Letter sent to all employees

The following letter was sent to all employees’ homes on January 23, 2018:

We Need Your Help Securing Our Future Together

Help Stop an Attack on Kaiser Permanente

Dear colleagues:

The accomplishments of the physicians and staff at Kaiser Permanente over the past year reflect your collective calling to our mission of delivering high-quality, affordable health care. As more patients recognized the excellence of your care, more members chose our program than ever before. The KP response to the Northern and Southern California wildfires, too, exemplified your commitment to each other and our communities. Ultimately, the unique KP model and mission continues to drive for and achieve excellence as we improve people’s lives.

We face new challenges in 2018, starting the year with a very busy winter season, as well as a new threat to KP’s future.

SEIU-UHW union leadership recently filed a California ballot initiative that attacks the KP model.  This measure removes our fundamental ability to maintain the resources we need to care for our members and communities.

An objective review by the California Department of Finance and Legislative Analyst Office, published on January 5, 2018, confirms the negative impact that the measure would have on KP. It could:

  • Force KP to no longer own our hospitals or medical office buildings;
  • Put at risk the integrated and seamless care between hospitals and medical groups;
  • Reduce financial reserves to support essential services — including advanced medical technology, pharmacy, and radiology — making it harder to take excellent care of our patients;
  • Decrease the funds needed to support employee benefits including pensions;
  • Diminish our ability to support the most vulnerable people in our communities; and
  • Specifically target and disadvantage KP while specifically protecting other health plans from its harmful effects
  • To learn more about SEIU-UHW’s proposed ballot initiative, go to our website, www.share.kp.org/UHWinitiative.

Here’s what we are asking from you:

  • In summary, if this ballot measure passes, it would directly undermine our ability to deliver on the mission we all believe in. We want to continue working in partnership with the unions that represent our employees, and reaffirm our Partnership. However, destructive efforts that target KP and undermine your commitment to our patients and members is not a pathway forward.
  • If you are represented by SEIU-UHW, make your voices heard by speaking to your union steward, calling the SEIU-UHW headquarters, and emailing and/or calling Dave Regan, SEIU-UHW president. Ask SEIU-UHW leadership to stop putting our future at risk, and return to the Partnership so we can work together and address the real issues and challenges.
  • If you are represented by a union other than SEIU-UHW, let your union leadership and stewards know that you do not support SEIU-UHW harming KP.
  • If you are not represented by a union, we also need your support. You can indicate that you want to protect KP’s system of integrated, affordable care, by emailing careforall@kp.org and telling us what you think about this attack on our model.

Thank you for embodying the mission, ideals and model of KP. Please help stop the attack on our system so we can focus on our ultimate goal: to deliver world-class care and improve the health of the communities we serve.

Janet A. Liang
President
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals
Northern California

Deborah Royalty
Chief of Administrative Operations
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc.

Debora Catsavas
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals
Northern California

 

 
 

 

 

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