Our Commitment to Transforming Mental Health Care in California

Kaiser Permanente released the following statement from Greg A. Adams, Kaiser Permanente President and CEO, in connection with the announcement of a settlement agreement with the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) regarding Care Improvement behavioral health services within Kaiser Permanente and across the state:

California and the nation have experienced an unprecedented increase in demand for mental health care services over the past three years, largely due to the global pandemic and its aftermath. Kaiser Permanente saw a 33% increase in need during the pandemic and saw 20% more people seek care in 2023 compared to the same time last year. A persistent shortage of qualified mental health professionals, clinician burnout and turnover, even a 10-week strike last year by 2,000 mental health clinicians in California, have all contributed to making it very difficult to stay satisfied of this growing need for care.

At Kaiser Permanente, like all other health care organizations, we are coming back from the profound disruptions and lingering effects of the pandemic. The timing of DMHC’s non-routine investigation corresponded with staffing shortages and strikes, high demand for care, and the lingering effects of the pandemic, but it presents an opportunity for Kaiser Permanente and all health plans to scale up their efforts in a new way, to ensure we are meeting the mental health care needs of our communities.

Kaiser Permanente believes that an individual’s physical health, mental health, and social health are linked and essential to their overall health. We also believe in the power of our integrated system and the expertise of our physicians and therapists to provide excellent mental health care as an equal and essential part of a person’s overall health care.

Over the past three years, we have recognized the need to expand mental health care. We have increased our staff and facilities to meet growing needs. Since 2020, we have invested an additional $1.1 billion to provide mental health treatment to our members. We have hired nearly 600 additional therapists and expanded our networks to include thousands of community therapists. We invested an additional $195 million in new clinical facilities including 329 mental health provider offices. Despite this, during the period of the DMHC investigation, we failed to meet our members’ and our own expectations.

Our focus on health outcomes, evidence-based care and research builds on our integrated model and guides our continuous improvement. Although we have made many improvements to our mental health care delivery system, there is still work to be done to ensure that our interventions and therapies meet the expectations of our members and to ensure that we achieve the best outcomes for the patients. We embrace this opportunity to bring our evidence-based care and innovative new programs to the rest of the state.

Our agreement with DMHC takes full responsibility for our performance during the investigation period, including our deficiencies, recognizes our work to improve mental health care, and ensures that our continued investments not only help Kaiser members Permanent, but also build a stronger foundation in mental health. in the communities we serve.

We are committed to transforming the quality and outcomes for patients receiving mental health care in California. Together with the state, and as part of an investment of $150 million over the next 5 years, we will help develop, build and expand evidence-based treatments and care for health problems behavioral. Examples of this work will include programs designed to meet the growing mental health needs of youth and adolescents, digital wellness offerings to provide educational and emotional support around mental wellness and substance abuse, partnerships with schools and universities to meet the mental health needs of their children. students and communities, workforce development programs to develop and train a new cadre of mental health professionals, and initiatives to improve the integration of mental health care into primary and specialty care.

We are proud to work with our Permanente Medical Groups and network clinicians to provide high-quality care to our members. Every day, more than 13,000 people receive mental health care in our system. We recognize and support our clinicians, therapists, and all those who are committed to providing evidence-based mental health care. As we move forward, we are committed to working together to meet the needs of our members and communities, as well as to address the emerging mental health challenges facing our society.