Friends of Medicare (FOM) is applauding a report by Alberta’s auditor general that calls for immediate action to improve the health care system.
Merwan Saher’s report, tabled in the legislature Thursday, found the system is too fragmented, health care providers don’t work together enough, and clinical information is not shared efficiently.
Saher said Alberta’s health care system continues to fall short, despite years of recommendations on how to make it better.
FOM Executive Director Sandra Azocar agreed with the report. She called the system broken.
“It’s not about more money. It’s about having better oversight and accountability and transparency as to how it is that we’re actually spending the money. That’s a conversation that’s bigger — a systematic conversation that we need to be addressing,” said Azocar.
“It’s the structure of our health care system, and the governance model, and who really is in charge.”
Saher says too many roadblocks continue to prevent the government and health providers from working together to give people the best quality of care possible.
“Significantly better health care is within reach, and putting more money into the system is not the answer.”
The provincial government forecasts that it will spend $21.4 billion on health care this year – almost 40 per cent of its entire budget.
“Integrated health care is the framework used by the highest-performing health systems in the world, but we need to overcome some key barriers that have prevented successive governments from establishing this kind of system,” said Saher.
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He said health care needs to shift its focus to the long-term needs of patients and away from bureaucracy, the negotiating efforts of health providers or four-year election cycles.
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People should have access to more information about their own health and treatment options and should be able to communicate with their care team, Saher said. He also said the government, Alberta Health Services and physicians should work more closely together.
“Alberta’s public health care does not operate as one system.”
“It is like an orchestra without a conductor – a collection of independently acting providers and professional groups that offer treatment through a series of isolated episodes,” said Saher.
The report said members of the legislature, including cabinet ministers, should not make specific demands of the health system or intervene in matters that are the responsibility of health managers.
Azocar said when it comes to health care, politics can cloud the picture.
“I think the way we deliver health care, it is political. I think it’s naive not to believe that. I think there has to be a political will to address some of the issues that have been a long time coming, and there has to be a willingness to actually do something about it,” Azocar said.
The report said physicians should have a greater role in managing the quality of care,but should work with other health providers and be offered incentives to achieve improved results.
Better integration of services could help family physicians prevent higher-cost visits to emergency rooms and reduce hospital admissions, Saher said.
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The report’s findings are based on a review the auditor general began in 2015 into why so many recommendations made by his office on how to improve health care have not been acted on over many years.
Saher said change is necessary, overdue and achievable.
“Albertans are paying for the best,” he said. “Why would they not expect the best?”
You can read the auditor general’s full report here.
With files from Brenda Neufeld
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