40% of nurses and pharmacists across striking locations had returned to their jobs, though union officials countered that those figures were inflated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While they will keep negotiating, they are losing leverage by going back to work, which suggests that they didn’t feel they had the capacity to sustain the strike any longer,” said Rebecca Givan, an associate professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University who specializes in the health care industry. “This is a tough outcome for these workers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Givan contrasted the outcome in California and Hawaii with a weeks-long strike by about 15,000 nurses in New York City, which led to significant employer concessions, including maintenance of health care benefits and improvements to pay and staffing, before workers agreed to return to their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michelle Baird, a nurse midwife at Kaiser Oakland, said she would have preferred to end the strike with a contract deal in hand, but she’s cautiously optimistic about what’s left of the bargaining progress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073902\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073902\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Baird, a nurse midwife from Kaiser Oakland, poses for a portrait while on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser really saw how united we were and how strong we were, and even though we don’t have a contract in place now, I believe that my employer is negotiating in good faith and has been at the bargaining table,” said Baird, 53. ”I’m definitely feeling more like there’s a good chance of getting the things that we need in a contract, even if we don’t get everything we want.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baird said she was looking forward to seeing patients and regaining her income. She’s nervous about the strain that the long strike could have on her relationships with co-workers who pitched in more hours to continue caring for patients. Still, she feels the strike will likely lead to improvements for patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even with the disruptions in patient care, if we have a solid contract, we’ll have much more staff continuity. We’ll have people who are dedicated to being there, it will decrease the risks of turnover. And I think in the long run, it’s better for patients,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073905\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hawkins, the UNAC/UHCP secretary, said the union had not held a walkout at Kaiser for about 45 years prior to last year, when two much shorter strikes were held.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor experts said the company had a shining reputation as an employer with positive labor relations, but the recent walkout suggested a turning point for Kaiser, which has expanded to eight states and the District of Columbia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser, which has dismissed employee claims of chronic understaffing and long delays for patients, said its health care workers are already paid on average more than those at other companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health care workers in California often earn more money than in other states, which labor experts say is due to the state’s high cost of living and unionization in the industry. Registered nurses, for example, make an annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/oes/2019/may/oes291141.htm\">mean of $113,200\u003c/a> in California, significantly higher than the national mean of $77,500, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>For the last month, Chris Pyper and his partner, a fellow \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> physician assistant, have gone without paychecks while walking picket lines outside the nonprofit health care giant’s facilities in Oakland, Santa Clara and south Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple is surviving on savings, but they’re not sure how much longer they can forgo both of their incomes and still pay the mortgage for the Oakland home they recently bought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of pressure,” said Pyper, 39, as rain drenched him and dozens of picketers outside Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center this week. “It’s a sacrifice. Hoping that this is going to produce a good contract. And I’m willing to stay out as long as we need to get a fair contract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an estimated tens of thousands of Kaiser health care employees stretch \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071014/kaiser-strike-sees-thousands-walk-out-in-california-this-time-with-no-end-in-sight\">their open-ended strike\u003c/a> in California and Hawaii into a fourth week, several told KQED they worry about how they’ll afford rent, student loan payments, child care expenses and other bills if the union and employer fail to reach a deal soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their union, which led two much shorter walkouts at Kaiser last fall, is not offering financial assistance for the nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, pharmacists and others relinquishing wages to strike. Some said they are dipping into retirement accounts, increasing credit card debt or considering part-time jobs elsewhere to make ends meet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, even with dwindling or depleted savings accounts, the strikers said they remain determined to hold the line for their livelihoods and job improvements they hope will benefit patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073902\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073902\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Baird, a nurse midwife from Kaiser Oakland, poses for a portrait while on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I am constantly in this state of low-grade panic,” said Michelle Baird, a nurse midwife who has delivered babies and cared for mothers since 2015 at Kaiser facilities in Oakland, Berkeley and Pinole. “I really am good at not sounding or looking panicked because the work I do needs calmness, but I don’t feel calm at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A self-described pessimist, the 53-year-old steeled herself early for the possibility that Kaiser could take months to make significant concessions in bargaining. In preparation, Baird worked as many shifts as she could before she and up to 31,000 health care professionals walked off their jobs on Jan. 26.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Baird said her household in Berkeley has already canceled subscriptions, stopped online shopping and quit eating out at restaurants. She hopes she won’t have to borrow against her daughter’s college fund and is looking for a job that she could add to her schedule, even after the walkout ends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Really, it’s just tightening the belt, pinching pennies and worrying a lot,” said Baird, who added that her top priorities have been ensuring fair pay and keeping affordable health care benefits when she eventually retires.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘They’ve forgotten the health care workers’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The employees want Kaiser, the nation’s largest private nonprofit health care organization, to invest more revenues in its workforce and allow more worker input on staffing and scheduling, which they said would decrease wait times for patients and improve care. The company has largely dismissed claims of chronic understaffing or deteriorating services, and it said anything more than its offer for a 21.5% wage increase over four years would be unsustainable and force it to increase premiums for customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser, which has expanded operations to eight states and the District of Columbia, made a net income of \u003ca href=\"https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/news/press-release-archive/kaiser-permanente-risant-health-report-2025-financial-results\">$9.3 billion\u003c/a> last year, driven largely by investment gains, and nearly $13 billion in 2024, while holding reserves estimated at $66 billion or more. The Oakland-based company contends its reserves should pay for pensions, building maintenance and other long-term financial commitments, as well as serve as a rainy day fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073904\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073904\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00420_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00420_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00420_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00420_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Pyper (left), a physician assistant from Kaiser San Leandro, marches while on strike outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But employees on the picket line doubt that argument. Pyper, who works in the orthopedic surgery department in San Leandro, said Kaiser has pushed hard to cut the retirement, health care and other benefits of newer union members like himself, leaving him no choice but to strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser is sitting on a lot of money they’ve made over the past few years,” said Pyper, who is paying monthly for student loans. “They’re expanding in the other states, and it just kind of feels like they’ve forgotten the health care workers who are doing a lot of the patient care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Kaiser said its employees “deserve a fair contract that reflects their value.” The company, which stopped bargaining on a long-standing national contract including big-ticket issues such as across-the-board wage increases, said it’s making progress with the smaller, local units forming the United Nurses Association of California/Union of Healthcare Professionals.[aside postID=news_12073839 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-2.jpg']“Once we reach agreement at each of these respective local tables on the open issues from the national table, we will be ready to close each agreement and get the contracts signed,” Kaiser’s statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser has asked a federal court to declare it is not obligated to negotiate a national deal with UNAC/UHCP. The company argues that the union broke contractual commitments to work collaboratively, including by \u003ca href=\"https://www.unacuhcp.org/news/profits-over-patients-new-report-details-kaisers-financial-practices-and-patient-harm/\">issuing a report\u003c/a> last month alleging that Kaiser prioritizes profits over patient care and invests in private prison companies that run immigration detention centers. Kaiser also said the union withheld information it needed to reduce disruptions to patient care during the current strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UNAC/UHCP has called Kaiser’s move to walk away from months of national bargaining unlawful, and it opposes the company’s proposal to shift all of its bargaining to dozens of local units. Executive secretary Elizabeth Hawkins said the union is considering its options to resolve issues related to staffing levels, workflow and patient access that have left some Kaiser patients waiting months to get specialty medical care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been looking at multiple avenues to settle this strike,” said Hawkins, a former registered nurse at Kaiser for 31 years. “It’s a very fluid, dynamic process that we’re going through. And right now, I’m not prepared to speculate on how this is going to unfold.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This month, Kaiser \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073484/kaiser-workers-say-patients-deserve-better-mental-health-care-after-31m-settlement\">agreed to pay\u003c/a> $31 million to resolve \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ebsa/ebsa20260210\">federal investigations\u003c/a> over long wait times and other problems for millions of California patients seeking mental health and substance use care. The deal comes two years after the company settled with the state for $200 million over similar issues. Kaiser therapists in Northern California with a separate union are about to finish voting on whether to authorize a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073839/kaiser-therapists-take-key-step-toward-1-day-strike\">one-day strike\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Problems mount as strike persists\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, pressure is growing on Kaiser and UNAC/UHCP to compromise as the current walkout drags on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser said more employees are crossing picket lines and returning to work, including more than 40% of nurses and pharmacists across striking locations. Hawkins called those figures inflated, adding that most members plan to keep withholding their labor as long as necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser, which is likely spending millions of dollars on contingency workers to help cover staffing shortages left by striking workers, faces criticism from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072837/kaiser-strike-delays-surgeries-disrupts-care-as-more-workers-walk-off-jobs\">patients reporting delayed\u003c/a> surgeries and treatments due to the labor conflict. Physicians and other employees continuing to work inside hospitals and clinics have also been left picking up the slack for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073905\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Maggie Burtch, a nurse midwife in Antioch and Walnut Creek, said that in addition to the financial stress her family faces to pay for their mortgage and child care, she’s concerned the long walkout will strain her relationships with obstetrics physicians and other co-workers who are not on strike and continue to attend to patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has been really tough on our OB team, who also have kids at home, and I hear they’re working double the hours that they normally work to cover us, and that doesn’t feel great,” said Burtch, 41, the mother of two young children. “So I’m really worried about what that’s going to feel like when we reenter. What are the vibes going to be? I’m worried it’s going to feel different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Burtch believes walking off her job was the right choice. She’s been frustrated by the pace of negotiations and disappointed by what she described as Kaiser’s hard-line stance during the strike and negotiations with midwives, who unionized to maintain their benefits.[aside postID=news_12072837 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8137B-KQED.jpg']\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>It’s really made me rethink whether or not this is the place that I want to continue to work, even though I love what I do,” said Burtch, who lives in Oakland. “But it’s hard to work a job where you just feel so undervalued.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being away from patients also pains Brianca Hutchins, a pediatric occupational therapist who helps rehabilitate children with disabilities and special needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 32-year-old, who often refers to her patients as “kiddos,” said wait times for patients at Kaiser are a top concern. She has been stretched thin trying to see up to 11 patients with complex medical histories per shift, and communicate with their families and providers to follow up on their care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are drowning time-wise,” said Hutchins of her team at Kaiser San José. “We really want support with workload and staffing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all this time on picket lines, she appreciates getting to know other workers from different departments on strike, sharing camaraderie and mutual support. But her stress is ramping up, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not sleeping. My anxiety is through the roof,” Hutchins said. “Now that we’re in week four, the guilt for leaving my patients is in full swing. And then money-wise, I finally looked at my bank account and cried.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For the last month, Chris Pyper and his partner, a fellow \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> physician assistant, have gone without paychecks while walking picket lines outside the nonprofit health care giant’s facilities in Oakland, Santa Clara and south Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple is surviving on savings, but they’re not sure how much longer they can forgo both of their incomes and still pay the mortgage for the Oakland home they recently bought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of pressure,” said Pyper, 39, as rain drenched him and dozens of picketers outside Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center this week. “It’s a sacrifice. Hoping that this is going to produce a good contract. And I’m willing to stay out as long as we need to get a fair contract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an estimated tens of thousands of Kaiser health care employees stretch \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071014/kaiser-strike-sees-thousands-walk-out-in-california-this-time-with-no-end-in-sight\">their open-ended strike\u003c/a> in California and Hawaii into a fourth week, several told KQED they worry about how they’ll afford rent, student loan payments, child care expenses and other bills if the union and employer fail to reach a deal soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their union, which led two much shorter walkouts at Kaiser last fall, is not offering financial assistance for the nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, pharmacists and others relinquishing wages to strike. Some said they are dipping into retirement accounts, increasing credit card debt or considering part-time jobs elsewhere to make ends meet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, even with dwindling or depleted savings accounts, the strikers said they remain determined to hold the line for their livelihoods and job improvements they hope will benefit patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073902\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073902\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00295_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Baird, a nurse midwife from Kaiser Oakland, poses for a portrait while on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I am constantly in this state of low-grade panic,” said Michelle Baird, a nurse midwife who has delivered babies and cared for mothers since 2015 at Kaiser facilities in Oakland, Berkeley and Pinole. “I really am good at not sounding or looking panicked because the work I do needs calmness, but I don’t feel calm at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A self-described pessimist, the 53-year-old steeled herself early for the possibility that Kaiser could take months to make significant concessions in bargaining. In preparation, Baird worked as many shifts as she could before she and up to 31,000 health care professionals walked off their jobs on Jan. 26.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Baird said her household in Berkeley has already canceled subscriptions, stopped online shopping and quit eating out at restaurants. She hopes she won’t have to borrow against her daughter’s college fund and is looking for a job that she could add to her schedule, even after the walkout ends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Really, it’s just tightening the belt, pinching pennies and worrying a lot,” said Baird, who added that her top priorities have been ensuring fair pay and keeping affordable health care benefits when she eventually retires.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘They’ve forgotten the health care workers’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The employees want Kaiser, the nation’s largest private nonprofit health care organization, to invest more revenues in its workforce and allow more worker input on staffing and scheduling, which they said would decrease wait times for patients and improve care. The company has largely dismissed claims of chronic understaffing or deteriorating services, and it said anything more than its offer for a 21.5% wage increase over four years would be unsustainable and force it to increase premiums for customers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser, which has expanded operations to eight states and the District of Columbia, made a net income of \u003ca href=\"https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/news/press-release-archive/kaiser-permanente-risant-health-report-2025-financial-results\">$9.3 billion\u003c/a> last year, driven largely by investment gains, and nearly $13 billion in 2024, while holding reserves estimated at $66 billion or more. The Oakland-based company contends its reserves should pay for pensions, building maintenance and other long-term financial commitments, as well as serve as a rainy day fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073904\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073904\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00420_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00420_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00420_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS00420_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Pyper (left), a physician assistant from Kaiser San Leandro, marches while on strike outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But employees on the picket line doubt that argument. Pyper, who works in the orthopedic surgery department in San Leandro, said Kaiser has pushed hard to cut the retirement, health care and other benefits of newer union members like himself, leaving him no choice but to strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser is sitting on a lot of money they’ve made over the past few years,” said Pyper, who is paying monthly for student loans. “They’re expanding in the other states, and it just kind of feels like they’ve forgotten the health care workers who are doing a lot of the patient care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Kaiser said its employees “deserve a fair contract that reflects their value.” The company, which stopped bargaining on a long-standing national contract including big-ticket issues such as across-the-board wage increases, said it’s making progress with the smaller, local units forming the United Nurses Association of California/Union of Healthcare Professionals.