Alberta premier says province plans to transfer some hospitals away from AHS

Alberta's premier says the province plans to lease new hospitals to Alberta Health Services with the option of transferring operations to another operator if it decides AHS isn't doing a good job. 

Danielle Smith outlined the plan in response to audience questions at a members-only United Conservative Party town hall in Drayton Valley on Aug. 17.

CBC was not at the event but relied on two different videos of the event posted on social media by Alberta podcasts The Breakdown and The Lavigne Show.

Smith's government is currently breaking the provincial health authority into four separate organizations dealing with acute care, primary care, continuing care, and mental health and addiction.

Alberta Health Services will remain responsible for running acute care.

Smith told the crowd that her government is changing how hospitals are run. Instead of building hospitals and handing them over to AHS, the province is going to keep ownership of the building. 

"We will lease it to an operator," she said. "Now, why is that important? Because if our operator isn't performing the services we need them to, we're going to take it back."

Smith said the fear of losing a hospital to another provider will motivate AHS managers to do better. 

At first, the plan would only apply to newly built hospitals, but Smith suggested the province will consider taking back ownership of some existing hospitals as a next step.

The premier's office declined to comment on the plan and directed questions to the office of Health Minister Adriana LaGrange.

LaGrange's press secretary, Andrea Smith, said in a written statement that "Alberta's government has been clear that we expect to see better results from Alberta Health Services, especially when it comes to providing acute care services in rural and remote communities  … We've raised these concerns with AHS and have asked them to develop strategies to address them."

The statement said "the work to refocus Alberta's health-care system includes transitioning Alberta Health Services, over time, to focus on delivering only acute-care services."

"Alberta's government is committed to ensuring key health partnerships continue, providing Albertans with the health care they need when and where they need it," Andrea Smith wrote. "Ensuring we have the right partner delivering these services is critical and we will continue to evaluate this on an ongoing basis."

Plan won't help health system: critics

The proposal is alarming health care critics who say it won't ensure Albertans will get better health care. 

"This is something that's going to just inject more chaos into the health-care system," said Dr. Luanne Metz, the NDP critic for health care. "Competition among our hospitals does not work."

Metz is concerned this is another step toward American-style health care. She is also concerned over the government's decision to consider a proposal from a private company to open an urgent-care facility in Airdrie.

Andrew Longhurst, a health policy researcher at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, said allowing outside operators to run Alberta hospitals will not improve the health system.

He said it's mistaken to think a new operator will improve quality of care or fix staffing challenges, which is a national problem. 

"I think it's very misguided and it's actually quite destructive at a time when there is a huge amount of fragility in Alberta's health system right now," Longhurst said. 

Creating an atmosphere of fear among hospital management is also counterproductive, he added. He believes Smith is acting on ideology and not in the best interests of Albertans.