Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has issued new Health Minister Adriana LaGrange a mandate letter that instructs her to reform Alberta Health Services (AHS) and decentralize decision-making to the front lines.
The premier said the government’s focus over the next four years will be making sure Albertans have “world-class health care” while maintaining the United Conservative Party’s Public Health Guarantee, with explicit direction to Ms. LaGrange to ensure no Albertan has to pay out-of-pocket to see their doctor or receive necessary medical treatment.
“To accomplish this task, you will need to demonstrate creativity, responsiveness to public concerns, and a willingness to reform the management and structure of Alberta Health Services to better decentralize decision-making and resources to the front lines and local communities,” said the premier.
Decentralizing the health care system comes 15 years after the province first centralized it under then-Premier Ralph Klein, who turned more than 200 individual health boards and agencies into 17 regional health authorities. Those eventually turned into just nine boards, and in 2008, the current AHS single health management structure was created.
Investment
The government will be investing $6 million to screen for additional newborn conditions, and will add more obstetrics doctors for communities with demand for labour and delivery services, particularly Lethbridge and Fort McMurray.The province has also committed to invest approximately $10 million and implement a province-wide midwifery strategy and is also providing a one-time $10 million grant for “women-focused research, advocacy, and care.”
Other initiatives that Ms. Smith has requested to improve health care include “resolving the unacceptable lab services delay” that has had some patients reportedly waiting up to two weeks for a blood test. The government wants a continual improvement in ambulance (EMS) times and emergency room wait times, as well as a reduction in surgical wait list backlogs.
The mandate letter asks Ms. LaGrange, who was sworn in on June 9, to continue to implement recommendations regarding EMS dispatch, and continue to assess alternative models of care and alternative compensation models for family doctors and nurse practitioners.
The health minister is tasked with improving the management of chronic disease and ensuring more of the province’s residents have family doctors. In addition, the health minister is asked to improve senior care with ongoing work to add more continuing care spaces and help seniors stay in their homes longer with additional support and home care services.
The letter asks Ms. LaGrange to develop “a series of reforms to the health care system that enhance local decisionmaking authority, improve health care services for all Albertans, and create a more collaborative working environment for our health care workers by incentivizing regional innovation and increasing our ability to attract and retain the health care workers we need.”
The government indicated it wants to address rural health shortages of nurses and doctors, and attract and retain more health care workers for rural areas of the province. One item in the mandate letter instructs the health minister to work with the minister of advanced education to streamline and automate credentialling for health care workers.
The province is also placing considerable focus on recovery from mental health and addiction, and exploring the idea of health spending accounts for citizens.
The health minister has also been asked to assess the proposed federal legislation surrounding euthanasia (Medical Assistance in Dying, also known as MAID).
