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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 October 23 President's Letter
Here is AMA Fact Checkup – Issue 2. In this issue, we check and correct government on statements they have made.
Every day, misinformation about the health care system – often coming from government talking points – gets amplified and repeated in media coverage and on social media. For physicians, evidence matters. The barrage of misleading commentary is beyond frustrating.
Today we are launching a major advertising campaign.
The main message is this: Government is not listening to physicians. Decisions are being made without application of relevant expertise. Our system needs informed reform.
This is my first President’s Letter. I am honoured to take on this role. I will have your back and fight with everything I’ve got.
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.
Last week we released disturbing survey results including that 61% of family and rural generalist physicians are contemplating early retirement or relocation, while one in five fear they can’t maintain their clinics more than six months.
Our news conference on Tuesday about the crisis in family medicine received excellent media coverage. You can review the news conference recording (or watch the Q&A session) as we highlighted new data measuring the extreme financial instability and threat to viability facing family and rural generalist physician practices.
We were pleased to see the Alberta Health Bulletin issued earlier today announcing that enhanced virtual care codes for mental health services provided are now live.
The situation in family and rural medicine isn’t just bad – it's dire. That’s what I told reporters earlier today at a news conference we held to share the results of last week’s survey of family and rural generalist physicians regarding the state of their practices and finances.
Through the holiday season and into this early new year, we have advocated ceaselessly for your needs with government, in the media and through social media.
As you know, we’ve been advocating intensely and continuously to stabilize family and rural generalist practices in Alberta. I also promised you that there would be more information coming about AMA proposals to government to address the parallel crisis in acute care.
The AMA has been advocating ceaselessly for virtual code changes to be implemented as promised under our agreement. Our mental health system is in deep and increasing distress. Making it possible for physicians to provide a broader scope of virtual care to these patients is not only logical, it’s essential.
There are two things I wanted you to see before 2023 comes to an end.
This afternoon I joined Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange and Premier Danielle Smith at a news conference to announce that government will apply $100 million to immediate stabilization of family and rural generalist physician practices.
The calendar year may be running down but our advocacy to urgently stabilize family physician and rural generalist practices is still at full throttle. As you know, intense discussions have been underway for weeks.