Board adopts resolution urging mental-health parity at Kaiser Permanente after amendments

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution on April 23, 2019 urging full parity for mental-health patients and clinicians at Kaiser Permanente. The resolution, introduced by Supervisor Catherine Stefani Ronan (transcript: “Supervisor Ronan”) and cosponsored by multiple supervisors, was amended on the floor to recognize a nationwide shortage of bilingual mental-health providers and to clarify that the resolution sets forth principles the Board hopes Kaiser will follow.

Supervisor Ronan said the resolution addresses a “crisis of untreated mental illness” in San Francisco and contended that Kaiser must step up access and staffing for behavioral health. She cited a constituent case in which an adolescent with suicidal ideation reportedly faced a two‑month wait for an appointment before Board intervention. The National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) representatives and other speakers urged the Board to adopt the resolution and called for increased clinician staffing, limits on outsourcing of mental-health care, and parity in benefits for clinicians.

Representatives from Kaiser and the Hospital Council asked the Board to withdraw or continue the item to allow more discussion; Kaiser said the resolution initially singled out Kaiser and did not acknowledge that workforce shortages and access problems are national. The Board adopted non‑substantive amendments to the resolution (to acknowledge bilingual-provider shortages and correct a typographical deletion) and approved the amended resolution unanimously “without objection.”

The resolution asks Kaiser to boost clinician staffing, limit outsourcing of mental-health services, and align benefits for mental-health clinicians with other unionized health workers; the Board characterized its resolves as principles and invited continued engagement with Kaiser and providers.