One problem with Kaiser (probably not only Kaiser) when it comes to specialists like mental health workers is that at least in California there was a policy of not allowing specialists to refuse new patients. So over time, specialists' backlogs get bigger and bigger and they are juggling more and more patients and it becomes harder for the specialist to keep track of what's going on. Meanwhile the wait for a new appointment becomes longer as a result - typically months. As a Kaiser patient I personally had multiple specialists quit Kaiser to work elsewhere and at least one cited this as the reason when they told me they were leaving.

It seems really nasty to pair this with reductions in triage staff and the use of algorithmic triage. Their people are already overworked.

I work in nonprofit mental health and am a Kaiser patient, and I know multiple clinicians who left our org to work at Kaiser. KP has never really cracked the nut of appropriate mental health care. For years they decided it was cheaper to pay the fines for their violations of "Timely Access" laws (requiring that newly referred clients actually schedule/complete first visit within a certain number of days) than to properly staff mental health. I know they also push a lot of people into group mental health encounters, which are unsatisfying and not the right answer if you need to discuss private matters with just a clinician.

I'm not surprised that they're now farming out triage to the robots, or that specialists now have burgeoning wait lists and are leaving KP in frustration. No clear answer other than "try something new besides all the stuff that isn't working".