Doctors to CEO Greg Adams: Put patients first—respect frontline healthcare workers

CEO Greg Adams

An open letter from Kaiser doctors to CEO Greg Adams: Our patients depend on RNs and frontline healthcare workers. We stand with them in demanding a fair contract.

Patients’ health and safety are on the line as Kaiser executives advance damaging proposals at the bargaining table.

For decades, Kaiser Permanente has been a leader in high-quality, patient-centered healthcare and in collaborating with its doctors and healthcare workers. But today, despite Kaiser’s billions in reserves, executives are moving Kaiser in the wrong direction.

Our patients will feel the impact of this change in Kaiser’s values:

  • Longer times for patients to get an appointment.
  • Shorter appointments, with less time for providers to listen and respond to each patient’s needs.
  • A system that silences the voices of the healthcare workers we and our patients count on to deliver exceptional care.
Frontline healthcare workers are raising the alarm—and we must stand with them, because this isn’t just about a contract. It’s about protecting our patients and preserving the kind of care Kaiser was built on. It’s about speaking up for the excellent professional employees, technical employees, registered nurses and laboratory professionals we work alongside every day.

Will you join other Kaiser doctors in calling for Kaiser to return to its values, respect its healthcare workers and put patients first? Sign our open letter to CEO Greg Adams now.

To: CEO Greg Adams
From: [Your Name]

Doctors to CEO Greg Adams: Put patients first—respect frontline healthcare workers

Dear Kaiser CEO Greg Adams,

As physicians, we know how excellent care depends on every single member of the Kaiser team—including the RNs and healthcare professionals at their bedside, in the clinics and in the labs. When any part of that team is undermined, or a labor dispute drags on, patients may wait longer, appointments can shorten and continuity may decline. Our communities cannot afford that.

Kaiser was built here in the Northwest by people who believed in patient-centered care, guided by the principles of quality of care, service, affordability and being the best place to work. Those values made Kaiser a leader. But today, we are concerned that Kaiser is drifting from those values and is losing its way.

After many months of bargaining, Kaiser continues to advance proposals that would weaken patient care and mute the voices of the professionals who safeguard it. Specifically, we are concerned that:

- Clinical voice is sidelined. Kaiser has resisted guaranteeing a meaningful voice for nurses, professionals and technical employees, and registered dental hygienists when determining how to care for patients. Team-based care only works when those closest to patients shape the standards that govern their work.
- Staffing and community access will fall behind need. Lack of competitive compensation will make it harder to recruit and retain the skilled healthcare workers our patients rely on, leading to greater staffing and access concerns.

Kaiser has the resources to choose a different course. Putting profits ahead of patients is a choice. So is putting patients first.

We stand with all nurses and healthcare professionals who make Kaiser strong. We urge you to direct your bargaining team to reach a fair agreement that:
- Puts patient care first and ensures safer, sustainable staffing that meets real-world demand and honors state staffing standards and clinical best practice.
- Respects professional clinical expertise by respecting and listening to the health professionals trained to provide the care.
- Recruits and retains the best through competitive wages and investments that stabilize teams and reduce turnover.

That is the Kaiser our patients and communities count on, and the Kaiser where we, as physicians, are proud to practice. The longer this dispute continues without resolution, the greater the risk to access, safety and trust. Please act now.