Nurses Press Kaiser to Implement Upgrades Patients Deserve

In an effort to alert patients and the public to what they see as a growing erosion of care conditions in Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics – and how to upgrade care standards, Kaiser registered nurses and nurse practitioners will hold rallies at 22 medical centers across California on Monday, September 18.

The RNs and NPs, members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United are calling on Kaiser to support a series of RN proposals that would enhance safe staffing and general care standards. Nurse negotiators and Kaiser officials are currently in talks for a new collective bargaining agreement. CNA represents 19,000 Kaiser RNs and NPs.

“Our advocacy for safe staffing and adequate resources is fundamental to protecting our patients and being able to provide the care each one of them deserves,” says Zenei Cortez, a South San Francisco Kaiser RN and co-president of CNA. “The public can always count on us as nurses to steadfastly defend them as patients. We won’t ever be silenced when it comes to patient care protections.”

Eroding patient care standards have a direct impact on health outcomes for Kaiser’s patients, nurses warn. Kaiser is both the largest hospital chain and health insurer in California.

“Our priority is to make Kaiser right for our patients,” says Kaiser Fremont RN Michelle Vo. “We are coming together to shine a spotlight on the patient care concerns that nurses have been alerting Kaiser to for years. Nurses want to come in each day and deliver the high-quality care that Kaiser promises to its members.”   

In the rallies across the state, CNA will call on Kaiser to agree to seven proposals they say would have an immediate impact on improving care for Kaiser members.

They include improved RN staffing in hospitals to protect sicker patients sometimes inappropriately placed in hospital units with fewer RNs; increased RN staffing in clinics, call centers and home health and hospice where Kaiser is increasingly shifting care delivery; protecting patients from unsafe discharges to lower levels of care; expanded hands-on training for all nurses; and better patient access to nurse practitioners.

“Patients who are acutely ill and who need to be in the hospital, more and more, are being sent home by Kaiser to be cared for by family members that don’t have the proper training or resources,” says Kaiser Fresno RN Amy Arlund. “Patients end up coming back to our hospital and clinics repeatedly to get the care they need. Kaiser has a moral obligation to staff its operations appropriately and provide every patient with the highest level of care.” 

Kaiser can well afford to strengthen care standards, RNs note. In 2016 Kaiser operating revenues rose to nearly $65 billion, and it reported $3.1 billion in profits, and the HMO had a record operating gain of $1.53 billion in the first quarter of this year. Yet, nurses say, Kaiser has implemented cost cutting measures that decrease RNs’ ability to provide proper care that results in too many patients being denied care.

Rally locations and times, all at Kaiser Medical Centers

Antioch – 4501 Sand Creek Road, 3:30pm – 5pm
Fremont – 39400 Paseo Padre Parkway, 12:30pm – 2pm
Fresno – 7300 North Fresno St., 7:30am – 9am
Manteca – 1777 W. Yosemite Avenue, 12pm – 1:30pm
Modesto – 4601 Dale Road, 8:30am – 10am
Oakland – 3600 Broadway, 3:30pm – 5pm
Redwood City – 1100 Veterans Blvd., 7:30am – 9am
Richmond – 901 Nevin Ave., 3:30pm – 5pm
Roseville – 1600 Eureka Road, 7:30am – 9am
Sacramento – 2025 Morse Avenue, 8:00am – 9:30am
San Francisco – 2425 Geary Blvd, 3:45pm – 5:15pm
San Leandro – 2500 Merced Street, 7:30am – 9am
San Rafael – 99 Montecillo Road, 3:30pm – 5pm
Santa Clara – 710 Lawrence Expressway, 3:30pm – 5pm
Santa Rosa – 401 Bicentennial Way, 3:30pm – 5pm
South San Francisco – 1200 El Camino Real, 7:45am – 9:15am
South Sacramento – 6600 Bruceville Drive, 3:30pm – 5pm
Vacaville – 1 Quality Drive, 3:30pm – 5pm
Vallejo – 975 Sereno Drive, 3:30pm – 5pm
Walnut Creek – 1425 South Main Street, 3:30pm – 5pm
Los Angeles – 867 Sunset Blvd, 8am – 9:30am