Kaiser Permanente Hawaii announced Friday that it will lay off 13 clerical and emergency tech employees when it shutters the Honolulu Clinic Urgent Care Center at 1010 Pensacola St. on March 16.
The clinic at the same location, which sees patients by appointment during regular hours, will not be affected.
The Urgent Care Center has an average daily volume of 30 patients, who will now be seen by primary care doctors in the clinic, the company said. The changes are part of an extensive redesign in the way care is provided by the state’s largest health maintenance organization.
"We are making changes to some aspects of our care delivery model to simplify our structure and improve the effectiveness of our operations, which will ultimately improve the care experience for our members," said Kaiser spokeswoman Laura Lott. "This will better serve our patients because it means they get connected with a personal primary care physician and a care team who can better meet all their needs."
While the state’s largest health maintenance organization is "consolidating some job functions," it said affected employees can apply for one of the 100 open positions currently available. Doctors and registered nurses are not affected at this time, Lott said.
Kaiser hasn’t yet determined how the 6,000-square-foot space left vacant will be used, but said it will provide additional services for its 226,000 members.
"We’re changing the model of care so that the patients, instead of going into a walk-in clinic, sees their own primary care team," Lott said. "Because of that, we don’t need that staff and the facility downstairs."
Meanwhile, Kaiser is investing $320 million over five years to expand facilities statewide. The HMO is opening a 40,000-square-foot clinic in Kona in 2014, as well as expanding the Koolau Clinic in Kaneohe and constructing a 12,000-square-foot Pearlridge Clinic, both opening this fall.
The company is in workforce negotiations with both Unite Here Local 5 — representing roughly 1,900 Kaiser employees, including licensed practical nurses, medical assistants and housekeeping staff — and the Hawaii Nurses Association, negotiating on behalf of registered nurses.
In union talks, Kaiser has proposed to eliminate 47 registered nurses in primary care positions at some of its 18 clinics statewide, or nearly one-quarter of its clinic RNs. The company cut 35 union and management positions in October in an effort to streamline operations.
The company put forward a plan to replace them with lower-skilled licensed practical nurses and medical assistants, some of whom said the cuts would mean an increased workload resulting in poor patient care.
Kaiser, which has about 4,400 employees at the Moanalua Medical Center and Clinic and 18 clinics statewide, said changing the model of care will ultimately give members more access, resulting in better outcomes and healthier patients.
But Cade Watanabe, spokesman for Unite Here Local 5, representing the workers being laid off, said, "All of these cuts have tremendous impacts on our community and Kaiser members."
Watanabe said the 13 layoffs announced Friday violate the National Labor Relations Act because the workers currently do not have a contract. Their union contract expired Sept. 1, he said.
"It’s not just about a union worried about members losing jobs," Watanabe added. "What kind of care is Hawaii’s largest HMO providing to its constituents? If they really cared about the quality of patient care that they’re providing, we would think they would want to work with us, to talk about these changes, and wouldn’t make these kinds of decisions and layoffs that would adversely affect our ability to provide good-quality care."
Kaiser said it has notified the union to discuss the changes over the next 45 days.
