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EDMONTON — Alberta won't close the door on more privatization of publicly funded services as it overhauls its health system to make sure paperwork doesn't get in the way of patient care.
“I'm not rejecting anything,” Health Minister Ron Liepert said Wednesday.
“Everything is on the table.”
Patient care is hung up by too much red tape, he said.
“There are simply too many referral stages and patients are simply waiting too long,” said Mr. Liepert, who took over the health portfolio in a cabinet shuffle last month.
He said changes will flow from recommendations made in several reports, including a 2001 study headed by former deputy prime minister Don Mazankowski that urged more user fees and delisting of some services now covered by medicare.
The changes, which Mr. Liepert said he'll start rolling out in mid-June, will focus on how the province's nine regional health authorities and health boards operate.
“Job No. 1 in this plan is to improve how health care is managed in this province,” Mr. Liepert told a news conference.
Mr. Liepert wouldn't release details or say whether health regions would be amalgamated, but he did suggest there's no plan to close rural hospitals.
Both Mr. Liepert and Premier Ed Stelmach have stressed that there must be changes to get a handle on spiralling health-care costs that have hit $13-billion — a third of the provincial budget — but are still resulting in long wait times and shortages in doctors and nurses.
Mr. Stelmach has said such a financial burden will eventually impair the government to move on other priority areas such as education.
Some other things the government plans to do: — Add training spaces for doctors, nurses and therapists.
— Bring in more doctors from abroad.
— Expand the role of pharmacists in preventing and managing chronic diseases.
— Promote healthy lifestyles and how to prevent disease.
— Develop a patient-focused “navigator” system to improve health access.
The latter is being developed with McMaster University and combines technology and one-on-one care to “hold the hand of the patient and navigate them through the system,” said Mr. Liepert.
Alberta has had problems in the past with its health authorities, including some exceeding their budgets.
The Calgary Health Region stole the spotlight during February's election campaign when president Jack Davis announced an immediate need for $115-million to open up more hospital beds and eliminate its deficit.
The city's three main hospitals had been struggling with seriously overcrowded emergency rooms, forcing patients to queue in hallways on stretchers.
Mr. Davis's comments embarrassed the Stelmach's Conservatives on the campaign trail, but Mr. Liepert wouldn't say Wednesday if they are happy with the region's performance or whether it was a factor in the changes.
Political opponents have noted Mr. Stelmach didn't campaign on radical health reform when he captured a 72-seat majority in the 83-seat legislature in the March 3 provincial election.
Dave Taylor, health critic for the Opposition Alberta Liberals, said Wednesday the patient navigator concept is a good idea, but Mr. Liepert's overall plan is short on specifics, especially on privatization.
“I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop before I say whether this is a good idea or not,” said Mr. Taylor.
NDP Leader Brian Mason said the announcement is a fuzzy promise for change that lacks clear benchmarks and he'd like to see a plan that sets out clear goals.
Health care has been a high-wire act for the Tories in recent years. Mr. Stelmach's predecessor, Ralph Klein, met stiff resistance in 2000 when he passed a bill to allow private clinics to keep patients overnight.
Six years later, Mr. Klein promoted a “Third Way” for health that would keep a high-quality basic standard of public care but allow patients to pay more for high-end services.
The proposal was eventually scrapped when Mr. Klein received lukewarm support at a party leadership review and announced he was stepping down.
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