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Once we reach agreement at each of these respective local tables on the open issues from the national table, we will be ready to close each agreement and get the contracts signed,” Kaiser’s statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser has asked a federal court to declare it is not obligated to negotiate a national deal with UNAC/UHCP. The company argues that the union broke contractual commitments to work collaboratively, including by \u003ca href=\"https://www.unacuhcp.org/news/profits-over-patients-new-report-details-kaisers-financial-practices-and-patient-harm/\">issuing a report\u003c/a> last month alleging that Kaiser prioritizes profits over patient care and invests in private prison companies that run immigration detention centers. Kaiser also said the union withheld information it needed to reduce disruptions to patient care during the current strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UNAC/UHCP has called Kaiser’s move to walk away from months of national bargaining unlawful, and it opposes the company’s proposal to shift all of its bargaining to dozens of local units. Executive secretary Elizabeth Hawkins said the union is considering its options to resolve issues related to staffing levels, workflow and patient access that have left some Kaiser patients waiting months to get specialty medical care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve been looking at multiple avenues to settle this strike,” said Hawkins, a former registered nurse at Kaiser for 31 years. “It’s a very fluid, dynamic process that we’re going through. And right now, I’m not prepared to speculate on how this is going to unfold.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This month, Kaiser \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073484/kaiser-workers-say-patients-deserve-better-mental-health-care-after-31m-settlement\">agreed to pay\u003c/a> $31 million to resolve \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ebsa/ebsa20260210\">federal investigations\u003c/a> over long wait times and other problems for millions of California patients seeking mental health and substance use care. The deal comes two years after the company settled with the state for $200 million over similar issues. Kaiser therapists in Northern California with a separate union are about to finish voting on whether to authorize a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073839/kaiser-therapists-take-key-step-toward-1-day-strike\">one-day strike\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Problems mount as strike persists\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, pressure is growing on Kaiser and UNAC/UHCP to compromise as the current walkout drags on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser said more employees are crossing picket lines and returning to work, including more than 40% of nurses and pharmacists across striking locations. Hawkins called those figures inflated, adding that most members plan to keep withholding their labor as long as necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser, which is likely spending millions of dollars on contingency workers to help cover staffing shortages left by striking workers, faces criticism from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072837/kaiser-strike-delays-surgeries-disrupts-care-as-more-workers-walk-off-jobs\">patients reporting delayed\u003c/a> surgeries and treatments due to the labor conflict. Physicians and other employees continuing to work inside hospitals and clinics have also been left picking up the slack for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073905\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260219-STRIKINGKAISERWORKERS01145_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers on strike at the picket line outside Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Feb. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Maggie Burtch, a nurse midwife in Antioch and Walnut Creek, said that in addition to the financial stress her family faces to pay for their mortgage and child care, she’s concerned the long walkout will strain her relationships with obstetrics physicians and other co-workers who are not on strike and continue to attend to patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has been really tough on our OB team, who also have kids at home, and I hear they’re working double the hours that they normally work to cover us, and that doesn’t feel great,” said Burtch, 41, the mother of two young children. “So I’m really worried about what that’s going to feel like when we reenter. What are the vibes going to be? I’m worried it’s going to feel different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Burtch believes walking off her job was the right choice. She’s been frustrated by the pace of negotiations and disappointed by what she described as Kaiser’s hard-line stance during the strike and negotiations with midwives, who unionized to maintain their benefits.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>It’s really made me rethink whether or not this is the place that I want to continue to work, even though I love what I do,” said Burtch, who lives in Oakland. “But it’s hard to work a job where you just feel so undervalued.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being away from patients also pains Brianca Hutchins, a pediatric occupational therapist who helps rehabilitate children with disabilities and special needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 32-year-old, who often refers to her patients as “kiddos,” said wait times for patients at Kaiser are a top concern. She has been stretched thin trying to see up to 11 patients with complex medical histories per shift, and communicate with their families and providers to follow up on their care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are drowning time-wise,” said Hutchins of her team at Kaiser San José. “We really want support with workload and staffing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After all this time on picket lines, she appreciates getting to know other workers from different departments on strike, sharing camaraderie and mutual support. But her stress is ramping up, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not sleeping. My anxiety is through the roof,” Hutchins said. “Now that we’re in week four, the guilt for leaving my patients is in full swing. And then money-wise, I finally looked at my bank account and cried.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Mental health clinicians at Kaiser locations throughout Northern California are voting through Saturday to decide whether to hold a one-day strike this spring over \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999553/will-ai-replace-your-therapist-kaiser-wont-say-no\">proposed changes\u003c/a> to care protocols they say will diminish their working conditions or harm patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 2,400 therapists and social workers, represented by the\u003ca href=\"https://home.nuhw.org/\"> National Union of Health Care Workers\u003c/a>, have been negotiating their next contract since June, with talks reaching an impasse in recent months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all find ourselves confronting a Kaiser that no longer seeks input from its caregivers,” said Shay Loftus, a psychologist at Kaiser in Fairfield. “Kaiser management wants us to be cogs in their machine, but that’s not how health care, especially mental health care, works best for patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small but mighty union has a track record of forcing improvements to working conditions and patient care through its advocacy. This has included backing laws that\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11891049/california-bill-would-reduce-wait-times-for-mental-health-appointments\"> mandate shorter wait times\u003c/a> for individual therapy at Kaiser and going on strike for 10 weeks in 2022 to secure more time in their schedules for administrative work, like calling patients or reviewing charts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They say Kaiser is now trying to claw back both of those wins in the current contract, in addition to setting the stage for laying off therapists or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073484/kaiser-workers-say-patients-deserve-better-mental-health-care-after-31m-settlement\">replacing them with artificial intelligence\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073919\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073919 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/032_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/032_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/032_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/032_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser mental health care workers and supporters march from Oakland Kaiser Medical Center to Kaiser’s corporate headquarters on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the union’s top complaint centers on a new system Kaiser rolled out for triaging mental health patients in 2024 that replaces intake clinicians with unlicensed phone operators or an e-visit, where an algorithm determines the level of care based on questions the patient answers in an app or online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Therapists say patients are funneled into non-urgent therapy when they should have been directed to intensive services or the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Telephone service reps book people in completely inappropriate slots,” said Molly Parsons, an individual and couples therapist at Kaiser’s Pleasanton clinic. “It delays care and potentially harms patients who need immediate interventions.”[aside postID=science_1999553 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/251126-AI-KAISER-KQED_1.jpg']The two sides are not yet aligned on wage increases, which are typically negotiated last, but the union said this strike is about seeking agreement on the non-economic issues first. A spokesperson said the union is still engaged in sporadic bargaining sessions with Kaiser and is set to meet with the company for another session next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Kaiser said that AI tools are designed to “support — not replace — human judgment and care,” and that technology is evaluated for performance, safety, clinical usability, accuracy, equitability and satisfaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe AI has the potential to help clinicians and employees spend more time focused on patient care, improve the patient experience, and enhance fairness and quality in health outcomes,” spokesperson Lena Howland said via email. “Human assessment and clinical expertise always guide care delivery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union will finalize voting to authorize the strike over the weekend and said as of Thursday, about 70% of the membership had cast votes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it garners member support, the union plans to schedule the work stoppage for later in March. They must give 10 days’ advance notice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073923\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073923 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/033_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/033_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/033_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/033_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser mental health care workers and supporters march from Oakland Kaiser Medical Center to Kaiser’s corporate headquarters on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After striking for 10 weeks without pay over their last contract, then seeing their \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/kaiser-permanente-mental-health-workers-contract-southern-california/747638/\">sister union\u003c/a> in Southern California call an open-ended strike that lasted more than six months, appetite for anything more than a one-day walkout was low this time around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t seem like members are that jazzed about an ongoing, open-ended strike,” Parsons said. “There’s a fear, not only for how that would impact us as clinicians, but a fear of how it would impact our clients and patient care. And so, a one-day strike, we’re hoping to get more people involved.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That will have less negative impact on patients, she added, “but it will show Kaiser that we’re serious about this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/kdebenedetti\">\u003cem>Katie DeBenedetti\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Mental health clinicians at Kaiser locations throughout Northern California are voting through Saturday to decide whether to hold a one-day strike this spring over \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999553/will-ai-replace-your-therapist-kaiser-wont-say-no\">proposed changes\u003c/a> to care protocols they say will diminish their working conditions or harm patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 2,400 therapists and social workers, represented by the\u003ca href=\"https://home.nuhw.org/\"> National Union of Health Care Workers\u003c/a>, have been negotiating their next contract since June, with talks reaching an impasse in recent months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all find ourselves confronting a Kaiser that no longer seeks input from its caregivers,” said Shay Loftus, a psychologist at Kaiser in Fairfield. “Kaiser management wants us to be cogs in their machine, but that’s not how health care, especially mental health care, works best for patients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small but mighty union has a track record of forcing improvements to working conditions and patient care through its advocacy. This has included backing laws that\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11891049/california-bill-would-reduce-wait-times-for-mental-health-appointments\"> mandate shorter wait times\u003c/a> for individual therapy at Kaiser and going on strike for 10 weeks in 2022 to secure more time in their schedules for administrative work, like calling patients or reviewing charts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They say Kaiser is now trying to claw back both of those wins in the current contract, in addition to setting the stage for laying off therapists or \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073484/kaiser-workers-say-patients-deserve-better-mental-health-care-after-31m-settlement\">replacing them with artificial intelligence\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073919\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073919 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/032_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/032_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/032_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/032_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser mental health care workers and supporters march from Oakland Kaiser Medical Center to Kaiser’s corporate headquarters on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the union’s top complaint centers on a new system Kaiser rolled out for triaging mental health patients in 2024 that replaces intake clinicians with unlicensed phone operators or an e-visit, where an algorithm determines the level of care based on questions the patient answers in an app or online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Therapists say patients are funneled into non-urgent therapy when they should have been directed to intensive services or the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Telephone service reps book people in completely inappropriate slots,” said Molly Parsons, an individual and couples therapist at Kaiser’s Pleasanton clinic. “It delays care and potentially harms patients who need immediate interventions.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The two sides are not yet aligned on wage increases, which are typically negotiated last, but the union said this strike is about seeking agreement on the non-economic issues first. A spokesperson said the union is still engaged in sporadic bargaining sessions with Kaiser and is set to meet with the company for another session next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Kaiser said that AI tools are designed to “support — not replace — human judgment and care,” and that technology is evaluated for performance, safety, clinical usability, accuracy, equitability and satisfaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We believe AI has the potential to help clinicians and employees spend more time focused on patient care, improve the patient experience, and enhance fairness and quality in health outcomes,” spokesperson Lena Howland said via email. “Human assessment and clinical expertise always guide care delivery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union will finalize voting to authorize the strike over the weekend and said as of Thursday, about 70% of the membership had cast votes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it garners member support, the union plans to schedule the work stoppage for later in March. They must give 10 days’ advance notice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073923\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073923 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/033_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/033_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/033_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/033_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser mental health care workers and supporters march from Oakland Kaiser Medical Center to Kaiser’s corporate headquarters on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After striking for 10 weeks without pay over their last contract, then seeing their \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/kaiser-permanente-mental-health-workers-contract-southern-california/747638/\">sister union\u003c/a> in Southern California call an open-ended strike that lasted more than six months, appetite for anything more than a one-day walkout was low this time around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It doesn’t seem like members are that jazzed about an ongoing, open-ended strike,” Parsons said. “There’s a fear, not only for how that would impact us as clinicians, but a fear of how it would impact our clients and patient care. And so, a one-day strike, we’re hoping to get more people involved.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That will have less negative impact on patients, she added, “but it will show Kaiser that we’re serious about this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/kdebenedetti\">\u003cem>Katie DeBenedetti\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "kaiser-strike-enters-its-fourth-week",
"title": "Kaiser Strike Enters Its Fourth Week",
