Today Ken Hughes, Chair of Alberta Health Services (AHS) “Superboard” said Alberta was at a health care “watershed” in a speech delivered to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. After over two years of planning and preparation, AHS is now implementing a plan that will reduce wait times and increase access for Albertans.
Armed with an $800 million base increase and a one-time bail-out of $780 million from last week’s Alberta budget, Mr. Hughes said they will perform some 2300 more surgeries in the next six months, rework patient flow in emerencies departments, and perfom more community-based care.
Mr. Hughes hailed the “new stable, sustainable foundation”, saying it was a first in Canada. AHS now has a known envelope of funding for the next five years, with 6% increases in the early years, reducing to a 4.5% increase in year five.
Not shying away from the fact that Alberta spends more per capita on health than any other jurisdiction in Canada, Mr. Hughes made a bold commitment to “reverse the wait list trend” in this province. “We will not rest until we get greatly improved access” he told the large crowd.
AHS is already the largest employer in Alberta, with a staff of over 90,000. With the amalgamation of the regional boards last year, Mr. Hughes spoke glowingly of savings achieved as a result of reduced duplication and increased buying power (apparently AHS is now the eighth largest Microsoft customer globally). They have saved some $700 million in “back office” costs, without affecting service on the front lines of health care. “We will be fiscally responsible” he stated emphatically.
Certainly last week’s budget providing for a $4.7 billion deficit was surprising to many observers. Mr. Hughes said the government asked what it would take to fix health care in Alberta, AHS told them, and they got what they asked for in the budget.
What remains to be seen is their ability to deliver on the promise to reduce waiting times and improve access, two chronic problems not just in Alberta but in every province in this country.
In Alberta health care costs already represent about 41% of the total budget. Sooner or later governments will have to put a hard cap on these costs or find a new envelope of funding from the private sector to make quality health care truly sustainable.
