Alberta’s health authority will undergo a comprehensive review of its practices over the next few months in hopes of finding “efficiencies across the health system.”
A request for proposals has been posted for a performance review for Alberta Health Services, which the UCP promised would happen during its election campaign.
“As promised in our platform, we are launching the process to conduct a comprehensive review of AHS, the first since it was formed 10 years ago,” Health Minister Tyler Shandro said in a release.
“We campaigned on a commitment to strengthen our publicly funded health system, and that’s what this review is about: delivering better results for Albertans.”
AHS said it was looking forward to working with the government on the review, adding it’s “put significant focus on finding efficiencies across all areas of the organization over the past decade.”
“This review will help us identify further opportunities for more efficiencies while maintaining or improving quality care for Albertans,” AHS president and CEO Dr. Verna Yu said.
As part of the review, the government said physicians and AHS staff will be consulted along with other “key health stakeholders and the public.”
The reviewer will also look at:
- Comprehensive examination of AHS structure and organization
- Evaluation of all AHS programs, services and policies to identify potential to reduce costs and improve performance
- Identification of opportunities to make AHS operations more responsive
- Comparisons to other provinces and best practices
The final report is due back to the provincial government by Dec. 31.
AHS employs more than 102,000 people and has a budget of $15.2 billion.