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"content": "\u003cp>Nearly 31,000 health care workers with the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals have been on strike for the last four weeks. Nurses, physicians assistants, pharmacists and other workers at Kaiser Permanente say that their wages have not kept up with inflation and that their workloads have negatively impacted patient care. As the strike drags on and negotiations continue to stall, more patients face canceled surgeries and appointments without an end in sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC4078420376\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:33] \u003c/em>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Outside of Kaiser Oakland on Monday, Kaiser Permanente nurses, physicians assistants, and other workers stood out in the rain to hold the picket line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Picket Line: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:53] \u003c/em>Thank you. Be safe in the rain. Let’s get this contract done!\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:03] \u003c/em>It’s been four weeks since tens of thousands of Kaiser workers who make up the backbone of patient care for the company began striking over staffing and pay, including Chris Pyper, a physicians assistant at the Kaiser in San Leandro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Chris Pyper: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:22] \u003c/em>It just kind of feels like they’ve forgotten the healthcare workers who are doing a lot of the patient care. I’m basically using up savings that I’ve had, hoping that this is going to produce a good contract and I’m willing to stay out as long as we need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:40] \u003c/em>Workers also have larger concerns over the direction of the company. Kaiser is the largest non-profit health insurer in the country. And employees say that as Kaiser has grown, their work has gotten harder and harder. Today, we talk with KQED labor correspondent, Farida Javala Romero, about the Kaiser strike and what it means for patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:21] \u003c/em>This is a large strike, even for a very large company like Kaiser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:29] \u003c/em>Farida Javala-Romero is a labor correspondent for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:33] \u003c/em>So this particular strike involves up to 31,000 employees in California. Most of them are based in Southern California, but there are some happening in Northern California as well. It’s made up of nurses, including nurse anesthetists, physicians assistants, physical therapists, midwives. And then in Southern California, there’s also pharmacists and other very key healthcare workers. They’re key people for operations and surgeries. So we’ve heard of some surgeries being delayed. And so I wanted to speak with Kaiser patients who are facing some of these disruptions in care because of the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:25] \u003c/em>Honestly, when the scheduler first called me and told me about it, I sobbed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:31] \u003c/em>So I spoke with folks like Kayla Howell in San Jose. She was going to have surgery to repair her torn ACL.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:39] \u003c/em>Having that taken away you realize like oh my god i use my leg for everything going to the bathroom taking a shower is extremely difficult and painful\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:48] \u003c/em>And so she was one of the folks who got a call saying, this thing is gonna be delayed until March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:55] \u003c/em>I’ve never had surgery before. It’s kind of a big thing. And so in my head, I was like, OK, this is what I’m going to do. I’m ready for it. You know, I’m preparing myself. It’s going to happen on this day. And then to have that, like, snatched away from me just like five days before it’s supposed to happen. I was, like Oh, that’s like a big paradigm shift, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:13] \u003c/em>Her mom was gonna travel from abroad to care for her. Her mom couldn’t change her ticket to come to the U.S. To help her and her lodging. It just seemed like there were so many ripple effects just for one patient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:27] \u003c/em>When Kaiser said they’re canceling non-essential surgeries, like before I would think like, oh, non-essential, like plastic surgery, stuff that like people don’t really like need, you know, but like I need my mobility and I need to my legs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:41] \u003c/em>Some of the people that wrote to us, you know, to tell us about their stories, they had hip replacement surgeries, you know where everything hurts, like it hurts to get in and out of their car. They told me that they’ve been waiting for these surgeries for months already to get on the schedule. So this, you now, additional delay hit really hard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:05:02] \u003c/em>I mean, that’s a huge inconvenience for people I can’t imagine. And we are already on week four which feels that feels pretty long to me is that long I guess in comparison to these other strikes that you’ve been talking about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:05:18] \u003c/em>Yeah, I think so. Since September, this is the third time they’ve gone on strike. But the previous strikes were limited duration, so they lasted one day or five days. And they said ahead of time how long it was going to last, which helps the employer prepare and also for people to know what’s going to happen. With this situation we have now, the stakes are higher because this could go on for a lot longer. It seems like many of these issues, at least from the employee’s perspective, are not getting resolved. And a lot of them have to do with staffing levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sanne Jacobsen: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:06] \u003c/em>I’ve been here for 14 years, I really am honestly at this point feeling like I work for an investment bank that poses as a healthcare organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:17] \u003c/em>Sanne Jacobson, I met her outside of the Oakland Medical Center. It was the first day of this strike on January 26. And she’s part of the bargaining committee. So they’re looking for more input into their scheduling, the number of patients that they see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sanne Jacobsen: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:36] \u003c/em>You get providers that are double and triple booked and they can’t adequately provide care for the patients. And they suffer moral injury when they go to work and they can’t practice like they are supposed to be practicing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:50] \u003c/em>What she, and this is echoing what a lot of other folks have told me at Picket Lines, is that increasing pressure to see more and more patients, they feel like they need to rush more to see more patients. They’re seeing their patients have to wait longer to be able to return to come see them for follow-up visits. And then from Kaiser’s perspective, they have been, for months, dismissing any claims that their patient care quality is sliding. And that there aren’t enough staffers to see patients. They say they meet all of the staffing levels that are required. And so, at least from workers’ perspective, the company is focusing on wages and wage increases, but not so much talking about the staffing problems that workers see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:38] \u003c/em>So would you say that’s like, the main sticking point for workers in this particular strike? This feeling that they’re just a little overwhelmed with low staffing compared to the number of patients they have to take care of, and that wages maybe actually isn’t the number one issue for them?\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:58] \u003c/em>I think it’s all connected. We can say that compensation and staffing levels are the two top issues. And those are nationwide top concerns for nurses and other healthcare workers. And when we’re talking about wages in this particular strike, the union wants a 25% increase over four years and Kaiser has drawn the line at 21.5%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:08:31] \u003c/em>Well, I wanna zoom out a little bit from this strike because I feel like I’ve seen a lot of strikes from Kaiser workers lately. Why is that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:08:39] \u003c/em>We have seen several strikes in the last few years as these contracts expire and Kaiser is in negotiations for a new contract with different unions. This is a company where many of their employees, I think it’s more than 130,000, are unionized. And I think that goes back to this central conflict that we’re seeing for a company like Kaiser, which is. Employees feel like the company is moving away from its mission as a nonprofit, and that instead the company has expanded to new states, building new facilities, buying hospitals, and investing the revenues they’re getting from their health insurance business into growing. Meanwhile, the employees feel like they’ve been sort of left behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Logan: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:36] \u003c/em>What’s happening at Kaiser in some ways reflects what’s happening in terms of the structure of the healthcare industry at the national level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:45] \u003c/em>John Logan chairs the Labor Studies Department at San Francisco State University. He’s a really interesting person to talk to about the strike because he’s kept an eye on Kaiser for a long time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Logan: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:01] \u003c/em>You know, the one thing about the Kaiser partnership that’s existed now for over 25 years, nurses, technicians, others had a great deal more say over working conditions, scheduling, and those types of things. And that’s what a lot of the workers say has been eroded in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:22] \u003c/em>The mission of Kaiser is to reinvest all of its revenues into patient care and their facilities. But employees, many of them who’ve worked at Kaiser for more than 10 years, they see the company as changing, they describe it as more corporate, more top-down, and I think that’s some of the conflict that we’re seeing now. It’s making billions of dollars in net income. It has really large reserves. That Kaiser says it needs to deal with long-term commitments, like pensions and building maintenance, and have enough money in case there’s another emergency, like a pandemic. And employees say, hey, this company has a lot of money. How come they’re not investing in their workforce and improving patient care?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:11:14] \u003c/em>It sounds like employees are feeling like they have to shoulder a lot of this growth that is happening in Kaiser without necessarily getting the support to do that. What is Kaiser saying in response?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:11:28] \u003c/em>What they’ve said in their public statements is that Kaiser is a great health care provider, that they have a really good model benefiting patients, and that they’re trying their best to meet the demand of Kaiser customers or members, which is what they call them. They have not really addressed these employee big concerns about staffing, about scheduling problems. We have not been able to get an interview with like a Kaiser executive or a representative to really dig into you know how they’re thinking about their reality and this you know labor conflict they have now. And then what we talked about earlier that the policies of the federal government are giving health care executives a really uncertain financial picture for the next couple of years. At companies like Kaiser, which is a health insurer and health provider. I mean, this means they could see a lot less money from people not being able to buy insurance or losing their health insurance, at the same time that they could higher costs from uninsured folks coming to hospitals for care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:42] \u003c/em>Well, I want to come back to Kayla who has the torn ACL. I mean, we’re four weeks into the strike now. I imagine she’s watching this all very, very closely. Do you have any sense of what public support is like from people like Kayla who are directly affected?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:03] \u003c/em>Kayla and other patients I spoke with, they all feel like they need the strike to be resolved as soon as possible so that they can get the care that they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:15] \u003c/em>We live in one of the richest countries in the world. I pay my health insurance and I pay my premiums and where is that money going to? I just wish they would figure out a way to resolve it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:27] \u003c/em>I think many of these folks sympathize with the employees and they want Kaiser to treat this as a very urgent matter and, you know, come to some deal. I think from both sides, but definitely when you go talk to people at the picket line, they really feel for the patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:47] \u003c/em>What is it going to take for this to end and when could it end?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:52] \u003c/em>So, there’s a national contract for all of these workers. And then there are locals in each of the regions where workers are represented. And Kaiser, at this point, is refusing to meet with national union negotiators. And there is some bargaining at the local level. What the union folks have told me is that the strike is not going to be resolved without a national contract, or that would be the easiest way for Kaiser to resolve it. The conflict has gone to such a bad place on both sides that you have the employer saying, we’re not going to deal with these national union negotiators anymore. And so we’re just going to try to resolve everything at the local level. And meanwhile, the union is saying, ‘That’s illegal. No, you have to talk to us.’\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:45] \u003c/em>Do you see any parallels between this Kaiser strike and the teacher strike that just ended in San Francisco last week?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:53] \u003c/em>Yeah, I mean, so much right now with these big conflicts we’re seeing are about affordability. For example, the Kaiser employees on strike say that during the pandemic, they agreed to much smaller wage increases because Kaiser had some big financial and other challenges, as many health systems did. And so now they feel like it’s a time to catch up and to really try to keep up with inflation and the high prices of everything. And then in San Francisco, with the teachers… It was a similar big issue, which is people feel like they can’t afford to live, you know, where do they work in San Francisco? And so the big topic over all of this is affordability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:47] \u003c/em>And the teachers were talking about not being able to afford their health care\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:50] \u003c/em>Health insurance right.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:55] \u003c/em>Farida, thank you so much for breaking this down. I appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:57] \u003c/em>Thank you, Ericka.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Nearly 31,000 health care workers with the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals have been on strike for the last four weeks. Nurses, physicians assistants, pharmacists and other workers at Kaiser Permanente say that their wages have not kept up with inflation and that their workloads have negatively impacted patient care. As the strike drags on and negotiations continue to stall, more patients face canceled surgeries and appointments without an end in sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC4078420376\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:33] \u003c/em>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Outside of Kaiser Oakland on Monday, Kaiser Permanente nurses, physicians assistants, and other workers stood out in the rain to hold the picket line.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Picket Line: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:00:53] \u003c/em>Thank you. Be safe in the rain. Let’s get this contract done!\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:03] \u003c/em>It’s been four weeks since tens of thousands of Kaiser workers who make up the backbone of patient care for the company began striking over staffing and pay, including Chris Pyper, a physicians assistant at the Kaiser in San Leandro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Chris Pyper: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:22] \u003c/em>It just kind of feels like they’ve forgotten the healthcare workers who are doing a lot of the patient care. I’m basically using up savings that I’ve had, hoping that this is going to produce a good contract and I’m willing to stay out as long as we need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:01:40] \u003c/em>Workers also have larger concerns over the direction of the company. Kaiser is the largest non-profit health insurer in the country. And employees say that as Kaiser has grown, their work has gotten harder and harder. Today, we talk with KQED labor correspondent, Farida Javala Romero, about the Kaiser strike and what it means for patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:21] \u003c/em>This is a large strike, even for a very large company like Kaiser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:29] \u003c/em>Farida Javala-Romero is a labor correspondent for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:02:33] \u003c/em>So this particular strike involves up to 31,000 employees in California. Most of them are based in Southern California, but there are some happening in Northern California as well. It’s made up of nurses, including nurse anesthetists, physicians assistants, physical therapists, midwives. And then in Southern California, there’s also pharmacists and other very key healthcare workers. They’re key people for operations and surgeries. So we’ve heard of some surgeries being delayed. And so I wanted to speak with Kaiser patients who are facing some of these disruptions in care because of the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:25] \u003c/em>Honestly, when the scheduler first called me and told me about it, I sobbed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:31] \u003c/em>So I spoke with folks like Kayla Howell in San Jose. She was going to have surgery to repair her torn ACL.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:39] \u003c/em>Having that taken away you realize like oh my god i use my leg for everything going to the bathroom taking a shower is extremely difficult and painful\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:48] \u003c/em>And so she was one of the folks who got a call saying, this thing is gonna be delayed until March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:03:55] \u003c/em>I’ve never had surgery before. It’s kind of a big thing. And so in my head, I was like, OK, this is what I’m going to do. I’m ready for it. You know, I’m preparing myself. It’s going to happen on this day. And then to have that, like, snatched away from me just like five days before it’s supposed to happen. I was, like Oh, that’s like a big paradigm shift, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:13] \u003c/em>Her mom was gonna travel from abroad to care for her. Her mom couldn’t change her ticket to come to the U.S. To help her and her lodging. It just seemed like there were so many ripple effects just for one patient.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:27] \u003c/em>When Kaiser said they’re canceling non-essential surgeries, like before I would think like, oh, non-essential, like plastic surgery, stuff that like people don’t really like need, you know, but like I need my mobility and I need to my legs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:04:41] \u003c/em>Some of the people that wrote to us, you know, to tell us about their stories, they had hip replacement surgeries, you know where everything hurts, like it hurts to get in and out of their car. They told me that they’ve been waiting for these surgeries for months already to get on the schedule. So this, you now, additional delay hit really hard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:05:02] \u003c/em>I mean, that’s a huge inconvenience for people I can’t imagine. And we are already on week four which feels that feels pretty long to me is that long I guess in comparison to these other strikes that you’ve been talking about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:05:18] \u003c/em>Yeah, I think so. Since September, this is the third time they’ve gone on strike. But the previous strikes were limited duration, so they lasted one day or five days. And they said ahead of time how long it was going to last, which helps the employer prepare and also for people to know what’s going to happen. With this situation we have now, the stakes are higher because this could go on for a lot longer. It seems like many of these issues, at least from the employee’s perspective, are not getting resolved. And a lot of them have to do with staffing levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sanne Jacobsen: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:06] \u003c/em>I’ve been here for 14 years, I really am honestly at this point feeling like I work for an investment bank that poses as a healthcare organization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:17] \u003c/em>Sanne Jacobson, I met her outside of the Oakland Medical Center. It was the first day of this strike on January 26. And she’s part of the bargaining committee. So they’re looking for more input into their scheduling, the number of patients that they see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sanne Jacobsen: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:36] \u003c/em>You get providers that are double and triple booked and they can’t adequately provide care for the patients. And they suffer moral injury when they go to work and they can’t practice like they are supposed to be practicing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:06:50] \u003c/em>What she, and this is echoing what a lot of other folks have told me at Picket Lines, is that increasing pressure to see more and more patients, they feel like they need to rush more to see more patients. They’re seeing their patients have to wait longer to be able to return to come see them for follow-up visits. And then from Kaiser’s perspective, they have been, for months, dismissing any claims that their patient care quality is sliding. And that there aren’t enough staffers to see patients. They say they meet all of the staffing levels that are required. And so, at least from workers’ perspective, the company is focusing on wages and wage increases, but not so much talking about the staffing problems that workers see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:38] \u003c/em>So would you say that’s like, the main sticking point for workers in this particular strike? This feeling that they’re just a little overwhelmed with low staffing compared to the number of patients they have to take care of, and that wages maybe actually isn’t the number one issue for them?