2024/2025 Membership Renewal is now open!
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.
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.
Our AMA agreement includes a letter of commitment for restoration of Good Faith claims, but the terms were not something that physicians could live with. Between the burdensome manual process and gaps in coverage for patients, it just wasn’t going to fly.
AMA members are fully behind our fierce advocacy for primary care and our efforts to save and support family physician and rural generalist clinics. Everyone agrees the system has no future without this foundation.
There is a lot going on! It can be challenging to keep members well informed about all that we are doing, so we’ve created a page on the website with a list of the key activities currently underway and what’s happening in each, including primary and acute care, agreement implementation and the health system reorganization.
Earlier this month, the Minister of Health announced a plan for what is being referred to as the Health System Refocus. I provided some information on this development in an earlier President’s Letter, and I have been actively engaged with government, AMA members and the media discussing some of the pros – and a lot of the potential cons – of this approach.
In the time frame of Budget 2024, Minister LaGrange has committed to stabilization and restoration of family medicine and rural generalist care.
Yesterday we cut through the fog created by government about who provides primary care in Alberta. Our colleagues across the health care spectrum deserve respect and support.