Dear ACFP Members,
As the 71st annual Family Medicine Summit in Calgary rapidly approaches, I am looking forward to connecting with other members and sharing in a weekend of learning and collaborating. At a time when family medicine and health care in Alberta feels particularly challenging, it feels even more important for us to renew those bonds and strengthen our profession.
Last week, I wrote to you about the recent changes to access for MyHealth Records and asked for your feedback. Your response was immediate, and the sheer volume of responses we received shows how deeply this issue impacts our members and how dedicated you are to providing the best possible care to your patients. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time out of your busy schedules providing that care to reach out.
We were able to meet with Minister LaGrange on Wednesday of this week and raise our concerns about this change, and your thoughtful and detailed responses were enormously valuable in shaping that message. The Minister and her staff have agreed to follow up with the ACFP on this issue, and while we may not see the wholesale changes that we might hope for, we do think that there is an opportunity here for some movement and better clarification, particularly around 16 and 17 year olds and the process for revoking access.
It was also made clear in this meeting that the government and the Minister do read and consider the feedback they receive directly, and while we are always honoured to hear your feedback and act as the voice of family physicians in Alberta, I do encourage you to also reach out directly to your own MLA, the premier, and the relevant ministers and share how this change will affect your patients and your work.
As these discussions are ongoing, we encourage you to continue to share your thoughts on this or other subjects that affect your work. You can email acfppres@acfp.ca, or if you would prefer to share your thoughts anonymously, you can do so using this form. While we aim to respond to everyone who reaches out via email, the nature of the anonymous form means that we will not be able to respond to anything shared there.
Yours Sincerely,
Melanie Hnatiuk, MD CCFP FCFP
