AHS slowing overall growth of health spending

Institution works tirelessly to keep costs in check,

Re: “Epidemic of budget deficits,” Sept. 29.

A recent report highlights a major challenge all healthcare jurisdictions are facing — rising costs, increased demand and a population that is growing and aging, with longer life expectancy and more complex health needs.

While the report highlights the financial sofa significant part of the health-care system — our hospitals — it misses an opportunity to situate hospital spending into a larger context of overall health-care spending. Alberta Health Services and Alberta Health are slowing the growth of expenses, something that other health jurisdictions are struggling to do.

AHS is bending the cost curve. AHS has reduced its growth to an average of 2.3 per cent annually over the past three fiscal years, down from an average of 5.7 per cent annually during AHS’s first six years, and six to nine per cent prior to the formation of AHS.

Before AHS was formed, the average cost to treat a patient in the hospital was rising by 3.4 per cent annually. Since 2014-15, that annual increase has dropped by one per cent, equating to more than $40 million in savings per year.

AHS is the most efficient health-care system in Canada when it comes to administration costs. It spends 3.3 per cent of total expenses on administration, the best in the country, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

While Alberta continues to rank as one of Canada’s top per-capita spenders on health care, the benefits of operating as a single health region has allowed AHS to focus on finding efficiencies. AHS has saved more than $600 million over the last four fiscal years through a number of initiatives such as procurement and inventory best practices, and cost avoidance through different models of care.

AHS started as a merger of multiple health regions and entities 10 years ago. Since then, financial sustainability has been a clear focus and equally important has been our focus on delivery of quality health care. In our 10 years, there have been many challenges and many successes. Increasingly, others are also noting the successes that have helped AHS become a high performing health-care organization, such as:

Creating five operational zones (North, Edmonton, Central, Calgary and South) to improve local decisionmaking;

Consolidating foundational systems to create, for example, one payroll system and one email system. This is more efficient and has led to significant cost savings;

Using best practice leadership structures, administrative and medical leadership work side by side to ensure we use resources effectively to provide quality services;

Bringing the patient and community voice into the health system through our many advisory groups;

Launching our Strategic Clinical Networks to scale and spread new ways of care that improve outcomes for Albertans no matter where they live;

With a formalized partnership with primary care networks, improving how care is delivered in the community and in homes;

Co-ordinating effective emergency and disaster response and relief;

Establishing the only provincial electronic system for reporting adverse events, allowing storage, tracking and proactive interventions on patient safety issues;

Creating analytics systems that enable real-time data to help inform and manage clinical activities throughout the province;

And most recently, implementing a provincewide clinical information system (Connect Care) that will provide Albertans and their care providers with accurate, timely and easily accessible information, and a new, integrated laboratory services approach that will benefit patients and ensure best-inclass laboratory medicine is available for Albertans.

AHS remains committed to ensuring that every healthcare dollar spent contributes to quality and safe care for Albertans.

In partnership with Albertans, communities, numerous stakeholders, and compassionate and dedicated AHS staff and physicians, we continue our mission “to provide a patient-focused, quality health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans.”