Alberta Health Services history
May 15, 2008: Health Minister Ron Liepert announces the creation of Alberta Health Services, a centralized health authority built on a corporate model of governance. Liepert later says caucus made the decision in one day, with the actual dissolution of the regional boards made overnight.
January 2009: The province announces it has tapped Australian health policy expert Stephen Duckett as AHS’s first chief executive. Ken Hughes is named board chair.
November 2010: At the height of an ER crisis, Duckett famously walks past reporters and refuses to answer questions, saying he was too busy eating a cookie. The superboard boss is pushed out of AHS in short order.
Duckett’s departure sparks a massive board shakeup as four AHS board members step down, charging political interference.
April 2011: Anesthesiologist and longtime Calgary health administrator Dr. Chris Eagle is named CEO in Duckett’s place. He promises a new, more decentralized structure and sets up five new zones.
February 2012: Health Quality Council of Alberta CEO Dr. John Cowell releases a damning 428page report that raises concerns about dangerously long emergency room waits, a culture of “fear and alienation” and political interference in the medical system. The province adopts the 21 recommendations prescribed for change.
September 2012: The province appoints businessman and AHS board member Stephen Lockwood as the new AHS board chairman. Lockwood later runs afoul of the province for refusing to heed the government’s insistence the board overturn executive “pay at risk” year-end bonuses.
June 2013: Health Minister Fred Horne fires Lockwood and the entire 10-member board over the pay-at-risk standoff. He immediately names veteran health administrator Janet Davidson to a new role: AHS official administrator. Authority for the operations of the entire health system is consolidated into the hands of one individual.
September 2013: A blistering AHS governance review in hand, Horne undertakes another health authority executive shakeup, ordering the agency to drastically cut its vicepresidents ranks, dismiss five top executives (who leave with a shared $2.1 million in severance) and refine its entire health management structure. Horne appoints Davidson deputy minister of health.
Health watchdog Dr. John Cowell takes the job as AHS official administrator. Horne says he has no plans to appoint another board, and Cowell will take responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the authority.
October 2013: Eagle announces he is stepping down as AHS president.