It is not news there are glaring cracks in our healthcare systems – in some cases reaching a breaking point. In both BC and AB numerous rural emergency departments have closed for hours, even days, due to shortages. 

Healthcare organizations in both BC & Alberta struggle to recruit skilled doctors, nurses, care aids, and other skilled professionals. What can be done to alleviate the pressures on the system?

Alberta has made changes to primary care funding. This is widely seen as a positive step.

Yet funding for emergency physicians has not changed, nor has funding for hospitals.

Alberta Health Services has considered changing to an activity-based funding model over global budgets. In 2010, BC experimented with ABF and determined there were no changes in measures of quality. During the recent election in BC, the idea re-surfaced.

Families in both provinces struggle to find a GP – the foundation of our health care systems. Ontario has introduced new medical school rules that require students to be Canadians from Ontario.

Surgical waitlists are long, access to operating rooms rationed by difficult budgets, and the food is terrible. 

The right of patients to use private clinics in their home province is not allowed.

Delivering healthcare in a province isn’t a simple thing. It requires coordination of thousands of patients, billions of dollars, thousands of specialist providers, complex equipment, and hundreds of facilities. 

Just delivering healthy meals and timely appointments is challenging for institutions struggling to keep up with demand under budgets that are too tight - but already the single largest expenditure in every Canadian province. 

Join us December 10 for a conversation on this critical matter with an outstanding panel.

We hope you can join us for the conversation.