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As President for the Alberta College of Family Physicians for the next two years, I am dedicated to serving you, our members, with passion and commitment. We have an opportunity to build a better health care system in Alberta, one where family medicine truly is the foundation of the system. Family physicians are critically important throughout the health care system: as rural generalists meeting the diverse needs of their communities; in longitudinal, comprehensive family medicine practices; in continuing care; as hospitalists; as maternity care providers, and in many diverse settings across the province. I have appreciated the work that has been done to support changes to family medicine and primary care over the last few years. For me, it reinforces the need for all health care organizations to stay engaged and bring diverse perspectives forward as policies, funding, and structures change. I will be steadfast in my commitment to you as President and will proudly represent the family physician voice in the coming years.
An Order of Magnitude Model of Investment
There is no substitute for a family physician, but we cannot continue to deliver care to our patients without a well-resourced and supported team. One of the priorities of our advocacy work at the ACFP is the need to significantly increase the investment for primary care teams. We have met with the Health Minister, MLAs, bureaucrats, partners, and economists to bring an order of magnitude model of investment that would make Alberta in line with other high–functioning health care systems that value and invest in primary care as the foundation of the health care system.
The ACFP has brought the vision of the Patient’s Medical Home to every conversation with every government over the last 20 years which includes our Modernizing Alberta’s Primary Health Care System (MAPS) submission and recommendation. It is this sustained advocacy effort that the government has really started to understand the need for teams at the point of care for every Albertan. They are listening, and expecting Primary Care Alberta to deliver this, but the 2025 Budget does not reflect the investment needed to deliver this vision. We are advocating every chance we get with the attached investment model – Team-Based Primary Care: The Foundation of Health Care.
Our economic model is aspirational and is intended to shift the mindset on primary health care investment. Our advocacy message is simple – we cannot ask the primary care sector to deliver with the small investment that it is currently getting and that an investment of $675/Albertan is a strong start.
The 2025 Budget allocated only $644 million to Primary Care Alberta to “attach every Albertan with a primary care team” while Acute Care Alberta received an allocation of $4.6 Billion, Recovery Alberta received $1.7 billion, and Assisted Living Alberta received an allocation of $3.8 billion. We are asking for the government to commit to adequately funding primary care teams. We know that the shift to this investment in primary care cannot happen over one year, but in order to deliver the care Albertans deserve, the government must be more realistic about the investment needed to deliver all that is expected of primary care in Alberta. We believe that existing primary health care funding currently distributed throughout the system and future increases in investment needs to be concentrated and coordinated through the leadership of Primary Care Alberta.
Your voice is important to us. As a Board, we want to hear from you, to understand your priorities as we advocate on your behalf and build resources to support you. Please reach out to discuss your thoughts on this or any topic. I am here to listen and to act on your behalf.
Yours Sincerely,
Melanie Hnatiuk, MD CCFP
acfppres@acfp.ca
2 Responses
Well done, I like the financial analysis as this is what governments need to plan.
You might want to add some information about cost savings when a patient is attached to a family physician.
The HQCA did a 20 year outcome analysis of the Crowfoot model in Calgary in 2019. Well documented financials as negation is part of the funding model. They showed huge ED and inpatient hospital savings. Summary is on page 51 of the report, named Crowfoot Taber Case Study Evaluation. Ten year savings were $57 million for the original cohort of about 10,800 patients!
If you can’t find the report easily, send me an email and I will forward.
Thanks very much for your feedback. I agree that the cost savings is a very important part of the discussion and we will make sure to highlight evidence like the HQCA report on Crowfoot and Taber as we have our ongoing discussions.