Petition to Address Serious Concerns Affecting HH/PC/HO

                              Kaiser Permanente Care at Home

 

We the undersigned employees of the Kaiser Permanente Care at Home are writing to express  our serious concerns regarding the leadership and management practices of `Angel Vargas, Vice President of Care at Home, Sherrill Agdeppa, Administrator Palliative Care, Jollla de Los Santos, Administrator Hospice, Zabi Mansoory, Operations Manager and anyone else complicit in below.

 

As dedicated healthcare professionals we are addressing concerns over changes in our department that is adversely affecting the safety, efficiency, care of our patients, and overall poor morale in our department.  

1.     Palliative Care patients are no longer receiving 24/7 care. They are being told to call 911, go to emergency or wait till morning. This will lead to adverse outcomes for our patients.

2.     Due to the separation of palliative care and hospice, a shortage of nurses to adequately cover regular shifts and after hours on weekends leading to burnout and compromised patient safety, forced into mandatory overtime, forced into reverse seniority to cover all shifts, and asked to see more patient’s than they can handle in a day. This was implemented in bad faith without bargaining with CNA union and a violation of NLRB. 

3.     Cross training between HH/PC which has led to lack of adequate training, confusion, patient complaints, and threats against staff, (per Sherill Agdeppa refusal to make a home health visit would result in insubordination).

4.     There has been no collaboration with physicians in our team to address the impact to patient safety. We have been given misleading statements by some of the above-mentioned managers pertaining to their rationale for the changes such as CMS Violations vs there are none. 

We request that Kaiser Permanente investigate the above concerns and remedies as below:

·       Return Palliative care to 24/7 coverage.

·       Palliative and Hospice RN’s to cover weekends and after hour shifts as they previously have together of one weekend and one on call shift per month.

·       Hire nurses to meet patient-to-nurse ratio standards so that all nursing staff are made whole with adequate work-life balance. 

·       Establish an ongoing open dialogue with RN’s and CNA Union to discuss concerns and needs of our patient population and build back trust. We believe that these measures will significantly improve patient care, staff satisfaction, and overall unit efficiency.

We, the undersigned, urge you to take prompt action in making these changes a reality.