Alberta Health Services responds

Re: Lessons from a “super” fail, Randall Denley, Feb. 15

I am compelled to set the record straight after reading the recent column in which Randall Denley characterizes Alberta’s move to a provincewide health system as a failure.

Alberta Health Services (AHS) actually benchmarks favourably with health systems across Canada. According to the Canadian Institute of Health information (CIHI), AHS ranks first or second among provinces and territories in a dozen performance indicators, including least total time spent in an emergency department for admitted patients and best perceived health, both best in Canada.

Our provincewide model has enabled AHS to drive innovation and spread best practices across Alberta.

AHS health-care teams are working well together and with our partners in the community to provide seamless care — and the world is taking notice. Health-care leaders from more than 40 countries named AHS one of the top five most integrated health systems in the world last May at the 18th International Congress on Integrated Care. Delegates also ranked AHS second in the world — behind the Netherlands — as the health system from which the most could be learned.

This month, Healthcare Quarterly published a case study that shows AHS has one of the top supply chain management programs in the world. Besides improving quality and safety, our excellence in supply chain management has also saved AHS more than $300 million over the past seven years.

On the balance sheet, AHS is lean and efficient. According to CIHI, AHS spends 3.3 per cent of total expenses on administration — that’s the best in Canada and 25 per cent below the national average. AHS has balanced its budgets for all but its inaugural year, and we’ve reduced the growth of our expenses from 5.7 per cent annually during AHS’S first six years to 2.3 per cent over the past three years.

Finally, it should be noted AHS has been named one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for the past two years.

There is a reason Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario are adopting, or considering adopting, some of the measures we’ve undertaken in Albertans. And it’s because they work.

Denley is correct on some points. Yes, the early years of AHS were difficult. This was a huge merger, after all. It is also true AHS faces the same wait time challenges as health systems across Can- ada and around the world. We’re not immune to the demographic trends. Alberta’s population is growing and aging. Whether what we’ve done in Alberta will work in Ontario is not for me to say. But I can state unequivocally that moving to a single provincewide health system was the right thing to do for Alberta, and our province’s health-care system is on the right track. Dr. Verna Yiu, President and CEO, Alberta Health Services