\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:07:58] \u003c/em>I think it’s all connected. We can say that compensation and staffing levels are the two top issues. And those are nationwide top concerns for nurses and other healthcare workers. And when we’re talking about wages in this particular strike, the union wants a 25% increase over four years and Kaiser has drawn the line at 21.5%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:08:31] \u003c/em>Well, I wanna zoom out a little bit from this strike because I feel like I’ve seen a lot of strikes from Kaiser workers lately. Why is that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:08:39] \u003c/em>We have seen several strikes in the last few years as these contracts expire and Kaiser is in negotiations for a new contract with different unions. This is a company where many of their employees, I think it’s more than 130,000, are unionized. And I think that goes back to this central conflict that we’re seeing for a company like Kaiser, which is. Employees feel like the company is moving away from its mission as a nonprofit, and that instead the company has expanded to new states, building new facilities, buying hospitals, and investing the revenues they’re getting from their health insurance business into growing. Meanwhile, the employees feel like they’ve been sort of left behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Logan: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:36] \u003c/em>What’s happening at Kaiser in some ways reflects what’s happening in terms of the structure of the healthcare industry at the national level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:09:45] \u003c/em>John Logan chairs the Labor Studies Department at San Francisco State University. He’s a really interesting person to talk to about the strike because he’s kept an eye on Kaiser for a long time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>John Logan: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:01] \u003c/em>You know, the one thing about the Kaiser partnership that’s existed now for over 25 years, nurses, technicians, others had a great deal more say over working conditions, scheduling, and those types of things. And that’s what a lot of the workers say has been eroded in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:10:22] \u003c/em>The mission of Kaiser is to reinvest all of its revenues into patient care and their facilities. But employees, many of them who’ve worked at Kaiser for more than 10 years, they see the company as changing, they describe it as more corporate, more top-down, and I think that’s some of the conflict that we’re seeing now. It’s making billions of dollars in net income. It has really large reserves. That Kaiser says it needs to deal with long-term commitments, like pensions and building maintenance, and have enough money in case there’s another emergency, like a pandemic. And employees say, hey, this company has a lot of money. How come they’re not investing in their workforce and improving patient care?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:11:14] \u003c/em>It sounds like employees are feeling like they have to shoulder a lot of this growth that is happening in Kaiser without necessarily getting the support to do that. What is Kaiser saying in response?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:11:28] \u003c/em>What they’ve said in their public statements is that Kaiser is a great health care provider, that they have a really good model benefiting patients, and that they’re trying their best to meet the demand of Kaiser customers or members, which is what they call them. They have not really addressed these employee big concerns about staffing, about scheduling problems. We have not been able to get an interview with like a Kaiser executive or a representative to really dig into you know how they’re thinking about their reality and this you know labor conflict they have now. And then what we talked about earlier that the policies of the federal government are giving health care executives a really uncertain financial picture for the next couple of years. At companies like Kaiser, which is a health insurer and health provider. I mean, this means they could see a lot less money from people not being able to buy insurance or losing their health insurance, at the same time that they could higher costs from uninsured folks coming to hospitals for care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:12:42] \u003c/em>Well, I want to come back to Kayla who has the torn ACL. I mean, we’re four weeks into the strike now. I imagine she’s watching this all very, very closely. Do you have any sense of what public support is like from people like Kayla who are directly affected?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:03] \u003c/em>Kayla and other patients I spoke with, they all feel like they need the strike to be resolved as soon as possible so that they can get the care that they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kayla Howell: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:15] \u003c/em>We live in one of the richest countries in the world. I pay my health insurance and I pay my premiums and where is that money going to? I just wish they would figure out a way to resolve it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:27] \u003c/em>I think many of these folks sympathize with the employees and they want Kaiser to treat this as a very urgent matter and, you know, come to some deal. I think from both sides, but definitely when you go talk to people at the picket line, they really feel for the patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:47] \u003c/em>What is it going to take for this to end and when could it end?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:13:52] \u003c/em>So, there’s a national contract for all of these workers. And then there are locals in each of the regions where workers are represented. And Kaiser, at this point, is refusing to meet with national union negotiators. And there is some bargaining at the local level. What the union folks have told me is that the strike is not going to be resolved without a national contract, or that would be the easiest way for Kaiser to resolve it. The conflict has gone to such a bad place on both sides that you have the employer saying, we’re not going to deal with these national union negotiators anymore. And so we’re just going to try to resolve everything at the local level. And meanwhile, the union is saying, ‘That’s illegal. No, you have to talk to us.’\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:45] \u003c/em>Do you see any parallels between this Kaiser strike and the teacher strike that just ended in San Francisco last week?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:14:53] \u003c/em>Yeah, I mean, so much right now with these big conflicts we’re seeing are about affordability. For example, the Kaiser employees on strike say that during the pandemic, they agreed to much smaller wage increases because Kaiser had some big financial and other challenges, as many health systems did. And so now they feel like it’s a time to catch up and to really try to keep up with inflation and the high prices of everything. And then in San Francisco, with the teachers… It was a similar big issue, which is people feel like they can’t afford to live, you know, where do they work in San Francisco? And so the big topic over all of this is affordability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:47] \u003c/em>And the teachers were talking about not being able to afford their health care\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Farida Jhabvala Romero: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:50] \u003c/em>Health insurance right.\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/b>\u003cem>[00:15:55] \u003c/em>Farida, thank you so much for breaking this down. I appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> will pay a $31 million settlement with the federal government over the company’s mental health care practices, according to an agreement reached this week that followed an investigation into the company’s compliance with mental health laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the therapists and other mental health workers employed by the health care provider said they remain concerned that patients in California are still struggling to get the timely help they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ebsa/ebsa20260210\">announced\u003c/a> it ordered the Oakland-based health care giant to reimburse Kaiser members in the Golden State for more than $28 million in costs incurred when seeking out-of-network mental health and substance use disorder treatment — saying in a statement that the company failed “to provide timely and appropriate access” to those services between January 2021 and September 2024. Kaiser will also pay a $2.8 million penalty to the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics for years have alleged that Kaiser has not maintained adequate provider networks for mental health and substance use disorder care, forcing many patients to pay for health care services out of pocket. Mental health care workers said they first took their concerns to Kaiser management, where they were not addressed, then brought them to the attention of the federal labor agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Kaiser attributed the lack of consistent access to care to surges in demand for mental health care treatment over the past six years, triggered by the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These challenges made it very difficult for our members to get consistent access to the care they needed when they needed it,” spokesperson Lena Howland said. “We are committed to reimbursing those members who tried but may have been unable to get timely care from Kaiser Permanente in that time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059848\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers strike outside of the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the midst of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mental-health/about/what-cdc-is-doing.html\">national\u003c/a> mental health crisis, finding a therapist, especially one who accepts insurance,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/series/state-of-mind\"> has become notoriously difficult\u003c/a> as the field struggles with workforce shortages and low reimbursement rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser has grappled with these industry-wide challenges for\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/21358/kaiser-agrees-to-pay-4-million-fine-over-mental-health-care-drops-lawsuit\"> over a decade\u003c/a>. California regulators have\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11791527/kaiser-therapists-strike-again-over-long-wait-times\"> repeatedly cited the company\u003c/a> for making patients wait\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11891049/california-bill-would-reduce-wait-times-for-mental-health-appointments\"> too long\u003c/a> for mental health appointments, ordering Kaiser to address persistent issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents Kaiser Permanente’s 4,800 mental health professionals in California and Hawaii, said Friday that the health care giant’s proposals in ongoing contract negotiations indicate that patients hoping for shorter wait times and greater access to therapists may expect business as usual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our therapists still can’t see patients for weeks at a time,” said Matthew Artz, a union spokesperson. “Some of them can’t ‘refer out’ to outside providers. And even if Kaiser is increasing its network, it’s doing other things to diminish care.”[aside postID=news_12072837 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8137B-KQED.jpg']One of the major points of contention is Kaiser’s use of telephone operators and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999553/will-ai-replace-your-therapist-kaiser-wont-say-no\">artificial intelligence to triage\u003c/a> and treat mental health patients. Kaiser uses those intermediaries, the union said, to determine how quickly a patient needs care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In contract negotiations with therapists in Northern California, the union said Kaiser is seeking free rein to push patients into AI-based therapy protocols that Artz argued would diminish the quality of care. However, the company has said its AI tools don’t make medical decisions or replace human care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser is not acting like a health care provider that has seen the errors of its ways and wants to provide better mental health care,” Artz said. “It’s really acting like an insurance company that still wants to spend as little money as possible on mental health and just try to avoid getting in trouble.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement comes less than three years after Kaiser agreed to pay a $200 million penalty, including a historic $50 million fine, as part of a settlement related to California’s 2021 parity law, designed to provide equal access to mental and physical health. As part of \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/zMY5CADmygFGn4yOs9iRIGs93S?domain=wpso.dmhc.ca.gov\">that agreement\u003c/a>, Kaiser acknowledged at that time that it lacked “sufficient behavioral health providers” and that “this lack of clinical staff has resulted in excessive wait times for enrollee individual therapy appointments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente nurses, pharmacists and other physical health care workers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072837/kaiser-strike-delays-surgeries-disrupts-care-as-more-workers-walk-off-jobs\">are on strike\u003c/a> across the state over stalled contract talks, staffing levels and pay. NUHW members, who went on a 10-week strike in 2022, are voting on whether to join their colleagues on the picket lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser therapists have been very willing to go on strike in order to advocate for better patient care and better working conditions,” Artz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Desmond Meagley contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Kaiser therapists and mental health workers are considering joining the tens of thousands of nurses, pharmacists and other physical health care workers who are currently striking. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente\">Kaiser Permanente\u003c/a> will pay a $31 million settlement with the federal government over the company’s mental health care practices, according to an agreement reached this week that followed an investigation into the company’s compliance with mental health laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the therapists and other mental health workers employed by the health care provider said they remain concerned that patients in California are still struggling to get the timely help they need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ebsa/ebsa20260210\">announced\u003c/a> it ordered the Oakland-based health care giant to reimburse Kaiser members in the Golden State for more than $28 million in costs incurred when seeking out-of-network mental health and substance use disorder treatment — saying in a statement that the company failed “to provide timely and appropriate access” to those services between January 2021 and September 2024. Kaiser will also pay a $2.8 million penalty to the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Critics for years have alleged that Kaiser has not maintained adequate provider networks for mental health and substance use disorder care, forcing many patients to pay for health care services out of pocket. Mental health care workers said they first took their concerns to Kaiser management, where they were not addressed, then brought them to the attention of the federal labor agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Kaiser attributed the lack of consistent access to care to surges in demand for mental health care treatment over the past six years, triggered by the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These challenges made it very difficult for our members to get consistent access to the care they needed when they needed it,” spokesperson Lena Howland said. “We are committed to reimbursing those members who tried but may have been unable to get timely care from Kaiser Permanente in that time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059848\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers strike outside of the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the midst of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mental-health/about/what-cdc-is-doing.html\">national\u003c/a> mental health crisis, finding a therapist, especially one who accepts insurance,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/series/state-of-mind\"> has become notoriously difficult\u003c/a> as the field struggles with workforce shortages and low reimbursement rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser has grappled with these industry-wide challenges for\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/21358/kaiser-agrees-to-pay-4-million-fine-over-mental-health-care-drops-lawsuit\"> over a decade\u003c/a>. California regulators have\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11791527/kaiser-therapists-strike-again-over-long-wait-times\"> repeatedly cited the company\u003c/a> for making patients wait\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11891049/california-bill-would-reduce-wait-times-for-mental-health-appointments\"> too long\u003c/a> for mental health appointments, ordering Kaiser to address persistent issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents Kaiser Permanente’s 4,800 mental health professionals in California and Hawaii, said Friday that the health care giant’s proposals in ongoing contract negotiations indicate that patients hoping for shorter wait times and greater access to therapists may expect business as usual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our therapists still can’t see patients for weeks at a time,” said Matthew Artz, a union spokesperson. “Some of them can’t ‘refer out’ to outside providers. And even if Kaiser is increasing its network, it’s doing other things to diminish care.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>One of the major points of contention is Kaiser’s use of telephone operators and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999553/will-ai-replace-your-therapist-kaiser-wont-say-no\">artificial intelligence to triage\u003c/a> and treat mental health patients. Kaiser uses those intermediaries, the union said, to determine how quickly a patient needs care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In contract negotiations with therapists in Northern California, the union said Kaiser is seeking free rein to push patients into AI-based therapy protocols that Artz argued would diminish the quality of care. However, the company has said its AI tools don’t make medical decisions or replace human care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser is not acting like a health care provider that has seen the errors of its ways and wants to provide better mental health care,” Artz said. “It’s really acting like an insurance company that still wants to spend as little money as possible on mental health and just try to avoid getting in trouble.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The settlement comes less than three years after Kaiser agreed to pay a $200 million penalty, including a historic $50 million fine, as part of a settlement related to California’s 2021 parity law, designed to provide equal access to mental and physical health. As part of \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/zMY5CADmygFGn4yOs9iRIGs93S?domain=wpso.dmhc.ca.gov\">that agreement\u003c/a>, Kaiser acknowledged at that time that it lacked “sufficient behavioral health providers” and that “this lack of clinical staff has resulted in excessive wait times for enrollee individual therapy appointments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente nurses, pharmacists and other physical health care workers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12072837/kaiser-strike-delays-surgeries-disrupts-care-as-more-workers-walk-off-jobs\">are on strike\u003c/a> across the state over stalled contract talks, staffing levels and pay. NUHW members, who went on a 10-week strike in 2022, are voting on whether to join their colleagues on the picket lines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser therapists have been very willing to go on strike in order to advocate for better patient care and better working conditions,” Artz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s Desmond Meagley contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "kaiser-strike-delays-surgeries-disrupts-care-as-more-workers-walk-off-jobs",
"title": "Kaiser Strike Delays Surgeries, Disrupts Care as More Workers Walk Off Jobs",
