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Key Result Area 3: System Leadership and Partnership

The AMA supports members in their role as leaders within the health care system. This includes supporting physician leadership in developing innovations in care delivery and integration of primary and specialty care. Other activities include the AMA’s key role, with Alberta Health through the AMA Agreement, in developing and implementing the physician payment strategy for the province; several programs aimed at quality improvement; activities related to eHealth; and supporting the development of physician leadership skills.

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Goal 1 Working with Alberta Health, Alberta Health Services and other partners, lead and influence positive change in the delivery of services.

Priority activities
  1. Support the sustainability of Primary Care practices and strengthen the Patient’s Medical Home for all Albertans:
  • Advocate for federal funding to be used towards sustaining existing primary care clinics and family physicians.  
  • Advocate for solutions previously brought forward by AMA to Alberta Health through the MAPS initiative, including:
    • Removal of whites of the eyes rule
    • After hours, extended hours
    • Administrative burden compensation, hourly rate
  • Through the ACTT program, continue implementation of initiatives that support patient medical home, comprehensive care in Alberta (CII/CPAR, improve care coordination, BCM or alternatives, governance education, provincial communities of practice in EMR, practice facilitators, physician champions).  
  1. Advocate for system and policy improvements, and physician support that enable system interoperability and better flow of information, reducing patient risk and supporting continuity of care.
  • Investment in Connect Care improvements for providers practicing in AHS facilities and the community (e.g., Identify viable solutions to address the ongoing challenges for accessing and routing information for mixed context providers and community providers working at more than one location.
  • An effective EMR vendor business model (e.g., standards, integration incentives, secure information exchange, etc.).
  • Advocacy for the modernization of the Health Information Act to address barriers in patient information.
  • Advocate for system and workflow improvements through the eHealth Modernization project.
  1. Advocate for solutions that address the health human resource shortage and improve patients’ access to a physician.
  • Advocate for the Alberta Surgical Initiative to be co-designed with the profession.
  • Develop and implement the program provided for in AMA Agreement to support recruitment and retention for physicians who practice full time in underserviced areas.
  • Make recommendations to the Minister on physician supply and distribution, through the Physician Resource Planning Advisory Committee to be established under the AMA Agreement.

Goal 2 Key incentives and supports for physicians are aligned with the delivery of care and toward overall system objectives of timely access for patients to quality care.

Priority activities
  1. Explore alternative compensation models and alternatives to fee for service payment, including:
  • Models for interdisciplinary physician teams.
  • In partnership with AH, evaluate Blended Capitation Model implementation and other alternatives for funding comprehensive primary care. 
  1. Advocate for the implementation of the ‘top 10 priorities’ developed by the AMA’s cARP Working Group (i.e., contractual agreements with fair dispute resolution, expedited application and approval processes, simplify payment models, fair and timely funding adjustments for service volume, etc.).
  1. Operationalize administration of the CII/CPAR member funding program under the AMA Agreement

Goal 3 The patient’s voice and perspective are actively sought and amplified by the AMA in our work as system partners, leaders and advocates.

Priority activities
  1. Regularly and frequently explore issues of importance to patients through albertapatients.ca. 
  • Report results to physicians, the public, government, AHS and other stakeholders.
  1. Leverage the PatientsFirst.ca platform by:
  • Asking Albertans about their patient experience, e.g., waiting for care.
  • Helping Albertans to make their voices heard by provincial or constituency political leaders who need to know what matters to patients.
  1. With external polling services, bring general population research findings about what patients say and value to AMA system partnership and leadership efforts.