CARE DELAYED, CARE DENIED (National Union of Healthcare Workers)
Large pdf file fom nuhw.org. The Courage Campaign has a call for input, link below. ~ pinto
CARE DELAYED, CARE DENIED
Kaiser Permanente’s Failure to Provide
Timely and Appropriate Mental Health Services
With more than 6.6 million members, Kaiser Permanente is California’s largest HMO and
plays a massive role in the state’s healthcare delivery system by operating more than 35
hospitals and several hundred clinics across the state. Less well known, however, is Kaiser’s
role in providing mental health services to Californians. Ranking perhaps second only to
the State of California, Kaiser is one of the state’s largest providers of mental health services.
The Oakland-based company guarantees its members a full array of inpatient, outpatient
and emergency mental health services provided by several thousand mental health professionals.
Each year, thousands of Kaiser’s members seek treatment for conditions ranging from autism,
anxiety and bi-polar disorder to depression, schizophrenia and suicidal ideation.
Despite Kaiser’s pledge to provide comprehensive mental health services to its
members, an in-depth analysis suggests that the HMO’s mental health services are sorely
understaffed and frequently fail to provide timely and appropriate care. Patients often
experience lengthy delays in obtaining services, an overreliance on “group therapies,” and
frustrating obstacles that push many patients to forgo care or seek treatment elsewhere at their own cost.
http://www.nuhw.org/storage/mentalhealth/CareDelayedCareDenied.pdf
"We, the undersigned, demand that Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. direct the Department of Managed Health Care to investigate the allegations against Kaiser Permanente contained in "Care Delayed, Care Denied" a report from the National Union of Healthcare Workers."
http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/demand-governor-brown-investigate-kaiser