Kaiser, Don't Deny

This is not the standard of care

My husband suffers from severe anxiety and went to see his doctor for both medication management and therapy. He was given a list of community therapists, none of whom were accepting new patients. After I filed a grievance, he was finally offered an intake appointment with a mental health clinician for therapy — nearly four months after seeking care. The therapist saw him once and scheduled a follow up in four weeks, which is not the standard of care. I am a primary care physician myself and for a clinic of 2,000 patients, we have two full-time behavioral health clinicians who see patients in warm handoff on the same day and schedule them for therapy within a week. If they qualify for longer term therapy, they get a timely referral. And I work in the safety net! My Kaiser premiums (luckily shared by my employer) are about $1500 per month — you would think they could afford to help my husband with the one medical problem he has. It is shameful.