Alberta creating 2 mental health and addictions organizations, including Crown corporation

The provincial government unveiled Tuesday the first plank in its plan to reshape Alberta Health Services (AHS) into four distinct en‐ tities, outlining two new organizations that will manage delivery of mental health and addiction ser‐ vices.

A new entity, Recovery Al‐ berta, will be charged with delivering the mental health and addictions services cur‐ rently handled by AHS. Oper‐ ations are expected to move from AHS to Recovery Alberta by July 1 after legislation is passed.

In addition, the province said it would create a new Crown corporation, dubbed the Canadian Centre of Re‐ covery Excellence, or CORE.

That project, which is in‐ tended to be operational by the summer, is tasked with building recovery-oriented systems of care "by research‐ ing best practices for recov‐ ery from around the world, analyzing data and making evidence-based recommen‐ dations."

The initial operating budget for CORE is $5 mil‐ lion, from this year's budget. It's anticipated to be the on‐ going budget for the organi‐ zation. However, that could increase if more funding is required to support opera‐ tions, according to a spokesperson in the mental health and addictions min‐ istry.

"Today's announcement of these two organizations marks an important step for‐ ward in transforming our health-care system," Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in making the announce‐ ment.

'Confusing and poten‐ tially chaotic,' says UNA

In a statement, Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta (UNA), said the premier's an‐ nouncement of Recovery Al‐ berta left more questions than answers, calling the changes "confusing and po‐ tentially chaotic."

"Every AHS nursing em‐ ployee will be impacted di‐ rectly or indirectly by this de‐ cision to hive off mental health and addiction services into a separate organization, and it appears there was a serious lack of in-depth plan‐ ning," said Smith.

While union members were informed by the province that the terms of their employment would con‐ tinue as "business as usual," the UNA said details about the transition and exactly how it will impact employees remains unclear.

The nurses' union said AHS outlined that 3,200 em‐ ployees are scheduled to move over to Recovery Alber‐ ta by July. It added that a let‐ ter sent by AHS to the union listed the following work set‐ tings where employees will be affected:

Standalone psychiatric fa‐ cilities. Acute care hospital staff working in Addiction and Mental Health programs or services. Virtual staff work‐ ing on Addiction and Mental Health programs or services such as the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program and Access Mental Health. Com‐ munity outpatient clinics and outreach programs. Detox and residential treatment fa‐ cilities. Provincial Corrections facilities. Corporate office settings.

The UNA said it will con‐ tinue bargaining talks with AHS on Wednesday. The union has requested that the province "return to the table with a full explanation of the government's plans for the transition or to be prepared to bargain changes to the collective agreement re‐ quired to manage the change."

Last November, Smith an‐ nounced the provincial gov‐ ernment would divide AHS into four agencies with a nar‐ rower focus - separating out services in primary care, acute care, continuing care and mental health and addic‐ tion care.

The goal, the premier said at the time, is to rein in a sys‐ tem that is too monolithic in favour of individual organiza‐ tions more focused on specif‐ ic functions. In reaction, front-line workers and unions said they weren't con‐ sulted and expressed con‐ cern the moves would drive away health-care workers and jeopardize patient care.

Legislation to establish Recovery Alberta and CORE will be introduced this spring.

Kym Kaufmann, a former deputy minister of mental health and community well‐ ness in Manitoba, will be the CEO of CORE. Kerry Bales, who is currently chief pro‐ gram officer for addiction and mental health and cor‐ rectional health services within AHS, will be the CEO of Recovery Alberta.

Their compensation is currently under negotiation but is expected to be in line with other positions in simi‐ lar-sized public organiza‐ tions, said a spokesperson in the mental health and addic‐ tions ministry.

Bales said work was being done around the transition from AHS to Recovery Alber‐ ta, adding the intention is for the move to not result in any changes to terms and condi‐ tions of employment.

"That includes pay, bene‐ fits, pensions and union affili‐ ation. For patients, clients and families seeking support and resources, we are here for you the same way we've always been. All services re‐ main open and available," Bales said.

Opposition NDP critic Janet Eremenko called the AHS reorganization "chaotic and expensive" and said it wouldn't solve the number of drug poisonings that have climbed to record numbers.

"We need to be measur‐ ing these critically, and we need to be following the evi‐ dence. I'm not sure that that's happening. If anything, we're doubling down on what this capital-R recovery model means for this government," she said.

Disclosure of data

When asked by a reporter whether CORE would proac‐ tively disclose its data and re‐ search on recovery efforts, including relapse rates, Kauf‐ mann said the centre would work with the mental health ministry to determine who would be the most appropri‐ ate party to release the infor‐ mation.

Mental Health and Addic‐ tion Minister Dan Williams said the release of longawaited data on its recovery programs continues to see delays.

"We partnered with a nonprofit third-party organiza‐ tion for the software, who don't own any of the data. And what we're doing is, there have been some delays in running it out," Williams said. "In part, because we want to make sure we're fol‐ lowing every single require‐ ment we have when it comes to privacy protection."

Steven Lewis, an adjunct professor of health policy at Simon Fraser University and Vancouver-based consultant, said the devil will be in the details when it comes to judging the establishment of Recovery Alberta and CORE.

"They're all in on the re‐ covery. Clearly, they have no interest and no faith in other approaches that might be ef‐ fective in some circum‐ stances, such as safe supply," Lewis said. "They've said offi‐ cially that this is supposed to be an evidence-based pro‐ gram, and they did talk about this being, in essence, a large-scale experiment.

"If they live up this, and if they do create a centre of ex‐ cellence that is science-based and pays attention to the in‐ ternational evidence, I think it could be, at the very least, a contribution to knowledge."

An evidence-based, com‐ prehensive approach to ad‐ diction treatment and pre‐ vention will be critical moving forward, said Lewis, who also warned against ideological biases that could hinder the program's effectiveness.

"As long as it's objective, and as long as they pay at‐ tention to experts, both in Al‐ berta and elsewhere," he said.

Williams, Alberta's addic‐ tions minister, will participate in four virtual engagement

sessions with AHS staff and service providers on April 11, 16, 17 and 22.

Opioids claimed the lives of at least 1,706 Albertans in 2023, according to data re‐ leased by the province's sub‐ stance use surveillance sys‐ tem in February, making it the deadliest year on record.