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The "voice of the AMA" – Published regularly throughout the year, the President's Letter informs you about Alberta Medical Association positions on key and complex issues in Alberta’s health care.
Read the November 22 President's Letter
As part of a cross-ministry effort by the provincial government, Alberta Health has invited the Alberta Medical Association to complete a survey on behalf of members. It relates to “legislative changes to safeguard freedom of expression for regulated professionals.”
Right now, the AMA is engaged in more advocacy than at any other time in our history. In the category of fact checking, we coordinated yesterday with section experts to respond to comments made by the premier in a news conference.
Here is AMA Fact Checkup – Issue 2. In this issue, we check and correct government on statements they have made.
Comments on the most recent President's Letter are enabled and welcome. You may also contact the AMA President by email at [email protected].
Below you will find previous issues of The President's Letter. For older issues no longer on the website, contact us.
We know many physicians are affected by the upcoming June 30 planned deadline for stipend contracts. Via a joint statement this morning, government and the Alberta Medical Association are announcing that, “no action will be taken on June 30, 2022, with respect to Alberta Health Services (AHS) stipends or AHS overhead.
I’m writing today to provide members with an update on the Income Equity Initiative (IEI). A comprehensive physician compensation framework remains a key priority for the AMA. We have kept our commitment to membership and have continued our work on income equity so that we can be ready to incorporate it into possible outcomes of an agreement, such as allocation of new monies.
Today I am sharing a new issue in the Care Deficit Assessment Series. Issue 5 Dermatology is an interesting example of the care deficit manifesting in specialized care with the potential to affect many patients. To quote the contributors: “As with most health issues, early diagnosis of dermatology-related issues is key to determining the best possible treatment.”
Pediatric mental health has emerged as one of the primary concerns of the current care deficit. As colleagues who care for children tell us, these patients are distressed. Adding to that toll are the families and friends of unwell children who are their support networks, themselves dragged into stress, anxiety and ill health by the burden of caregiving.
We have kept the Representative Forum up to date on details of negotiations with government for a new agreement. Your leaders have heard that the interests-based approach to negotiations has allowed us some progress.
The biggest Connect Care launch to date (Wave 4) is happening on May 28, at sites in both the Edmonton and Calgary zones (for a list of specific sites that will be impacted, please visit the Connect Care Implementation Timeline).
I wrote to you a few days ago to report on the May 13-14 Representative Forum and made three key points.
The Representative Forum met Friday and Saturday (May 13-14) and received updates, deliberated and provided direction regarding government discussions and the Income Equity Initiative. We will have more to tell you on those fronts soon. Today, I want to share my overall impressions of what delegates had to tell the Board.
The Spring Representative Forum, Part Two will take place at the end of this week (May 13-14). The agenda includes the latest updates on negotiations toward a new agreement, as well as the Physician Compensation Strategy and Income Equity Initiative. We’ll hear from expert physician leaders on two critical topics: the opioid poisoning crisis and pediatric mental health. We’ll also discuss AMA advocacy plans for the upcoming weeks and months.
Today I am releasing a new topic in the AMA’s Care Deficit Assessment Series.