Key Result Area 3: System Leadership and Partnership

Goal 1: Working with Alberta Health, the four provincial health agencies, key service delivery organizations, and other partners, lead and influence positive change in the delivery of services.

Priority activities

1. Advocate and lead system and policy improvement and provide physician support that enables an integrated health neighborhood in a high performing health system.

• Finalize and implement the new Physician Comprehensive Care Model (PCCM). 
• Advocate for continued use of federal funding to be used towards sustaining existing primary care clinics and family physicians. 
• Advocate for enhancements to PCCM to address unique needs of rural generalist physicians and other expansion possibilities. 
• Through the ACTT program, continue implementation of initiatives that support patient’s medical home and comprehensive care in Alberta, including CII/CPAR, improve care coordination, PPIP (Physician Practice Improvement Program), BCM (Blended Capitation Models), training and tools (i.e. governance education, privacy, panel, access, practice facilitator, team based care), and provincial communities of practice in EMR (Electronic medical records), practice facilitators, clinical managers, and physician leaders.
• Through the ACTT program, provide leadership development and a supportive community environment through the physician leadership network. 
• Through the ACTT program, support AMA representatives at various working groups/sub-committees to determine best models/approaches to health system improvement (related to MAPS, ASI, and other key groups and committees). 
• Lead and Influence policy development and health system improvement initiatives at a provincial level through strategic advice and support of Specialty Care Alliance, Primary Care Alliance, Primary Care Coalition, Primary Care Networks Physician Leads Executive, Modernizing Alberta’s Primary Care (MAPS) working groups, Sections.

2.  Advocate for an effective and efficient health informatics system and policy improvements supporting physicians, addressing information flow that reduces patient risk and supports continuity of care.

• Represent members requirements at the provincial EMR program to ensure standards are met.  Including leveraging the Connected Care for Canadians Act, Bill C-72 to ensure appropriate interoperability standards and infrastructure allow for health care providers to easily communicate and share patient data.
• Advocacy for the improvement of patient access to their health information through the release of appropriate results to MyHealthRecord.
• Advocacy for the modernization of the Health Information Act to address barriers in patient information that interoperability required for team-based care.  Continue to work with OIPC and AH on details of proposed legislation changes that are required to support the new provincial healthcare agencies.
• Through the Informatics Advisory Committee, continue to work with CPSA, CMPA and others on provincial policy and member guidance on the use of AI in clinical practice.

3.  Advocate for solutions that address the health human resource shortage and improve patients’ access to a physician.

• Make recommendations on physician supply and distribution, through the Physician Resource Planning Advisory Committee as contemplated under the AMA Agreement through discussions with Alberta Health and the AMA. 
• In collaboration with the CPSA (College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta) lead a multi-stakeholder data initiative to establish baseline measures on the state of physician resources in Alberta. 
• Operationalize administration of the rural physician recruitment and retention program 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.  Advocate for the Acute Care Stabilization Proposal, including incentives that address difficulties associated with access to acute care: after hours, ARP and AMHSP rates, on-call, AHS-paid stipends.

2.  In partnership with AH, evaluate and advise on opportunities to improve PCCM.

3.  Advocate for implementation of the ‘top 10 priorities’ developed by the AMA’s cARP Working Group (contractual agreements with fair dispute resolution, expedited application, approval processes, simplify payment models, fair/timely funding adjustments for service volume, etc.)

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.  Gather and integrate patient input through general population polling and engaging with the 50,000 Albertans in our online activist community.

2.  Establish the AMA and physicians as an authoritative source of insight on patient needs for media and stakeholders.