The president and CEO of Alberta Health Services announced her resignation Friday, which will take effect in 2016.
“I have sincerely enjoyed working at AHS since I joined the organization in May 2014,” Vickie Kaminski said in a statement. “I am quite proud to lead a tremendous team of health care providers and the people who support them to provide quality and safe health care to their fellow Albertans every day. I am also excited that a new Board has been appointed that will work with the Ministry of Health to strengthen AHS as a leading health care organization in the country.
“This is a personal decision for me and I will support the board during the transition period.”
Health Minister Sarah Hoffman issued a statement thanking Kaminski for the “passion” she brought to her role.
“I appreciate the range of experience Vickie brought to the table, from her work as a front line nurse, to hospital administrator, and then as CEO,” Hoffman said in a statement. “Vickie has been committed to health care for many years, and I wish her nothing but the best as she moves ahead to new opportunities.”
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The chair of the board of AHS said she was sorry to see Kaminski leave and that it must have been a difficult decision.
“Vickie is well respected across the country as a health care leader and I want to acknowledge her commitment to the success of AHS and for her service to Albertans,” Linda Hughes said in a statement. “I look forward to working with her to ensure there is a smooth transition to a new president and CEO.”
AHS said the new board came into effect Friday and will immediately start recruiting for a new president and CEO.
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Alberta health care watchdog Friends of Medicare said it welcomed the changes to AHS.
“There are many challenges ahead for AHS, and we urge the minister to take the time to seek a replacement who will share in the priorities that this government was elected on,” Sandra Azocar, executive director, said in a release. “Some government promises are yet to be finished, from creating 2,000 public long-term care beds, to ending PC privatization experiments and redirecting funds to publicly delivered care.”
Liberal Leader David Swann said he was concerned Kaminski’s resignation signalled disorder at AHS that would affect patient care.
Swann said confusion between AHS and Alberta Health was identified as a major problem by the Health Quality Council in 2012. He’s called for an arms-length board to be re-instated in the past.
“Our best chance to improve operations at AHS during these repeated periods of transition in leadership is to give the board mandate and freedom to establish long-term goals based on best evidence and best practices.”
Kaminski was appointed to a three-year term as president and CEO in March 2014 with a base salary of $540,000. A spokesperson said she would not receive any severance per the terms of her contract, which can be seen here.
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