Our May 2017 report is an important read for Albertans.
The report affirms that the province’s long-standing goal of building an integrated healthcare system focused around the needs of the patient is the right approach, but there are inherent barriers in the current system preventing Albertans from receiving the best quality care possible.
Better Healthcare for Albertans: A Report by the Office of the Auditor General of Alberta offers an analysis of the root causes behind the lack of progress toward effective integration of healthcare in Alberta. It identifies opportunities based on models from other jurisdictions to take Alberta’s system to a higher level in a quantum leap rather than through incremental change and reorganization.
Integrated healthcare has been the stated policy for healthcare in Alberta since the 1990s.
The report notes that the key building blocks are in place in Alberta, including the establishment of Alberta Health Services, but change is needed in three key areas:
- System structure: the appropriate participants performing appropriate roles
- Integration of physicians with AHS and other providers: more coordination with allied healthcare providers, and compensation and accountability built around quality care and health outcomes
- Clinical information systems: complete, rapid access to medical records by everyone in the system—including the patient—when and where it is needed
Better Healthcare for Albertans provides a detailed look at the characteristics of a high performing system, and highlights specific opportunities where Alberta must take action immediately if it is going to ever achieve integrated care.