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"headTitle": "Kaiser Strike Delays Surgeries, Disrupts Care as More Workers Walk Off Jobs | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Carrie Esqueda’s injured knee has hurt since last summer, sometimes agonizingly so. It hurts when she tries to walk in her hilly Riverside County neighborhood and show homes to real estate clients. The 57-year-old misses the regular one-hour strolls with friends that kept her healthy and fit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months waiting for a high-demand surgery at Kaiser Permanente to repair her torn meniscus, Esqueda said the procedure was scheduled for Jan. 29. But the night before, the nonprofit health care organization called with bad news: Her operation was canceled due to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071014/kaiser-strike-sees-thousands-walk-out-in-california-this-time-with-no-end-in-sight\">an employee strike\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was absolutely devastated. I literally wanted to cry,” Esqueda said. “I am in constant pain. I cannot really walk without a knee brace because it always feels like it’s going to buckle. So I’ve been in a bad situation. And now, who knows how long it’ll take.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esqueda is one of a growing number of patients reporting delays in care as a labor conflict intensifies at Kaiser, rippling across California and Hawaii, with no contract deal in sight. Meanwhile, the ranks of up to 31,000 nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists and other health care workers striking for a third week over staffing levels and compensation swelled on Monday, as thousands more employees walked off pharmacy and laboratory jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland-based health care giant, which has kept most of its facilities open, declined requests for more information on how many procedures it has postponed since the strike began on Jan. 26.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company has relocated staffers to affected hospitals and medical offices, and hired temporary workers, a mounting expense that could add up to millions of dollars per week. Some pharmacies will close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072988\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072988\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrie Esqueda wears a knee brace at home in Wildomar on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser Permanente remains committed to its nurses, employees, and patients and focused on reaching a fair agreement that recognizes employees’ value while protecting access to affordable, quality care for the members and patients who rely on us every day,” a company statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Kaiser said its doctors, nurses and contingency personnel are working to meet members’ needs, the nurse anesthetists and other highly specialized professionals who are on the picket lines can be hard to replace. Disruptions are especially affecting patients in Southern California, where most of the workers on strike are based.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of cancer patients have said on social media that their chemotherapy treatments were canceled or moved with little warning to non-Kaiser facilities that required further travel, while others described deserted hospital halls and long pharmacy wait lines. Several patients told KQED that their postponed hip replacement and other surgeries due to the staffing shortages left them depressed and struggling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel angry and hopeless because my surgery has been delayed by five weeks, and that’s five more weeks of my life waiting to get back to normal,” said Kayla Howell, whose Jan. 27 operation to repair a torn ACL was rescheduled to March. “Having that taken away, you realize, ‘Oh my God, I use my leg for everything, even taking a shower is extremely difficult and painful.’”[aside postID=news_12070141 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Emmas-room-2.jpg']The 27-year-old kindergarten teacher assistant in San José had enlisted her mother to travel from Ireland to help with post-surgery recovery, including the weeks Howell must spend on crutches. But the setback upended those plans, as rebooking her mother’s flight and lodging would cost hundreds more dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just so frustrating because we just want care, and we deserve care. I pay my health insurance, and I pay my premiums, and where is that money going?” she said, adding that she wants Kaiser executives to work urgently to resolve the strike. “Help people get care, because that’s what their company is supposed to be for. But instead, people are suffering.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, labor negotiations are at a standstill, with both parties accusing each other of halting progress. Kaiser is refusing to meet with national union negotiators, saying it is shifting unresolved contract issues to local bargaining tables. The union, which has called that move illegal, filed a federal unfair labor practices complaint against Kaiser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union-represented employees want a 25% raise over a four-year contract, with no cuts to pensions and other benefits, as well as more input on scheduling and staffing ratios. The company, which has dismissed claims of chronic understaffing or declining patient care, has stuck for months to its offer to increase wages by 21.5%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve put all of these years into this company, and to see that it has come to this, it’s very overwhelming and it’s heartbreaking,” said Christina Thomas, a 40-year-old pharmacy technician with the United Food and Commercial Workers who walked off the job this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mother of two said wages have not kept up with inflation, while she and co-workers struggle to fill thousands of prescriptions daily at a Lancaster pharmacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11963409\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11963409\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt='A large modern building with the words \"Kaiser Permanente\" across the top.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 4, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“At the end of the day, we are striking for our patients, and so that Kaiser can wake up and come back to the table,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a nonprofit health plan and care provider, Kaiser reinvests its revenue into facilities and services for patients. The organization, founded in 1945, has grown to serve more than 12 million people in eight states and the District of Columbia, emphasizing preventive care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Company executives argue that greater wage raises are unsustainable and would increase members’ premiums at a time when massive budget cuts to Medicaid and other federal policies could make insurance unaffordable for millions of Americans. Under the Trump administration, Kaiser and other health care systems face an uncertain financial forecast with potential revenue losses and increased costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the work stoppage drags on in California, where most Kaiser customers are located, the company risks increasing reputational damage among not only its patients but also its workforce, resulting in longer-term costs, according to health care business experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073048\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073048 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrie Esqueda at home in Wildomar, California, on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The bigger economic risk isn’t what the strike costs this week, but it’s what happens if workforce distrust becomes structural at Kaiser, because you will get higher turnover, you’re going to have higher recruitment costs,” said Michael Skolnik, academic director of the Dominican University of California’s health care executive MBA program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patients like Alice Gallagher sympathize with the strikers but fear further disruptions. Last week, the San Diego County clarinetist said she was temporarily unable to order her medication for epilepsy via the Kaiser app. She tried calling her local pharmacy and then a regional number, she said, but nobody would help her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallagher, 46, started to panic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I don’t have my medication, I end up in the hospital… because my seizures are so bad once they get out of control,” she said, adding that, as she can’t drive, it would take her hours to travel on paratransit to visit her pharmacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallagher was later able to order her prescriptions online. But the experience left her wondering about other vulnerable patients in need of timely care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had my moment of panic,” she said. “But for someone who’s just been diagnosed with something and feels overwhelmed, or someone who has cancer and then they are at the mercy of this stalemate in the negotiations, that’s who’s really suffering. That’s what’s really tough here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esqueda, the real estate agent with a torn meniscus, said that she’s watching the news daily, hoping that Kaiser ends the strike so that she can get the surgery she needs to heal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just praying that they get to some resolution,” Esqueda said. “I hope they listen and take into consideration that there are people’s lives that are being turned upside down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Carrie Esqueda’s injured knee has hurt since last summer, sometimes agonizingly so. It hurts when she tries to walk in her hilly Riverside County neighborhood and show homes to real estate clients. The 57-year-old misses the regular one-hour strolls with friends that kept her healthy and fit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After months waiting for a high-demand surgery at Kaiser Permanente to repair her torn meniscus, Esqueda said the procedure was scheduled for Jan. 29. But the night before, the nonprofit health care organization called with bad news: Her operation was canceled due to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071014/kaiser-strike-sees-thousands-walk-out-in-california-this-time-with-no-end-in-sight\">an employee strike\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was absolutely devastated. I literally wanted to cry,” Esqueda said. “I am in constant pain. I cannot really walk without a knee brace because it always feels like it’s going to buckle. So I’ve been in a bad situation. And now, who knows how long it’ll take.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esqueda is one of a growing number of patients reporting delays in care as a labor conflict intensifies at Kaiser, rippling across California and Hawaii, with no contract deal in sight. Meanwhile, the ranks of up to 31,000 nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists and other health care workers striking for a third week over staffing levels and compensation swelled on Monday, as thousands more employees walked off pharmacy and laboratory jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland-based health care giant, which has kept most of its facilities open, declined requests for more information on how many procedures it has postponed since the strike began on Jan. 26.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company has relocated staffers to affected hospitals and medical offices, and hired temporary workers, a mounting expense that could add up to millions of dollars per week. Some pharmacies will close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072988\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072988\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8239B-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrie Esqueda wears a knee brace at home in Wildomar on Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser Permanente remains committed to its nurses, employees, and patients and focused on reaching a fair agreement that recognizes employees’ value while protecting access to affordable, quality care for the members and patients who rely on us every day,” a company statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Kaiser said its doctors, nurses and contingency personnel are working to meet members’ needs, the nurse anesthetists and other highly specialized professionals who are on the picket lines can be hard to replace. Disruptions are especially affecting patients in Southern California, where most of the workers on strike are based.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of cancer patients have said on social media that their chemotherapy treatments were canceled or moved with little warning to non-Kaiser facilities that required further travel, while others described deserted hospital halls and long pharmacy wait lines. Several patients told KQED that their postponed hip replacement and other surgeries due to the staffing shortages left them depressed and struggling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel angry and hopeless because my surgery has been delayed by five weeks, and that’s five more weeks of my life waiting to get back to normal,” said Kayla Howell, whose Jan. 27 operation to repair a torn ACL was rescheduled to March. “Having that taken away, you realize, ‘Oh my God, I use my leg for everything, even taking a shower is extremely difficult and painful.’”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The 27-year-old kindergarten teacher assistant in San José had enlisted her mother to travel from Ireland to help with post-surgery recovery, including the weeks Howell must spend on crutches. But the setback upended those plans, as rebooking her mother’s flight and lodging would cost hundreds more dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just so frustrating because we just want care, and we deserve care. I pay my health insurance, and I pay my premiums, and where is that money going?” she said, adding that she wants Kaiser executives to work urgently to resolve the strike. “Help people get care, because that’s what their company is supposed to be for. But instead, people are suffering.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, labor negotiations are at a standstill, with both parties accusing each other of halting progress. Kaiser is refusing to meet with national union negotiators, saying it is shifting unresolved contract issues to local bargaining tables. The union, which has called that move illegal, filed a federal unfair labor practices complaint against Kaiser.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union-represented employees want a 25% raise over a four-year contract, with no cuts to pensions and other benefits, as well as more input on scheduling and staffing ratios. The company, which has dismissed claims of chronic understaffing or declining patient care, has stuck for months to its offer to increase wages by 21.5%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve put all of these years into this company, and to see that it has come to this, it’s very overwhelming and it’s heartbreaking,” said Christina Thomas, a 40-year-old pharmacy technician with the United Food and Commercial Workers who walked off the job this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mother of two said wages have not kept up with inflation, while she and co-workers struggle to fill thousands of prescriptions daily at a Lancaster pharmacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11963409\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11963409\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt='A large modern building with the words \"Kaiser Permanente\" across the top.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 4, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“At the end of the day, we are striking for our patients, and so that Kaiser can wake up and come back to the table,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a nonprofit health plan and care provider, Kaiser reinvests its revenue into facilities and services for patients. The organization, founded in 1945, has grown to serve more than 12 million people in eight states and the District of Columbia, emphasizing preventive care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Company executives argue that greater wage raises are unsustainable and would increase members’ premiums at a time when massive budget cuts to Medicaid and other federal policies could make insurance unaffordable for millions of Americans. Under the Trump administration, Kaiser and other health care systems face an uncertain financial forecast with potential revenue losses and increased costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the work stoppage drags on in California, where most Kaiser customers are located, the company risks increasing reputational damage among not only its patients but also its workforce, resulting in longer-term costs, according to health care business experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073048\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12073048 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8223B-KQED-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carrie Esqueda at home in Wildomar, California, on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. \u003ccite>(Lauren Justice for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The bigger economic risk isn’t what the strike costs this week, but it’s what happens if workforce distrust becomes structural at Kaiser, because you will get higher turnover, you’re going to have higher recruitment costs,” said Michael Skolnik, academic director of the Dominican University of California’s health care executive MBA program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patients like Alice Gallagher sympathize with the strikers but fear further disruptions. Last week, the San Diego County clarinetist said she was temporarily unable to order her medication for epilepsy via the Kaiser app. She tried calling her local pharmacy and then a regional number, she said, but nobody would help her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallagher, 46, started to panic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I don’t have my medication, I end up in the hospital… because my seizures are so bad once they get out of control,” she said, adding that, as she can’t drive, it would take her hours to travel on paratransit to visit her pharmacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gallagher was later able to order her prescriptions online. But the experience left her wondering about other vulnerable patients in need of timely care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had my moment of panic,” she said. “But for someone who’s just been diagnosed with something and feels overwhelmed, or someone who has cancer and then they are at the mercy of this stalemate in the negotiations, that’s who’s really suffering. That’s what’s really tough here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Esqueda, the real estate agent with a torn meniscus, said that she’s watching the news daily, hoping that Kaiser ends the strike so that she can get the surgery she needs to heal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just praying that they get to some resolution,” Esqueda said. “I hope they listen and take into consideration that there are people’s lives that are being turned upside down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The health care industry has often been slow to adopt new technology — but not when it comes to AI. And as Kaiser Permanente’s mental health clinicians in Northern California negotiate their latest contract with the company, they’re looking for reassurance that AI isn’t coming for their jobs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Links:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999553/will-ai-replace-your-therapist-kaiser-wont-say-no\">Will AI Replace Your Therapist? Kaiser Won’t Say No\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC3808554854\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:00] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. So I went to the doctor’s the other day, and as expected, the nurse asked some pretty basic questions. How tall am I? Do I exercise? Any history of cancer in the family? Then, when the doctor walked in, she asked a pretty surprising question. Would it be okay if they used some sort of automated transcriber to take notes on my visit? An automated transcriber, as in AI, I asked. Turns out AI is everywhere, including in the doctor’s office. Some in the healthcare industry say AI is making their lives easier. But others, like the mental healthcare workers at Kaiser are also worried that it could replace them entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:01:05] A lot of our members are afraid that it’s going to shift into full-blown therapy, right? That there are going to be new technologies that allow Kaiser to provide, you know, chat-based mental health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:20] Today, will AI replace your therapist? And why the debate at Kaiser is worth watching.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:01:38] Health care is an industry that is usually pretty slow to adopt new technology, but the experts that I talk to say that AI is different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:49] April Dembosky is a healthcare correspondent for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:01:52] Health systems are really excited about the potential that AI has primarily in this moment to improve diagnostics, but also to cut down on paperwork and administrative tasks. So if you go see a medical doctor at Sutter or Kaiser right now, very likely you have been or very soon will be asked if it’s okay for the doctor to use an AI note taker where they will use their cell phone. To record the interaction and then the AI will summarize and write notes for your medical chart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Pitt \u003c/strong>[00:02:29] I have an app on my phone that can listen to our conversation and the details of my physical exam and write it all up in your medical record. Wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:02:39] If folks out there are watching The Pitt, this actually came up in episode two. So the episode that just came out last week. So there’s a new doctor in the ER and she’s introducing the residents to the concept of AI note takers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Doctor (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>[00:02:55] What do you think?