March 29, 2025
We are meeting mental health care access requirements
The investments we’ve made over the last several years have resulted in significant improvements in access for our members.
Despite the efforts of the National Union of Healthcare Workers to mislead the public, the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) has not identified new deficiencies in our mental health care, nor have the deficiencies identified in the 2022 nonroutine survey report gone unaddressed.
In 2022, there were 2 actions initiated by the DMHC regarding access to behavioral health care at Kaiser Permanente. These included a statewide nonroutine behavioral health survey in May 2022, and an enforcement action in August 2022 to track Kaiser Permanente’s compliance with access standards during NUHW’s strike in Northern California.
These 2 DMHC examinations led to our Settlement Agreement with the regulator in October 2023 and the related Corrective Action Work Plan. Last week, the DMHC posted the final Corrective Action Work Plan and the 2022 nonroutine survey report, which is a necessary statutory requirement for every survey the DMHC initiates.
NUHW is drawing attention to the deficiencies identified in the DMHC’s 2022 nonroutine survey final report as though they are new. All deficiencies identified in the 2022 nonroutine behavioral health survey have been addressed and are part of the 8 Corrective Action Areas identified in both the Settlement Agreement and the final Corrective Action Work Plan: (1) Oversight, (2) Access, (3) Network Referrals, (4) Grievance and Appeals, (5) Future Strike Contingency Plans, (6) Mental Health Parity, (7) Communications, and (8) Comprehensive Ongoing Review.
The DMHC’s first quarterly review of our progress under the Corrective Action Work Plan will take place this week. We are looking forward to sharing data that shows — contrary to NUHW’s characterizations — Kaiser Permanente is meeting regulatory requirements for access to mental health care.
For example, California health plans must provide their members with mental health care appointments within specific timeframes — within 48 hours for urgent care, and within 10 business days for nonurgent care. Health plans must provide appointments within these timeframes 80% of the time to meet state regulatory requirements. Kaiser Permanente meets access timeframes 99.7% of the time for urgent care, 95% of the time for initial nonurgent care appointments, and 92.6% of the time for follow-up nonurgent care appointments, all of which are better than the state’s requirements (as of February 2025).
The investments we’ve made over the last several years have resulted in significant improvements in access for our members. We acknowledge there is more work to do. We will continue to work with the DMHC to address our work under the Corrective Action Work Plan, continue our compliance with state laws and regulations, and ensure we are meeting the needs of our members and communities. The DMHC will share quarterly reports on our progress.
