Alberta’s health system is under extraordinary pressure. Physicians are feeling that pressure across the system, but the fundamental question for Albertans remains simple: can patients get the care they need, when they need it?
Primary care – The foundation we cannot afford to weaken
The AMA's second annual State of Health Care report shows Albertans are confident in the quality and skill of their physicians and health care teams, but have less confidence in the system's ability to provide timely access to care when and where it's needed.
Today, government announced a $172.3 million investment in physician compensation as part of the final year of the current Master Agreement (2022-26).
Last week, you should have received a link to complete the latest AMA Member Tracking Survey. I encourage you to take a few minutes to share your experience. Your feedback gives us timely insight into the realities you are facing in practice and helps ensure our advocacy, priorities and member support reflect what physicians are experiencing right now.
Over the past several months, many of you have raised important questions about what expanded dual practice could mean for patients, physicians and the future of our publicly funded health care system — especially since Bill 11 (Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (No. 2)) was introduced.
Below you will find previous issues of The President's Letter. For older issues no longer on the website, contact us.
As Alberta welcomes displaced Ukrainians – with hundreds more expected to arrive in the coming weeks – I know as physicians we will do everything we can to enable their access to care until they can safely return home or permanently relocate to Canada.
I am writing this evening to provide an update on the various stipend programs that are due to end on March 31, 2022 or shortly thereafter.
As promised, a new phase of AMA advocacy is beginning to help Albertans better understand what is happening in health care in Alberta. We are also hoping to identify ideas – with partners and stakeholders – for resolution, innovation and solutions.
The Virtual Spring Representative Forum Part One was held March 11. The Spring RF Part Two will be held May 13-14 in person, COVID-state permitting. In this letter I want to share the March 11 highlights:
I am writing to share my concerns and the AMA’s response regarding a letter that was sent yesterday to physicians from Alberta Health Services. AHS is providing notice that on July 1, 2022, it will implement a framework “for assessing and recovering physician overhead costs that will be a consistent approach for AHS physician overhead across all zones, and in all facilities; urban, regional and rural. Note: Timelines are subject to pandemic response.”
Yesterday, government released its 2022-23 budget which featured substantial investment in health care. It is good to see government paying attention to health care in a concrete fashion. I also appreciate references made in budget documents to interest-based negotiations with physicians, and our common interests such as quality of care, health care sustainability and stability of physician practices.
Yesterday, Alberta Health released a bulletin informing physicians that effective February 15, 2022, all eligible claims for enhanced virtual care codes can now be submitted to AH’s claims system.
As I was writing this letter, the province’s changes to public health restrictions were announced. I did several media interviews on this announcement. Here is a post that we placed on the AMA’s Twitter feed with a link to an interview I did with Global News.
In our last survey we asked members what they want from the AMA. They expect representation and negotiations, but also want advocacy to explain the state of health care to Albertans. This includes advocating for sustainability of family medicine/primary care, the importance of the Patient's Medical Home and the serious situation in rural medicine where COVID-19 has worsened ongoing gaps in local health care teams.
Discussions between the Alberta Medical Association and government are entering a new stage and a joint statement will be issued today. Our ability to reach this point meant first addressing a number of matters that I’ve written to you about, e.g., virtual code changes (January 7), stipend programs delay (December 10) and Z-code and Alberta Health Services overhead policy (December 3).