Dear Members,
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.
TAKE THE MEMBER TRACKING SURVEY
The AMA is YOUR association. To represent you well, we need to hear your concerns, your perspectives and the pressures affecting your work environments and your patients. What you tell us informs Board decisions, advocacy priorities and how we serve members across the province.
The tracking survey provides insights into how physicians are experiencing the health system over time — from the pressures of delivering care and running a practice to whether health system leaders understand the realities you face. It is one of the ways the AMA listens, learns and strengthens our work on your behalf.
December’s tracking survey reflected a broad cross-section of the profession, including family physicians and specialists, community- and facility-based physicians, and members from every region of the province. That breadth gives us confidence that the findings are a meaningful snapshot of member experience across Alberta.
The December results showed that overall confidence in Alberta’s health care system remains low. 75% of respondents said support for physicians to provide quality care is getting worse, and 81% said the health system overall continues to deteriorate. You also shared concern about whether the system is meeting patients’ needs, and many described feeling undervalued and disconnected from decisions that affect care delivery.
These views were consistent across specialties, practice settings and regions.
Despite these pressures, one message came through clearly: Alberta physicians remain deeply committed to patients. Even under significant strain, physicians continue to deliver high-quality care, often at considerable personal and professional cost. That commitment is unmistakable in the survey results and remains the foundation of the AMA’s work and advocacy efforts.
The survey results also spoke strongly to unity and representation. More than nine in ten respondents said it is important for the AMA to advocate for resources that affect patient care, from practice supports and digital tools to funding models that allow physicians to meet patient needs. There was equally strong agreement that, regardless of how issues such as payment reform, system reorganization or dual practice unfold, the AMA has a responsibility to represent physicians and stand up for Alberta’s publicly funded health care system.
Members gave the AMA a clear message about how we need to show up for you. You told us to continue advocating strongly on the issues shaping patient care and the profession, while also doing more to keep members informed, strengthen engagement and more clearly connect physician input to visible action.
While more than half of members said they feel well informed about AMA news and activities, only 22% said the same about what is happening across the broader health system. That gap matters. In a fast-changing environment, members need timely, relevant information they can trust, without adding to information fatigue.
We also heard that members want accessible ways to share their views when change affects them. While 61% said they can do that through the AMA, that result is down slightly from earlier surveys, and we are treating it as an important signal to improve how we listen and respond.
About half of respondents agreed that the AMA is effectively supporting physicians to influence a patient-centred health system. Many also called for stronger advocacy, while maintaining the constructive relationships needed to advance solutions and support negotiations. That expectation came through clearly.
We are acting on that feedback. The AMA is improving how we listen to members, how we tailor communications and how we close the loop between physician input and AMA action. This includes investing in new tools and modernizing our member relationship management systems so we can better understand member needs, strengthen engagement across the province and ensure physician perspectives inform advocacy, negotiations and policy work in a more timely and meaningful way.
In a health system that can feel unpredictable and fragmented, the AMA’s role is to remain steady, principled and grounded in what you tell us. Your feedback helps shape where we focus, how we advocate and how we support members while working to protect patient care and professional integrity.
Thank you again for your honesty, your engagement and your continued commitment to patients. We are listening, we are acting and we are committed to improving how we serve you. Please take a few minutes to complete the latest tracking survey. Your response will help guide the AMA’s work in the months ahead and strengthen our ability to advocate on the issues that matter most to physicians and patients.
If you have questions, please reach out to me any time through [email protected].
Regards,
Brian Wirzba, MD, FRCPC
President, Alberta Medical Association