When you reach out to Kaiser Permanente for help with anxiety or depression, you might expect to speak with a trained mental health professional. Instead, many patients are being triaged by an automated algorithm: a digital questionnaire that generates care recommendations instantly, with no clinician reviewing your answers first.

That's what the National Union of Healthcare Workers is alleging in a formal complaint filed with California regulators. The union, which represents Kaiser therapists and social workers, says the e-visit screening tool automatically routes patients to care, or away from it, without real-time oversight from a licensed professional. Under California law, medical decisions must come from a licensed healthcare provider. Algorithms cannot replace that judgment.

This matters because people with depression often minimize how bad things really are. A trained clinician can catch what a quiz cannot. Kaiser therapists report that by the time patients reach them, often two weeks after the algorithm's triage, their symptoms are more serious than the app recognized. Kaiser has already been fined $50 million for mental health care failures. This tool risks repeating the same harm.

Kaiser has skipped two consecutive public hearings on its mental health practices. Californians deserve answers, and patients deserve human care.

Sign this petition to demand Kaiser Permanente restore licensed clinician oversight to its mental health triage process.