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Medical Student (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>[00:02:56] Well, I don’t think it’s a cardiac.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Doctor (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>[00:02:58] I mean, what do you think of the app?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Medical Student (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>00:03:00] I mean, it’s hard to say without seeing the full thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Doctor (The Pitt)\u003c/strong> [00:03:02] Take a look.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Medical Student (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>[00:03:04] Oh my God, do you know how much time this will save?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:03:07] And so she takes out her cell phone in the exam room and tells a patient, you know, it’s going to record their interaction. And afterward they walk out, they walk over to a computer and the AI has already written a summary of the exam in the patient’s chart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Medical Student (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>[00:03:24] Well, excuse me, it says here she takes risperdol and antipsychotics. She takes restoril when needed for sleep, so is that, um…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Medical Student (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>[00:03:31] AI, almost intelligent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Doctor (The Pitt)\u003c/strong> [00:03:34] You must always carefully proofread and correct the minor errors. It’s excellent, but not perfect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:03:44] That’s one of the ways that AI is most present in our healthcare right now. I mean, I have friends in the Bay Area who work in healthcare who, you know, I saw some for dinner a little while ago and you know they said, I am here tonight because of the AI note taker. You know, like because the AI notetaker like did my charting for me, I am able to be here and hanging out with you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:12] Wow, that is so interesting. And yeah, I mean, we’re wrestling with the role of AI in our healthcare and popular culture, but also in real life right now. I know this is a big, big question that is especially relevant for mental healthcare workers in Northern California right now, specifically at Kaiser. Can you explain? April, why this is such a relevant conversation among mental health care workers right now in particular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:04:44] Sure, so mental health clinicians at Kaiser are in contract negotiations right now. They’ve actually been in bargaining for this next contract for about six months now. So it’s been kind of dragging along. And one of the sticking points is actually around AI. So, mental health workers, they know that AI is here to stay in health care, but when it comes to mental health care they want some simple guardrails. They want to make sure that they are part of seeing that AI is rolled out responsibly in a way that protects patients’ privacy, but also in a ways that protects their own jobs. And so one of the things that they’ve asked for in their contract is language that says specifically any introduction of new AI tools will be used only to assist therapists, but it will not be used to replace them. To them, I think this sounds like a really reasonable ask, but they were really surprised when Kaiser said no.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:06:00] So again, they want flexibility to increase their use of AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:06:06] I talked to Ilana Marcucci-Morris. She’s a clinical social worker at Kaiser. She works in the intake department, and she’s a member of the union that is bargaining this contract. It’s called the National Union of Health Care Workers, NUHW.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:06:22] When we ask that AI not replace us, they will not put that language in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:06:28] And when I talk to her, she says, I’m a millennial, I love gadgets, I love tools, you know, I get it. We just want some simple protections here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:06:37] A lot of our members are afraid that it’s going to shift into full blown therapy, right? That there are going to be new technologies that allow Kaiser to not just skip the licensed triage, but to provide, you know, chat based mental health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:06:54] One of the reasons they’re surprised is because their sister union in Southern California had asked for the same language and Kaiser agreed to it. And that contract was signed last May. And so basically, you know, a month or so after signing a contract that included this language, Kaiser was backing off saying, we don’t wanna commit to that anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:07:20] I mean, they’ll say, no, that’s not our intention. But when we say, hey, can you put that it’s not your intention in the contract? Well, we can’t predict the future. We need to maintain flexibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:38] So it sounds like these mental health care workers are afraid for their jobs, but some of this technology is already being used. What is it about these tools that they are so concerned about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:07:54] Basically, Kaiser is excited about getting clinicians to use this note-taking software so that it will free them up to see more patients in a day. But clinicians are really worried about this. I think they’re worried about the privacy and data security, where are these recordings going, how long are they kept, how well are they protected, who else can see them. But specifically, I think they’re also really concerned about how this technology could influence the patient interaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:08:27] I wouldn’t want a recording of my disagreements with a family member or my trauma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:08:34] And so what Ilana says is talking to your doctor about a fever or a skin condition, it’s really different from talking to your therapist about really vulnerable, really emotional things that are going on in your life. And they’re concerned that patients, if they know they’re being recorded, that it might cause them to hold back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:09:00] A big part of our work is that human connection and rapport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:09:08] So Kaiser clinicians are basically saying, look, you know, right now this technology is optional for us to use, but we’re really worried that Kaiser is going to, you know, try to force us to use it, perhaps even in clinical situations where we think it could be harmful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:09:27] Having a human being in your court that is trained and is a professional giving you warmth and encouragement and evidence-based direction is something that technology just can’t replace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:44] AI has already taken roles that people used to have at Kaiser, like doing intake for mental health care. Patients now have the option of doing an e-visit through the app, where you click through a series of questions and the algorithm comes up with a score and recommends where you go next. So far, there isn’t a Kaiser therapist chatbot. Though it hasn’t stopped a lot of people from seeking help for their problems outside of the healthcare system altogether. And April, we’re also in an environment where many people are seeking out mental health help through chatbots, including teenagers. Are patient preferences around this changing as well? And how do mental health experts respond to that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:10:40] In the last few years, we’ve seen a huge rise of consumer facing chatbots and these are not therapists to be clear, but people are starting to use them as therapists. This is a trend that is already taken off because they are available immediately. You can tell them how to interact with you and they are always there. There are clinical psychologists who have. You know, been working on a verified evidence-based, widely tested kind of AI chat bot for therapy for at least six years now. And what they will tell you is it takes a really, really long time to develop a proven product like that, that, you know actually conforms to the standards of delivering therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jodi Halpern \u003c/strong>[00:11:33] We cannot institute any of this on a large scale population level without studying it first and making sure it’s safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:11:42] Jodi Halpern is a bioethics professor at UC Berkeley. Jodi Helpern talks about the potential that chatbots have in cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a particular kind of therapy that tends to be a little bit more formal, a little more formulaic, but she’s very circumspect when it comes to relational therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jodi Halpern \u003c/strong>[00:12:04] In the meeting with an empathic human face-to-face, there is the possibility for the patient really to develop trust. And that’s actually a powerful element in improving health outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:12:20] Chatbots are not very good at this, especially consumer-facing chatbots are designed to be affirmative. Sycophantic is the word that experts use. They’re just designed to validate everything you say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jodi Halpern \u003c/strong>[00:12:40] We need more skillful human workforce in the mental health area to meet our unmet needs. We need AI to unburden the skillful human force through ambient medical records and other forms that don’t have to be intrusive or overly privacy invading, but they can take the workload off clinicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:06] Coming back to Kaiser, April, many of their employees are already using AI. No Kaiser AI therapists as of now, although many of the workers like Alana are worried that there could be. Has Kaiser had any response to this story or any thoughts on AI or contract negotiations that they’ve shared with you?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:13:28] Kaiser has not had a lot to say about this. I’ve interacted with them a fair amount asking for interviews multiple times, and they have not been willing to sit down and talk about this, they shared a statement. It says in part that artificial intelligence tools at Kaiser don’t make medical decisions. Our physicians and care teams are always at the center of decision-making with our patients. AI does not replace human assessment and care, but they do see artificial intelligence holding, as they say, significant potential to benefit healthcare by supporting better diagnostics, enhancing patient-clinician relationships, optimizing clinicians’ time, and ensuring fairness in care experiences and health outcomes by addressing individual needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:23] And I mean, it does seem like consumer trends around AI are one thing, April, but it also seems like these sort of large healthcare systems like Kaiser have a really big role to play in terms of the role that AI could play in the future as well. I mean why do you think it’s important to watch what Kaiser does from here?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:14:48] Kaiser is a large healthcare institution. It has power. It can influence how quickly and how broadly new technologies are adopted in a way that could have impact on the industry as a whole. And it’s also one of the very few systems that has a mental health union that’s trying to influence that process. So I think that those things put together just make it a really interesting health system to watch. For the way that that influence works on how patients access healthcare and how mental health clinicians do their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The health care industry has often been slow to adopt new technology — but not when it comes to AI. And as Kaiser Permanente’s mental health clinicians in Northern California negotiate their latest contract with the company, they’re looking for reassurance that AI isn’t coming for their jobs.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Links:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999553/will-ai-replace-your-therapist-kaiser-wont-say-no\">Will AI Replace Your Therapist? Kaiser Won’t Say No\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC3808554854\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:00] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. So I went to the doctor’s the other day, and as expected, the nurse asked some pretty basic questions. How tall am I? Do I exercise? Any history of cancer in the family? Then, when the doctor walked in, she asked a pretty surprising question. Would it be okay if they used some sort of automated transcriber to take notes on my visit? An automated transcriber, as in AI, I asked. Turns out AI is everywhere, including in the doctor’s office. Some in the healthcare industry say AI is making their lives easier. But others, like the mental healthcare workers at Kaiser are also worried that it could replace them entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:01:05] A lot of our members are afraid that it’s going to shift into full-blown therapy, right? That there are going to be new technologies that allow Kaiser to provide, you know, chat-based mental health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:20] Today, will AI replace your therapist? And why the debate at Kaiser is worth watching.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:01:38] Health care is an industry that is usually pretty slow to adopt new technology, but the experts that I talk to say that AI is different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:49] April Dembosky is a healthcare correspondent for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:01:52] Health systems are really excited about the potential that AI has primarily in this moment to improve diagnostics, but also to cut down on paperwork and administrative tasks. So if you go see a medical doctor at Sutter or Kaiser right now, very likely you have been or very soon will be asked if it’s okay for the doctor to use an AI note taker where they will use their cell phone. To record the interaction and then the AI will summarize and write notes for your medical chart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Pitt \u003c/strong>[00:02:29] I have an app on my phone that can listen to our conversation and the details of my physical exam and write it all up in your medical record. Wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:02:39] If folks out there are watching The Pitt, this actually came up in episode two. So the episode that just came out last week. So there’s a new doctor in the ER and she’s introducing the residents to the concept of AI note takers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Doctor (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>[00:02:55] What do you think?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Medical Student (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>[00:02:56] Well, I don’t think it’s a cardiac.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Doctor (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>[00:02:58] I mean, what do you think of the app?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Medical Student (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>00:03:00] I mean, it’s hard to say without seeing the full thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Doctor (The Pitt)\u003c/strong> [00:03:02] Take a look.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Medical Student (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>[00:03:04] Oh my God, do you know how much time this will save?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:03:07] And so she takes out her cell phone in the exam room and tells a patient, you know, it’s going to record their interaction. And afterward they walk out, they walk over to a computer and the AI has already written a summary of the exam in the patient’s chart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Medical Student (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>[00:03:24] Well, excuse me, it says here she takes risperdol and antipsychotics. She takes restoril when needed for sleep, so is that, um…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Medical Student (The Pitt) \u003c/strong>[00:03:31] AI, almost intelligent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Doctor (The Pitt)\u003c/strong> [00:03:34] You must always carefully proofread and correct the minor errors. It’s excellent, but not perfect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:03:44] That’s one of the ways that AI is most present in our healthcare right now. I mean, I have friends in the Bay Area who work in healthcare who, you know, I saw some for dinner a little while ago and you know they said, I am here tonight because of the AI note taker. You know, like because the AI notetaker like did my charting for me, I am able to be here and hanging out with you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:12] Wow, that is so interesting. And yeah, I mean, we’re wrestling with the role of AI in our healthcare and popular culture, but also in real life right now. I know this is a big, big question that is especially relevant for mental healthcare workers in Northern California right now, specifically at Kaiser. Can you explain? April, why this is such a relevant conversation among mental health care workers right now in particular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:04:44] Sure, so mental health clinicians at Kaiser are in contract negotiations right now. They’ve actually been in bargaining for this next contract for about six months now. So it’s been kind of dragging along. And one of the sticking points is actually around AI. So, mental health workers, they know that AI is here to stay in health care, but when it comes to mental health care they want some simple guardrails. They want to make sure that they are part of seeing that AI is rolled out responsibly in a way that protects patients’ privacy, but also in a ways that protects their own jobs. And so one of the things that they’ve asked for in their contract is language that says specifically any introduction of new AI tools will be used only to assist therapists, but it will not be used to replace them. To them, I think this sounds like a really reasonable ask, but they were really surprised when Kaiser said no.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:06:00] So again, they want flexibility to increase their use of AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:06:06] I talked to Ilana Marcucci-Morris. She’s a clinical social worker at Kaiser. She works in the intake department, and she’s a member of the union that is bargaining this contract. It’s called the National Union of Health Care Workers, NUHW.