Kaiser mental health workers strike as AI dispute spills into contract talks
About 2,400 Kaiser Permanente mental health professionals walked out Wednesday across Northern California, citing concerns that the company will replace therapists with artificial intelligence, according to the Associated Press. The strike took place as Kaiser and the workers’ union have been negotiating a new contract since last summer, the report said.
Kaiser said the union’s claim is false and that artificial intelligence will not replace human assessment or make care decisions for patients. The company also said facilities would remain open during the one-day stoppage, according to the report.
The therapists involved include social workers and psychologists, who the report said provide mental health and addiction medicine treatment for an estimated 4.6 million patients in the San Francisco Bay Area, the central valley and Sacramento regions. The report also said Oakland-based Kaiser does not currently use AI for therapy, while the National Union of Healthcare Workers fears the technology could eventually become good enough to make it an attractive option for the company.
The walkout extended beyond mental health staff. The report said more than 23,000 Kaiser nurses joined the one-day strike.
Dr. Emma Olsen, a psychiatrist at Kaiser in Vallejo and a union steward, said the union is also contesting management demands aimed at curbing time spent on patient notes or answering patient messages. She said, “They’re trying to take all that time away. They really just want us to be seeing people back to back to back, to be seeing more people for less time with less resources,” in the report’s account.
Katy Roemer, a nurse in adult and family medicine, said the California Nurses Association shares concerns raised by mental health professionals and wants humans to provide care for other humans. She said, “Is AI going to benefit patients? Is AI going to benefit the people that work for Kaiser Permanente? Or is AI going to benefit the bottom line of the corporation?” and “So we want AI that’s transparent, that is allowing people to do their jobs.”
The report said Kaiser sent a message to employees this week indicating that management has hired more mental health workers. The message, sent on behalf of Lionel Sims, senior vice president for Human Resources at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, and Priya Smith, chief employee human resources officer for The Permanente Medical Group, said: “We see technology — and AI, in particular — as a way to support you in managing your practice and provide you with tools that facilitate greater access to care and connection with patients.”
The Associated Press report also cited prior state-level scrutiny, saying that in 2023 Kaiser agreed to a $200 million settlement with the California Department of Managed Health Care over violations of state mental health laws.