Kaiser Permanente review: Appointment availability and timeliness of services

My aunt is 86 years old and has dementia. She attends a senior day program and needs to recertify regularly to continue her attendance. Each and every time we need to recertify, it takes a ridiculous amount of time to get Kaiser to complete the paperwork we need. Most times, it even takes multiple messages and repeat requests.

Not only that, but appointment dates are also too far out. I just attempted to schedule a health assessment for my aunt and the soonest availability was 2 months away! That seems to be the norm for Kaiser. Whenever I try to schedule an appointment for her, availability is usually months out. That's crazy to me! How is it that an elderly woman with health and cognitive issues has to wait so long to be seen by a doctor unless it's an emergency? Why are there no concessions made for elderly patients, especially if they have known chronic conditions?... but that's a separate issue, I suppose.

I have been a member of Kaiser for years for my own healthcare and have always found that they are extremely slow to respond to information requests and it's difficult to get appointments without a very long wait. It seems to be common knowledge that Kaiser is severely lacking in their timeliness. When I notified the senior center of my troubles, the senior center told me that they always have trouble getting paperwork from their Kaiser program participants. They have even reached out to Kaiser directly to try and move along the process of receiving forms that we need. The only advice they could get is that sometimes you have to submit the paperwork in person along with in the portal and sometimes it's faster. (It's not. I've done it that way too.)

Something needs to change! I have complained before and it has not gotten any better, so here I am... again. PLEASE, KAISER! DO BETTER!