Therapists at Kaiser went on a hunger strike in Los Angeles to protest "factory" like working conditions and the automation of healthcare. I went down to the picket line on the last day to talk to the workers, some of whom hadn't eaten for 100 hours. www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/therapists... - ThreadSky

bcmerchant.bsky.social • 2 days ago

Therapists at Kaiser went on a hunger strike in Los Angeles to protest "factory" like working conditions and the automation of healthcare. I went down to the picket line on the last day to talk to the workers, some of whom hadn't eaten for 100 hours.

https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/therapists-went-on-a-hunger-strike

Comments

sheepflame.bsky.social•1 day ago

They’re anxious and not eating? Just proscribe them adderall, the job ain’t hard.

minkysma.bsky.social•1 day ago

Wow. That's intense.

cagirlinsf.bsky.social•1 day ago

Kaiser’s horrible reputation on mental healthcare is well-earned. How much have they been fined over the years? Talk to patients and most will likely tell you that Kaiser’s mental healthcare sucks.

disnothus.bsky.social•1 day ago

Healthcare should never operate under a profit model. I miss being a case manager but I don't miss working for my old bosses

holdspacefree.bsky.social•1 day ago

#CrisisTextLine has been claiming ability to "triage" crisis line callers (text) by algorithm for years. No one can stop them. You can't triage a crisis line call w/o a survey. It all leads to surveillance, connection to other data sources, "AI" prediction, to the one great #EHR database in the sky.

holdspacefree.bsky.social•1 day ago

THANK YOU for elevating this. fwiw here's where i tried to get some accountability from #KaiserPermanente on their use of #EHR w/o consent, extremely vulnerable persons. I got nowhere with them. https://reformcrisistextline.com/suicide-prediction-models-whats-missing-part-1-consent/ Kaiser also pushing "ambient" "AI" "scribes" super shady

heterodoxthis.bsky.social•1 day ago

Thank you for writing about this Brian. Solidarity with NUHW forever! ♥️🖤

jbriscoe.bsky.social•1 day ago

The push for efficiency will overrule any human concerns, ignore human limitations, and manufacture (rather than serve) human need.

bcmerchant.bsky.social•2 days ago

I know it is Friday, but I felt that this story wasn't getting enough press—again, there's a lot going on—but therapists in LA went on a hunger strike! Because Kaiser wouldn't come to the table for 6 months, and because they've recklessly automated crucial parts of the mental healthcare system.

seachirps.bsky.social•2 days ago

Wow, thanks for sharing. Therapy at Kaiser is as impersonal as it can get. Even when both sides like each other.

bcmerchant.bsky.social•2 days ago

These therapists and social workers are truly amazing. Adriana Webb hadn't had a bite since Monday, and she was lucid and forceful in demanding mental health professionals get necessary time with patients, that Kaiser turn back its factory-like approach to care.

bcmerchant.bsky.social•2 days ago

This week was honestly the first that I'd learned of what's called "algorithmic triage"—a system designed to automate work away from therapists. Patients call in and answer questions about their mental health to an untrained—and less well paid clerk, who plugs the answers into an algorithm.

sparklebliss.bsky.social•2 days ago

I keep thinking about how the standard screeners (GAD-7, whatever the postpartum depression one is, etc.) all kind of feel like that, anyhow.

punkademic.bsky.social•2 days ago

jfc

bcmerchant.bsky.social•2 days ago

That algorithm then decides if a patient needs further care, or is to be turned away by the untrained clerk. This system, implemented in 2019, took the place of what used to be handled by physicians and nurses, as per CA state law. Now, patients are even assessed for suicide by algorithm.

minkysma.bsky.social•1 day ago

The people implementing this kind of stuff are mentally sicker than those they are charged with treating.

heidiotoo.bsky.social•2 days ago

This is so bleak.

bcmerchant.bsky.social•2 days ago

This is, the therapists say, very dangerous—the algorithm doesn't know how to detect nuance, or when to ask follow up questions, for instance, and may be turning away people in genuine crisis. Algorithmic triage, they say, has been a disaster, and they've fought it since its inception.

bcmerchant.bsky.social•2 days ago

As I write this, the therapists are likely enjoying their first meal all week. But the fight goes on next week, when they head to the bargaining table with Kaiser.

The hunger strike is over, but the regular strike, goes on.

https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/therapists-went-on-a-hunger-strike

digitaldraco.bsky.social•2 days ago

Even before this, Kaiser would downplay the importance of 1:1 therapy. They’d often let you have 1 session (45 minutes) per MONTH and otherwise divert you into a skills-based CBT group.

onekade.bsky.social•2 days ago

Wait they’re violating state law by doing this?

bcmerchant.bsky.social•2 days ago

That's what the National Union of Healthcare Workers claims in a complaint filed this week: https://nuhw.org/wp-content/uploads/NUHW-Complaint-KaiserSoCal_UnlicensedTriageAssessments_4-8-2025.pdf

capnhapster.bsky.social•2 days ago

Played this?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/716500/Eliza/

crs1.bsky.social•2 days ago

Idiocracy IRT

rayd53.bsky.social•1 day ago

Sickening

mftm.bsky.social•2 days ago

Thank you for writing this story and posting it.

bcmerchant.bsky.social•2 days ago

❤️

startarally.bsky.social•2 days ago

Thanks for sharing this. Friday night or not, it’s important.

bitesizetherapy.bsky.social•1 day ago

The relationship with the therapist is one of the largest contributors to patient outcome and this has been demonstrated repeatedly. Despite the evidence, efforts are underway to have patients spend as little time with a therapist as possible. It’s backwards.

dangrously.bsky.social•2 days ago

Keeping therapists under extreme stress is not going to help the patients at all. But it's not about making them better, it's about keeping the patients sick and scraping the most profit they can out of them.

jmshghtwr.bsky.social•2 days ago

Wat

lostintheusa.bsky.social•1 day ago

Kaiser is an abusive healthcare system, dangerous to your health.

misseli.bsky.social•2 days ago

📌

mikebranom.com•2 days ago

God bless 'em.

KP used to be my family's HC provider. The only description coming to mind when receiving its services is "joyless."

jkron.bsky.social•2 days ago

Yet the Kaiser of Wa state is very good. I was super reluctant to sign up for it, but was really my only choice as self employed. It's been great. (And I've had way too much experience with them lately.)
I visited a clinic in California and it sucked!

miadove.bsky.social•2 days ago

Glad to hear Kaiser in WA state is very good.

Sorry that you had a bad experience at a clinic in CA.

I’ve had Kaiser SoCal (been to LOTS of clinic locations) for 25+ yrs & find it overall to be excellent. If u had to go again down here maybe u could try another location. (NorCal is sep entity)

miadove.bsky.social•2 days ago

Which clinic was it, out of curiosity?

anotherdaphne.bsky.social•2 days ago

wow. had no idea

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