California nurses represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United staged a protest July 13 outside the American Hospital Association Leadership Summit in Denver, citing concerns about Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente’s accelerating use of AI in patient care, according to a CNA/NNOC/NNU news release.
The protest came a day before a scheduled appearance at the summit by Kaiser Chair and CEO Greg Adams. Mr. Adams is set to speak July 14 in a fireside chat focused on moving technology from pilots to everyday practice and aligning people and technology to support care redesign, according to the AHA Leadership Summit program. CNA, which represents more than 25,000 registered nurses at Kaiser facilities across California, said nurses are concerned the health system is deploying untested technology in ways that put patients at risk.
AI governance has been a point of contention between Kaiser and its unions. The July 13 protest is the latest in a series of actions by Kaiser workers over the issue, including a 2024 protest outside Kaiser’s San Francisco Medical Center and an August 2025 rally in Honolulu focused on AI job protections. CNA nurses staged a 24-hour sympathy strike in March in solidarity with mental health workers, also citing AI concerns. A separate union, UNAC/UHCP, led the January-February open-ended strike that Kaiser priced at more than $1 billion in temporary staffing costs. CNA remains in active contract negotiations with Kaiser.
Nursing unions elsewhere have increasingly sought AI protections at the bargaining table, with nurses at Traverse City, Mich.-based Munson Medical Center and Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare recently securing contract language giving them a voice in how the technology is deployed.
Kaiser said in a statement to Becker’s that it is committed to ensuring nurses have a voice in how AI and other evolving technologies are used in their practice. The health system said it intends to continue those discussions through the collective bargaining process.
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