Up to 2,400 mental health professionals at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California staged a one-day strike to protest the company’s increasing use of artificial intelligence and concerns about patient care, staffing levels, and job security. Unions representing tens of thousands of nurses, hospital and facility maintenance professionals announced they would join picket lines in support of the therapists, including psychologists and social workers, in the Bay Area, Central Valley, and Sacramento regions.
Labor Negotiations and AI Concerns
During monthslong labor contract negotiations, Kaiser proposed making it easier to lay off therapists and resisted language stating the company won’t use AI to replace them, according to the National Union of Healthcare Professionals, which represents the striking mental health employees. Leemore Federman, a Kaiser therapist in San Leandro specializing in post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety and part of the union’s bargaining team, expressed concern about the company’s direction, saying Kaiser has “abundant resources to make the mental health department at Kaiser the best, and instead they’re doing everything to make it the worst.”
Kaiser’s Response and Investment Claims
Kaiser denied that AI makes any medical or care decisions or is being used to replace therapists. The Oakland-based healthcare giant stated 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. Kaiser said it sees technology and AI as a way to support clinicians in managing practice and provide tools that facilitate greater access to care.
Clinical Impact and Patient Safety
Therapist Harimandir Khalsa reported that her team of clinicians screening patients in the Walnut Creek area has been reduced by two-thirds, with Kaiser increasingly using telephone operators and online questionnaires with AI to screen patients. She described cases of patients who were screened by telephone operators and sent to external referral networks despite self-harming and needing clinical assessment for risk. Kaiser’s therapists’ contract ended last September. The company has agreed to multimillion-dollar settlements with regulators in recent years related to long wait times for mental health services, including a $2.8 million penalty announced last month.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2026/03/18/northern-california-kaiser-therapists-hold-1-day-strike-over-ai-patient-care-concerns/