Thousands of Northern California Kaiser Permanente mental health workers staged a one-day strike Wednesday over concerns about the hospital giant’s use of artificial intelligence, among other things.
Some 2,400 Kaiser Permanente therapists, psychologists, social workers and chemical dependency counselors represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers have been in contract talks since last summer.
They’ve been working with an expired contract since Sept. 30, according to NUHW officials, who also say Kaiser is trying to eliminate language from any new agreement about technology not replacing workers.
“Our concern with the use of AI is, we want to be able to use it as a tool, but not to replace some of the functions that we do,” said Natalie Rogers, a psychiatric provider who works in Kaiser San Rafael’s emergency room.
Kaiser already doesn’t have enough mental health care providers to take care of existing patients, Rogers said, so union workers won’t support any contract that allows the hospital to eliminate jobs or replace providers.
The union has expressed concerns over AI use in text and phone communications with patients, in the triage process and in lieu of human scribes for note-taking and other functions, among other things.
“Kaiser has been punished and fined so many times for mental health violations, we can’t let it get away with further lowering patient care standards,” Kaiser therapist Emma Olsen said. “Our patients need human therapists, who can work seamlessly with their doctors and have enough time to do our jobs right — and it’s clear Kaiser doesn’t want to pay for that level of care.”
Kaiser sees AI as a tool, not a threat
Kaiser officials say the NUHW and the California Nurses Association, whose 23,000 members are staging a one-day sympathy strike, are mischaracterizing the hospital’s use of the technology.
Kaiser says AI can help support clinicians and can free them up to spend more time with patients.
“NUHW and now CNA are pushing a false narrative that we want to replace our care teams with AI,” hospital officials said in an email. “At Kaiser Permanente, AI does not replace human assessment, and it does not make care decisions. Our care teams are always at the center of decision-making with our patients.”
Union officials say they’re also trying to protect a provision in the last contract — which was ratified after a 10-week strike in 2022 — that allows workers seven hours per week to take care of things like responding to patient calls and emails, preparing for appointments and coordinating care with other clinicians.
“At Kaiser Permanente, AI does not replace human assessment, and it does not make care decisions. Our care teams are always at the center of decision-making with our patients.”
Kaiser Permanente statement
Rogers said in the past, therapists would see patients during the day and then work evenings and nights without pay to take care of paperwork and other essential tasks.
“We don’t want to go back to that,” she said. “We love our patients but we don’t want to work for free.”
The union also says it wants to stop Kaiser from using clerical workers and telephone operators, perhaps along with AI, to screen and triage patients who call in for help.
The two sides met last week for a bargaining session and two more are scheduled for later this month.
The strike affects hospitals and clinics in Northern California, including the Bay Area, Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley.
A union spokesperson said they are still very far from an agreement.