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:06:22] When we ask that AI not replace us, they will not put that language in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:06:28] And when I talk to her, she says, I’m a millennial, I love gadgets, I love tools, you know, I get it. We just want some simple protections here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:06:37] A lot of our members are afraid that it’s going to shift into full blown therapy, right? That there are going to be new technologies that allow Kaiser to not just skip the licensed triage, but to provide, you know, chat based mental health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:06:54] One of the reasons they’re surprised is because their sister union in Southern California had asked for the same language and Kaiser agreed to it. And that contract was signed last May. And so basically, you know, a month or so after signing a contract that included this language, Kaiser was backing off saying, we don’t wanna commit to that anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:07:20] I mean, they’ll say, no, that’s not our intention. But when we say, hey, can you put that it’s not your intention in the contract? Well, we can’t predict the future. We need to maintain flexibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:38] So it sounds like these mental health care workers are afraid for their jobs, but some of this technology is already being used. What is it about these tools that they are so concerned about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:07:54] Basically, Kaiser is excited about getting clinicians to use this note-taking software so that it will free them up to see more patients in a day. But clinicians are really worried about this. I think they’re worried about the privacy and data security, where are these recordings going, how long are they kept, how well are they protected, who else can see them. But specifically, I think they’re also really concerned about how this technology could influence the patient interaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:08:27] I wouldn’t want a recording of my disagreements with a family member or my trauma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:08:34] And so what Ilana says is talking to your doctor about a fever or a skin condition, it’s really different from talking to your therapist about really vulnerable, really emotional things that are going on in your life. And they’re concerned that patients, if they know they’re being recorded, that it might cause them to hold back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:09:00] A big part of our work is that human connection and rapport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:09:08] So Kaiser clinicians are basically saying, look, you know, right now this technology is optional for us to use, but we’re really worried that Kaiser is going to, you know, try to force us to use it, perhaps even in clinical situations where we think it could be harmful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilana Marcucci-Morris \u003c/strong>[00:09:27] Having a human being in your court that is trained and is a professional giving you warmth and encouragement and evidence-based direction is something that technology just can’t replace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:44] AI has already taken roles that people used to have at Kaiser, like doing intake for mental health care. Patients now have the option of doing an e-visit through the app, where you click through a series of questions and the algorithm comes up with a score and recommends where you go next. So far, there isn’t a Kaiser therapist chatbot. Though it hasn’t stopped a lot of people from seeking help for their problems outside of the healthcare system altogether. And April, we’re also in an environment where many people are seeking out mental health help through chatbots, including teenagers. Are patient preferences around this changing as well? And how do mental health experts respond to that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:10:40] In the last few years, we’ve seen a huge rise of consumer facing chatbots and these are not therapists to be clear, but people are starting to use them as therapists. This is a trend that is already taken off because they are available immediately. You can tell them how to interact with you and they are always there. There are clinical psychologists who have. You know, been working on a verified evidence-based, widely tested kind of AI chat bot for therapy for at least six years now. And what they will tell you is it takes a really, really long time to develop a proven product like that, that, you know actually conforms to the standards of delivering therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jodi Halpern \u003c/strong>[00:11:33] We cannot institute any of this on a large scale population level without studying it first and making sure it’s safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:11:42] Jodi Halpern is a bioethics professor at UC Berkeley. Jodi Helpern talks about the potential that chatbots have in cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a particular kind of therapy that tends to be a little bit more formal, a little more formulaic, but she’s very circumspect when it comes to relational therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jodi Halpern \u003c/strong>[00:12:04] In the meeting with an empathic human face-to-face, there is the possibility for the patient really to develop trust. And that’s actually a powerful element in improving health outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:12:20] Chatbots are not very good at this, especially consumer-facing chatbots are designed to be affirmative. Sycophantic is the word that experts use. They’re just designed to validate everything you say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jodi Halpern \u003c/strong>[00:12:40] We need more skillful human workforce in the mental health area to meet our unmet needs. We need AI to unburden the skillful human force through ambient medical records and other forms that don’t have to be intrusive or overly privacy invading, but they can take the workload off clinicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:06] Coming back to Kaiser, April, many of their employees are already using AI. No Kaiser AI therapists as of now, although many of the workers like Alana are worried that there could be. Has Kaiser had any response to this story or any thoughts on AI or contract negotiations that they’ve shared with you?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:13:28] Kaiser has not had a lot to say about this. I’ve interacted with them a fair amount asking for interviews multiple times, and they have not been willing to sit down and talk about this, they shared a statement. It says in part that artificial intelligence tools at Kaiser don’t make medical decisions. Our physicians and care teams are always at the center of decision-making with our patients. AI does not replace human assessment and care, but they do see artificial intelligence holding, as they say, significant potential to benefit healthcare by supporting better diagnostics, enhancing patient-clinician relationships, optimizing clinicians’ time, and ensuring fairness in care experiences and health outcomes by addressing individual needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:23] And I mean, it does seem like consumer trends around AI are one thing, April, but it also seems like these sort of large healthcare systems like Kaiser have a really big role to play in terms of the role that AI could play in the future as well. I mean why do you think it’s important to watch what Kaiser does from here?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>April Dembosky \u003c/strong>[00:14:48] Kaiser is a large healthcare institution. It has power. It can influence how quickly and how broadly new technologies are adopted in a way that could have impact on the industry as a whole. And it’s also one of the very few systems that has a mental health union that’s trying to influence that process. So I think that those things put together just make it a really interesting health system to watch. For the way that that influence works on how patients access healthcare and how mental health clinicians do their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "‘It’s Just Cruel’: Bay Area Parents Say Sutter Health Is Set to Halt Trans Youth Care",
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"content": "\u003cp>After six months of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050618/california-sues-trump-administration-over-efforts-to-deny-gender-affirming-health-care\">gender-affirming care\u003c/a> and a first puberty blocker shot for her 10-year-old son in September, Julie noticed him carrying himself differently. His back was straight, he was no longer hiding his body, and he was confident with eye contact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But last Friday, the East Bay parent received a call and an email from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sutter-health\">Sutter Health\u003c/a> caregiver that she’s afraid to tell her son about. She asked KQED to use only her first name because she is afraid of retribution against her and her son’s caregiver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The day prior, on Transgender Day of Remembrance, hospital higher-ups informed Julie’s son’s caregiver that they would no longer offer gender-affirming care to patients younger than 19. That care could stop as soon as Dec. 10, they said, according to the caregiver’s messages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That left Julie with just over two weeks, including a major holiday, to find a new physician for her son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just cruel, and I continue to be heartbroken, overwhelmed and livid,” Julie said. “It’s the week of Thanksgiving. Everyone’s gone, and they knew that that was going to be the case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030056\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030056\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Sutter Health CPMC Davies Campus in San Francisco on Feb. 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Julie isn’t the only parent gutted by the potential decision. At least 10 families are working through the emotions and the looming reality of finding new care for their kids, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.rainbowfamiliesaction.org/about\">Rainbow Families Action\u003c/a>, a group made up of parents and allies of trans youth. More than a dozen advocacy groups are pressuring Sutter Health, a nonprofit health care system serving more than 3.5 million Californians, to provide more details about the information their children’s physicians relayed to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sutter Health would not confirm or deny what parents told KQED. In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson wrote that the hospital network is “working to ensure compliance with recent federal actions” and remains “committed to approaching this with compassion, physician guidance, and compliance with applicable requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like other hospital groups, the network had already halted gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 19, and officials are now prioritizing “open and thoughtful conversations between physicians and their patients to determine the best path forward for individual care plans,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the decision is true, Sutter Health would join a growing list of health care providers moving to limit care for trans youth under building pressure from the Trump administration. In June, Stanford Medicine \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997491/stanford-scales-back-trans-care-for-minors-amid-federal-crackdown\">paused gender-affirming surgeries\u003c/a> and stopped prescribing puberty blockers to youth. In July, Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente, which serves more than 12 million people across eight states, announced it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12049666/nowhere-else-to-go-sf-families-protest-kaisers-new-limits-on-gender-affirming-care\">stopped offering surgical gender-affirming treatments\u003c/a> for trans minors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocacy groups sent a \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/Rainbow-Families-Action-Letter-to-Sutter-Health.pdf\">letter on \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/Rainbow-Families-Action-Letter-to-Sutter-Health.pdf\">Tuesday to Sutter Health\u003c/a>, demanding that the network “reverse course on this decision immediately” and provide a meeting between leaders and families, a commitment to “not pre-capitulate before it’s legally necessary,” as well as a formal plan if the network ends gender-affirming care for youth.[aside postID=news_12053773 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/20250725_KaiserTransProtest_GC-14_qed.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We refuse to stand by while Sutter pre-emptively bows to political pressure instead of standing up for our kids,” Rainbow Families Action wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arne Johnson, a lead advocate with the group, said parents and allies are planning a series of actions to protest the potential cessation and have asked Sutter Health leadership “to clarify before this becomes a much bigger thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are offering to have those conversations because they are saying we’re going to do this in thoughtful consideration, but they have not actually done that,” Johnson said. “We are going to consider that an invitation, and assume that they are in fact going to meet with patients and families and make a real plan for their care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson said the group has also reached out to California Attorney General Rob Bonta over the legality of the potential decision. State law prohibits health care discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and earlier this month, the attorney general’s office \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/know-your-rights-attorney-general-bonta-issues-guidance-gender-affirming-care\">issued a guidance\u003c/a> reminding Californians that they “have the right to receive medically necessary gender-affirming care or any other medically necessary healthcare without discrimination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another mother, Nikki, also from the East Bay, found out on her 14-year-old son’s birthday that his care could end. A caregiver said they would return from vacation early to ensure Julie’s son had at least one more visit before the cutoff. She also asked KQED to only use her first name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s terrifying, and I haven’t told my son because the news came on his birthday,” Nikki said. “Psychologically, it makes you not trust your doctors. It makes you not trust the government.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nikki is angry that the move would come after open enrollment, when the family could have joined another health care network to ensure her son could continue to receive his weekly medication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a queer person who sought the Bay Area more than two decades ago as a place of refuge, Nikki said she is flabbergasted by the potential decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m kind of frozen,” she said. “I don’t know that I’m moving forward other than making some phone calls right before the holidays, just [to] desperately see what doctors can help us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Julie said she hasn’t been able to reach any new doctors yet in her search for a new care team for her son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have taken away our ability to have care that goes in alignment with my doctor’s recommendation,” Julie said. “I have to move forward. We have to find another doctor, and who is that going to be with? I don’t know of anyone who is going to take this kid. And that sucks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She sees this as a sign that other care for the general public could be next on the chopping block.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they can take evidence-based care that is legal in the state of California and is medically necessary, lifesaving care for my child, what the f— is next?” Julie said. “It’s just a slippery slope.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After six months of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050618/california-sues-trump-administration-over-efforts-to-deny-gender-affirming-health-care\">gender-affirming care\u003c/a> and a first puberty blocker shot for her 10-year-old son in September, Julie noticed him carrying himself differently. His back was straight, he was no longer hiding his body, and he was confident with eye contact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But last Friday, the East Bay parent received a call and an email from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sutter-health\">Sutter Health\u003c/a> caregiver that she’s afraid to tell her son about. She asked KQED to use only her first name because she is afraid of retribution against her and her son’s caregiver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The day prior, on Transgender Day of Remembrance, hospital higher-ups informed Julie’s son’s caregiver that they would no longer offer gender-affirming care to patients younger than 19. That care could stop as soon as Dec. 10, they said, according to the caregiver’s messages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That left Julie with just over two weeks, including a major holiday, to find a new physician for her son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just cruel, and I continue to be heartbroken, overwhelmed and livid,” Julie said. “It’s the week of Thanksgiving. Everyone’s gone, and they knew that that was going to be the case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030056\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030056\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/240208-HospitalViolence-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Sutter Health CPMC Davies Campus in San Francisco on Feb. 8, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Julie isn’t the only parent gutted by the potential decision. At least 10 families are working through the emotions and the looming reality of finding new care for their kids, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.rainbowfamiliesaction.org/about\">Rainbow Families Action\u003c/a>, a group made up of parents and allies of trans youth. More than a dozen advocacy groups are pressuring Sutter Health, a nonprofit health care system serving more than 3.5 million Californians, to provide more details about the information their children’s physicians relayed to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sutter Health would not confirm or deny what parents told KQED. In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson wrote that the hospital network is “working to ensure compliance with recent federal actions” and remains “committed to approaching this with compassion, physician guidance, and compliance with applicable requirements.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like other hospital groups, the network had already halted gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 19, and officials are now prioritizing “open and thoughtful conversations between physicians and their patients to determine the best path forward for individual care plans,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the decision is true, Sutter Health would join a growing list of health care providers moving to limit care for trans youth under building pressure from the Trump administration. In June, Stanford Medicine \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1997491/stanford-scales-back-trans-care-for-minors-amid-federal-crackdown\">paused gender-affirming surgeries\u003c/a> and stopped prescribing puberty blockers to youth. In July, Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente, which serves more than 12 million people across eight states, announced it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12049666/nowhere-else-to-go-sf-families-protest-kaisers-new-limits-on-gender-affirming-care\">stopped offering surgical gender-affirming treatments\u003c/a> for trans minors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocacy groups sent a \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/Rainbow-Families-Action-Letter-to-Sutter-Health.pdf\">letter on \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/Rainbow-Families-Action-Letter-to-Sutter-Health.pdf\">Tuesday to Sutter Health\u003c/a>, demanding that the network “reverse course on this decision immediately” and provide a meeting between leaders and families, a commitment to “not pre-capitulate before it’s legally necessary,” as well as a formal plan if the network ends gender-affirming care for youth.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We refuse to stand by while Sutter pre-emptively bows to political pressure instead of standing up for our kids,” Rainbow Families Action wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Arne Johnson, a lead advocate with the group, said parents and allies are planning a series of actions to protest the potential cessation and have asked Sutter Health leadership “to clarify before this becomes a much bigger thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are offering to have those conversations because they are saying we’re going to do this in thoughtful consideration, but they have not actually done that,” Johnson said. “We are going to consider that an invitation, and assume that they are in fact going to meet with patients and families and make a real plan for their care.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Johnson said the group has also reached out to California Attorney General Rob Bonta over the legality of the potential decision. State law prohibits health care discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and earlier this month, the attorney general’s office \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/know-your-rights-attorney-general-bonta-issues-guidance-gender-affirming-care\">issued a guidance\u003c/a> reminding Californians that they “have the right to receive medically necessary gender-affirming care or any other medically necessary healthcare without discrimination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another mother, Nikki, also from the East Bay, found out on her 14-year-old son’s birthday that his care could end. A caregiver said they would return from vacation early to ensure Julie’s son had at least one more visit before the cutoff. She also asked KQED to only use her first name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s terrifying, and I haven’t told my son because the news came on his birthday,” Nikki said. “Psychologically, it makes you not trust your doctors. It makes you not trust the government.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nikki is angry that the move would come after open enrollment, when the family could have joined another health care network to ensure her son could continue to receive his weekly medication.