Tentative agreement, Special RF and a ratification vote

November 20, 2015

Dear Member:

Since the spring, you have been hearing about ongoing, collaborative talks with Alberta Health (AH) to find ways to improve efficiencies and control costs while maintaining quality care. I am pleased to tell you that we have now reached a tentative agreement that proposes to amend and supplement the existing 2011-18 AMA Agreement.

Objectives of the tentative agreement

The tentative agreement package has two distinct parts, described below, that aim to do three things. If ratified, it would:

1. Seek to expand involvement (at various levels and in various ways) of other key stakeholders who may be impacted or have impact upon the working of the AMA Agreement. This would include not only Alberta Health Services (AHS), but also the faculties of medicine at our two universities, the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta, the Health Quality Council of Alberta and others.

2. Provide a vehicle to reach agreement on specific areas of innovation to improve the system and identify resources to put toward actual implementation.

3. Deal with some of the issues that have arisen with physician contracts when AHS is the payer.

These three objectives together can establish new relationships and allow us to look at sustainability from both financial and quality perspectives. Success in achieving them will depend on how well the parties make use of the structures and resources that the tentative agreement would provide.

Structure of the tentative agreement

The two components of the tentative agreement package are:

• “Agreement to Amend the AMA Agreement” which deals primarily with points one and two above.
• “Strategic Agreement” which creates a framework particularly focused on those situations where AHS is the payer for physician services in its facilities.

Ratification required

As with any agreement, all the parties (AMA, AH and AHS) must conduct a ratification process. For physicians, a ratification vote would take place. Your support and buy-in are critical for all elements of the tentative agreement, so you will have opportunity to vote on the complete package.

Before proceeding to the vote, however, we will follow our usual practice of a special meeting of the Representative Forum (RF) to review the proposal. Based on the response of the RF, the Board of Directors will determine if the tentative agreement warrants a ratification vote.

The special RF will be held Saturday, December 12, at the Radisson Hotel Edmonton South. The session relating to the tentative agreement will run from 9 to 11 a.m. Immediately following that session, there will be an information session on the Physician Compensation Committee (PCC) Fee Review process. Because of the PCC session, section presidents and fees representatives are invited to attend the meeting.

About voting and receiving information

Should we proceed to hold a ratification vote, the voting period would likely open the Monday immediately following the RF. Those details will be determined very shortly.

In terms of the timing of this possible ratification vote, I know that it would occur during an extremely busy time of year. In light of that, we are planning to make information available in a number of different ways including written material, explanatory videos on the website and building a Frequently Asked Questions document.

We hope to make information available to you at your convenience. For those who may wish to attend a meeting before the vote closes, we will convene a few meetings in the New Year with video and audio conference options. You will receive details on all these things with your voting package – which, I’m happy to say, will be delivered electronically since we will be conducting the vote by electronic ballot.

As always, your comments on this or other matters are welcome. Email me at president@albertadoctors.org or leave a comment below.

Kind regards,

Carl W. Nohr, MDCM, PhD, FRCSC, FACS
President