President's Letter
Dear Members:
The Modernizing Alberta's Primary Health Care System (MAPS) initiative has been set up to recommend short- and long-term actions to strengthen primary health care in Alberta.
On January 16-17, primary care stakeholders came together at the MAPS Innovation Forum to discuss potential innovations for modernizing Alberta’s primary health care system. Key topics included:
- How to fully realize team-based care.
- Meeting the needs of Albertans living in rural and remote parts of the province.
- Ways to better meet the needs of vulnerable and underserved populations.
- How to enhance partnerships between Indigenous communities/organizations and other parts of the health care system.
Our members at the forum advocated for:
- Resources for team-based care at the clinic level and beyond, e.g., other allied health providers.
- Alternative funding models that are capitation based, improvements to the BCM.
- Sustainable funding for PCNs and community supports.
- Leveraging and building from the good work that’s already been done, such as PCNs.
- Informational continuity while growing teams, e.g., accessible, affordable internet access for all Albertans.
- Unique solutions for rural Alberta.
- Partnering with communities to better address local population needs.
- Consideration of social determinants of health.
- Avoiding quick access solutions that further fragment care.
Outcomes from the Innovation Forum will be fed back into the MAPS panels to support their work of developing a strategic roadmap for primary health care in Alberta.
What is clear is that there is no quick fix for all that ails primary care and the government cannot solve this by themselves. It’s up to all health system partners to contribute and seek tangible ways to better sustain community practices while improving access for Albertans.
I will continue to keep you informed as things progress.
You are always welcome to share your thoughts with me. You can email me via president@albertadoctors.org. You can also comment on this letter on the AMA website.
Regards,
fred Rinaldi, MD, CCFP, FCFP, LLB, MBA, MPA(HSA), BCom
President, Alberta Medical Association
"Fate whispers to the warrior, 'You can not withstand the storm.' The warrior whispers back, 'I am the storm.'"