An ongoing strike by thousands of Kaiser Permanente mental health clinicians in California could open the door for telehealth providers looking to give their services a higher profile.
Some 2,600 Kaiser-employed mental health clinicians, along with 700 other Kaiser employees, are picketing the 35 hospitals and offices of the state's largest health system over charges that Kaiser is systematically understaffing its psychiatry department, forcing mental health patients to wait weeks or even months for treatment.
That has prompted an announcement from San Francisco-based eTherapi that more than 10,000 California online therapists are available for immediate appointments. The company is even offering a discount for Kaiser patients.
"This is precisely why we developed this telemedicine portal," Jesse Sandoval, CEO of eTherapi, said in a press release. "We believe that patients should not be left struggling without access to services they need. The Kaiser strike is leaving patients in a tenuous position, and we want them to know that they can continue their therapy any day, from any location, through eTherapi."
The strike, expected to last at least until next week, may prompt other telehealth providers to step up their services for Kaiser members. It may also prompt those in need of therapy or other healthcare to check online for available resources.
(Ironically, Kaiser is well-known nationally for its telehealth and mHealth innovations, including a recent project in San Diego that examined the use of kiosks to ease overcrowded doctors' offices, clinics and emergency rooms.)
The roots of the strike date back to 2013, when California's Department of Managed Health Care fined Kaiser $4 million for reportedly "systematically understaffing its psychiatry department," charging the health system with not providing enough psychologists, therapists, social workers and psychiatric nurses to provide timely care. Union officials charge that while some 250,000 new members have been enrolled in Kaiser's California network since then under the Affordable Care Act, officials still aren't boosting resources to meet the demand.
"The problem is clear: too many patients, not enough staff. Clinicians call that gap a patient care crisis. Kaiser calls it a profit margin," Sal Rosselli, president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which has been in contract negotiations for four years with Kaiser for mental health workers and which organized the strike, wrote in a blog that appeared in The Huffington Post. "This relentless focus on the bottom line is undermining Kaiser's standards of care and destroying morale among a dedicated workforce of clinicians who have devoted their lives to caring for patients only to find themselves prevented by their employer from providing adequate treatment that meets legal and ethical standards."
In addition, some 18,000 registered nurses across the state are expected to launch a two-day strike on Jan. 21-22 to protest what their union says is Kaiser's failure to reverse patient care cutbacks. The complaints include cutbacks in hospital services, restrictions on admitting patients for hospital care, early discharge of patients who still need care and insufficient resources spent on training and equipment. That union is also in the midst of contract negotiations with Kaiser.
Kaiser rebuffed Rosselli's charges, telling CNN that the system has increased its therapist pool by 25 percent since 2011 and plans to add more. John Nelson, the health system's vice president of government relations, also said Kaiser has addressed the issues that led to the 2013 fine, which he called "excessive and unwarranted."
Regardless of the reasons for the walkout it may ultimately boost telehealth services like those provided by eTherapi.
In his press release, Sandoval said eTherapi is integrated with 95 percent of the nation's healthcare payers and offers a ready network of state-licensed and credentialed therapists for affected California patients. The company is offering an online appointment at a cost of $40 for Kaiser patients during the strike and up to 30 days after its conclusion.
The eTherapi platform, launched in 2009, allows online users to search the company's network of therapists, review profiles and practice approaches and connect with the therapist of their choice through a HIPAA-compliant video connection.