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a queer person who sought the Bay Area more than two decades ago as a place of refuge, Nikki said she is flabbergasted by the potential decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m kind of frozen,” she said. “I don’t know that I’m moving forward other than making some phone calls right before the holidays, just [to] desperately see what doctors can help us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Julie said she hasn’t been able to reach any new doctors yet in her search for a new care team for her son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have taken away our ability to have care that goes in alignment with my doctor’s recommendation,” Julie said. “I have to move forward. We have to find another doctor, and who is that going to be with? I don’t know of anyone who is going to take this kid. And that sucks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She sees this as a sign that other care for the general public could be next on the chopping block.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they can take evidence-based care that is legal in the state of California and is medically necessary, lifesaving care for my child, what the f— is next?” Julie said. “It’s just a slippery slope.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059890/kaiser-strike-hits-several-bay-area-locations-as-thousands-walk-off-the-job\">tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente health care employees\u003c/a> approach the end of a five-day, multi-state walkout on Sunday, both sides said they’ll return to the bargaining table over the central dispute: how much of the union’s pay-hike demands the nonprofit’s executives will agree to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stakes are high for Kaiser, the \u003ca href=\"https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/expertise-and-impact/public-policy/our-impact/news-perspectives-on-public-policy-california#:~:text=Kaiser%20Permanente%20was%20founded%20in,with%20many%20top%2Drated%20hospitals.\">largest private employer\u003c/a> in the state. The national contract, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059551/california-kaiser-health-care-workers-reaching-breaking-point-set-to-strike-next-week\">months in negotiation\u003c/a> with the Alliance of Healthcare Unions, covers nearly 61,000 nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists and other frontline workers — about a third of Kaiser’s workforce — though roughly a quarter of those represented declined to go on strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say the organization must tread carefully in talks amid rising costs and economic headwinds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We remain committed to reaching an agreement, if possible, that provides strong wage increases that are sustainable while balancing our obligation to deliver high-quality care that remains affordable,” Kaiser said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two sides appear close on paper. The Alliance seeks a 25% wage boost over four years for employees, it said are underpaid. Kaiser, which maintains that workers already earn above-market wages, has drawn the line at 21.5%. The difference, which adds up to roughly $300 million a year in salary costs, is what Kaiser said could force it to raise rates among its 12.6 million members, most of them in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the traditional labor-management battle,” said Dr. Robert Pearl, a former top executive at Kaiser who now teaches at Stanford University’s medicine and business schools. “My own view is that’s not the best thing for patients, this strike … It’s a sign of failure to not be able to work together for the good of all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059848\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers strike outside of the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since Tuesday, Kaiser has hired thousands of temporary nurses, clinicians and other staff to minimize disruptions in California, Hawaii and Oregon. In Northern California, only 3% of all appointments, surgeries and procedures were rescheduled, according to Kaiser. Medical centers, offices and pharmacies remain open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The walkout caused more disruptions in Southern California, temporarily closing pharmacies in Riverside and Ventura Canyon, as well as laboratories and target clinics in San Bernardino and Riverside. The union said dozens of pharmacies were shuttered in Los Angeles, Orange, Kern and other counties. Ambulances were diverted from Kaiser to nearby hospitals in Irvine and San Diego, according to picketers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Temporary nurses and other professionals brought in from across the country posted on social media about being stranded in buses and hotels for many hours. Their staffing company, AMN Healthcare, later apologized over “logistical and communication breakdowns over the last few days [that] created regrettable delays, stress, and confusion for the AMN teams supporting the Kaiser Permanente strike in SoCal,” according to a letter shared with KQED.[aside postID=news_12059890 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-03-KQED-1.jpg']The company did not respond to requests for comment but offered a $1,200 bonus for those who covered out-of-pocket travel or lodging expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union representatives maintain that Kaiser, which has expanded to other states in recent years, can meet their demands given its profits and an estimated $66 billion in reserves. Workers say colleagues are leaving for better pay and lighter workloads, straining those who remain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re sitting on a lot of money. And that money seems to be not meant for their staff that are currently out here today,” said Jeff Cathcart, a nurse anesthetist at Kaiser San Francisco who is in the union’s bargaining team and joined the picket line outside the Oakland Medical Center. “This pay increase is pretty vital.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union leaders say many workers accepted smaller raises during the pandemic and need to catch up with inflation and the high cost of living. Their latest proposal would boost wages by 9% in the first year, 5% in the second, 7% in the third and 4% in the fourth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser Permanente can absolutely not only afford it based off of the money they have in the bank and the revenues they have coming in — I would say that Kaiser Permanente cannot afford not to do it,” said Jane Carter, research director for the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, the largest of 23 unions in the Alliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059845\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059845\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers strike outside of the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If they want to continue to be the standard bearer and the gold standard of care delivery in this country, then they have to make sure that they pay to get the healthcare professionals that can properly do the care,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser’s top Medicare rating fell from five stars in 2023 to 4.5 last year, which the union blames on staffing shortages. The drop matters because five-star plans receive higher government payments and can enroll members for longer each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser Permanente was founded in California in 1945. As a nonprofit, Kaiser said it reinvests most of its insurance income into its hospital and clinic operations, instead of generating returns for shareholders as for-profit companies aim to do. Its 3% operating income margin — about $2 billion in the first half of this year — is lower than that of other major health systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That makes its warning that higher wages could lead to higher consumer costs plausible, said Joanne Spetz, a health economist and labor expert at UCSF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They don’t have as much wiggle room as one might think when you look at how large their operating revenue and expenses are,” said Spetz, noting Kaiser’s 2024 operating revenue of $115.8 billion and expenses of $115.2 billion, a \u003ca href=\"https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/news/press-release-archive/kaiser-foundation-health-plan-hospitals-risant-health-report-2024-financial-results\">0.5%\u003c/a> income margin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060095\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060095\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-05-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers strike outside of the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kaiser claims that its $66 billion in reserves are earmarked for employee pensions, building maintenance and other obligations and financial stability. Organizations of its size — with 180,000 employees across eight states and Washington, D.C., should have a financial cushion to weather unexpected challenges, according to Pearl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Let’s say the markets will go into a recession for the next five years. You can’t build the hospitals you need. You can’t buy the machines that you need. So you want to make sure you have reserves,” Pearl said. “If I were the CEO of the whole organization, I would basically say my job is to make sure I never have to compromise care and never tell a worker I can’t pay you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser said any wage hikes for Alliance members must come from the operating income, not investments. The union disputes that, accusing Kaiser of hoarding cash while expanding. Kaiser acquired hospital systems in Pennsylvania and North Carolina in recent years and announced an expansion to Nevada next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11963409\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11963409\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt='A large modern building with the words \"Kaiser Permanente\" across the top.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 4, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Traditionally seen as a West Coast institution, Kaiser is now seeking national influence against competitors such as Amazon, CVS and Walmart, which are spending billions to buy health care companies, according to Pearl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you don’t have a national presence, it’s hard to convince legislators to pass laws that are gonna be better for the members of Kaiser Permanente,” he said. “I don’t mean the providers, I mean the patients of Kaiser Permanente.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The negotiations come as the Trump administration moves to restrict Medicare eligibility and Congress debates whether to renew subsidies central to the current government funding fight. Without them, health insurance prices are expected to rise for lower- and middle-income families. Kaiser could face reduced earnings as consumers drop coverage, Spetz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They might also be concerned that they’re going to have some increased costs that could come from emergency care,” she said. “I suspect that losing revenue because of people dropping health insurance is the much bigger risk for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059890/kaiser-strike-hits-several-bay-area-locations-as-thousands-walk-off-the-job\">tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente health care employees\u003c/a> approach the end of a five-day, multi-state walkout on Sunday, both sides said they’ll return to the bargaining table over the central dispute: how much of the union’s pay-hike demands the nonprofit’s executives will agree to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stakes are high for Kaiser, the \u003ca href=\"https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/expertise-and-impact/public-policy/our-impact/news-perspectives-on-public-policy-california#:~:text=Kaiser%20Permanente%20was%20founded%20in,with%20many%20top%2Drated%20hospitals.\">largest private employer\u003c/a> in the state. The national contract, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059551/california-kaiser-health-care-workers-reaching-breaking-point-set-to-strike-next-week\">months in negotiation\u003c/a> with the Alliance of Healthcare Unions, covers nearly 61,000 nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists and other frontline workers — about a third of Kaiser’s workforce — though roughly a quarter of those represented declined to go on strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say the organization must tread carefully in talks amid rising costs and economic headwinds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We remain committed to reaching an agreement, if possible, that provides strong wage increases that are sustainable while balancing our obligation to deliver high-quality care that remains affordable,” Kaiser said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two sides appear close on paper. The Alliance seeks a 25% wage boost over four years for employees, it said are underpaid. Kaiser, which maintains that workers already earn above-market wages, has drawn the line at 21.5%. The difference, which adds up to roughly $300 million a year in salary costs, is what Kaiser said could force it to raise rates among its 12.6 million members, most of them in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the traditional labor-management battle,” said Dr. Robert Pearl, a former top executive at Kaiser who now teaches at Stanford University’s medicine and business schools. “My own view is that’s not the best thing for patients, this strike … It’s a sign of failure to not be able to work together for the good of all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059848\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers strike outside of the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since Tuesday, Kaiser has hired thousands of temporary nurses, clinicians and other staff to minimize disruptions in California, Hawaii and Oregon. In Northern California, only 3% of all appointments, surgeries and procedures were rescheduled, according to Kaiser. Medical centers, offices and pharmacies remain open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The walkout caused more disruptions in Southern California, temporarily closing pharmacies in Riverside and Ventura Canyon, as well as laboratories and target clinics in San Bernardino and Riverside. The union said dozens of pharmacies were shuttered in Los Angeles, Orange, Kern and other counties. Ambulances were diverted from Kaiser to nearby hospitals in Irvine and San Diego, according to picketers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Temporary nurses and other professionals brought in from across the country posted on social media about being stranded in buses and hotels for many hours. Their staffing company, AMN Healthcare, later apologized over “logistical and communication breakdowns over the last few days [that] created regrettable delays, stress, and confusion for the AMN teams supporting the Kaiser Permanente strike in SoCal,” according to a letter shared with KQED.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The company did not respond to requests for comment but offered a $1,200 bonus for those who covered out-of-pocket travel or lodging expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union representatives maintain that Kaiser, which has expanded to other states in recent years, can meet their demands given its profits and an estimated $66 billion in reserves. Workers say colleagues are leaving for better pay and lighter workloads, straining those who remain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re sitting on a lot of money. And that money seems to be not meant for their staff that are currently out here today,” said Jeff Cathcart, a nurse anesthetist at Kaiser San Francisco who is in the union’s bargaining team and joined the picket line outside the Oakland Medical Center. “This pay increase is pretty vital.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Union leaders say many workers accepted smaller raises during the pandemic and need to catch up with inflation and the high cost of living. Their latest proposal would boost wages by 9% in the first year, 5% in the second, 7% in the third and 4% in the fourth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Kaiser Permanente can absolutely not only afford it based off of the money they have in the bank and the revenues they have coming in — I would say that Kaiser Permanente cannot afford not to do it,” said Jane Carter, research director for the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, the largest of 23 unions in the Alliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059845\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059845\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers strike outside of the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If they want to continue to be the standard bearer and the gold standard of care delivery in this country, then they have to make sure that they pay to get the healthcare professionals that can properly do the care,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser’s top Medicare rating fell from five stars in 2023 to 4.5 last year, which the union blames on staffing shortages. The drop matters because five-star plans receive higher government payments and can enroll members for longer each year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser Permanente was founded in California in 1945. As a nonprofit, Kaiser said it reinvests most of its insurance income into its hospital and clinic operations, instead of generating returns for shareholders as for-profit companies aim to do. Its 3% operating income margin — about $2 billion in the first half of this year — is lower than that of other major health systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That makes its warning that higher wages could lead to higher consumer costs plausible, said Joanne Spetz, a health economist and labor expert at UCSF.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They don’t have as much wiggle room as one might think when you look at how large their operating revenue and expenses are,” said Spetz, noting Kaiser’s 2024 operating revenue of $115.8 billion and expenses of $115.2 billion, a \u003ca href=\"https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/news/press-release-archive/kaiser-foundation-health-plan-hospitals-risant-health-report-2024-financial-results\">0.5%\u003c/a> income margin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060095\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12060095\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251014-KAISER-STRIKE-START-MD-05-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Workers strike outside of the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kaiser claims that its $66 billion in reserves are earmarked for employee pensions, building maintenance and other obligations and financial stability. Organizations of its size — with 180,000 employees across eight states and Washington, D.C., should have a financial cushion to weather unexpected challenges, according to Pearl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Let’s say the markets will go into a recession for the next five years. You can’t build the hospitals you need. You can’t buy the machines that you need. So you want to make sure you have reserves,” Pearl said. “If I were the CEO of the whole organization, I would basically say my job is to make sure I never have to compromise care and never tell a worker I can’t pay you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser said any wage hikes for Alliance members must come from the operating income, not investments. The union disputes that, accusing Kaiser of hoarding cash while expanding. Kaiser acquired hospital systems in Pennsylvania and North Carolina in recent years and announced an expansion to Nevada next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11963409\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11963409\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED.jpg\" alt='A large modern building with the words \"Kaiser Permanente\" across the top.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/10/231004-KAISER-STRIKE-MD-10-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center in Oakland on Oct. 4, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Traditionally seen as a West Coast institution, Kaiser is now seeking national influence against competitors such as Amazon, CVS and Walmart, which are spending billions to buy health care companies, according to Pearl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you don’t have a national presence, it’s hard to convince legislators to pass laws that are gonna be better for the members of Kaiser Permanente,” he said. “I don’t mean the providers, I mean the patients of Kaiser Permanente.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The negotiations come as the Trump administration moves to restrict Medicare eligibility and Congress debates whether to renew subsidies central to the current government funding fight. Without them, health insurance prices are expected to rise for lower- and middle-income families. Kaiser could face reduced earnings as consumers drop coverage, Spetz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They might also be concerned that they’re going to have some increased costs that could come from emergency care,” she said. “I suspect that losing revenue because of people dropping health insurance is the much bigger risk for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"radiolab": {
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"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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"reveal": {
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"science-friday": {
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