Progress made with new high school
By Leela Sharon Aheer Chestermere-Strathmore MLA
Hello Chestermere-Strathmore readers. You may have seen that Langdon’s new high school is finally under construction. I want to take this opportunity to thank the parents, teachers, school authorities and all those who worked so hard to see this school come to fruition. Congratulations! I can’t wait to see how things progress and our first classes go through the front doors.
Congratulations to Alberta’s doctors who, along with the Ministry of Health and Minister of Health Jason Copping, have ratified a new four-year agreement. This agreement will stabilize the health care system, foster a collaborative working environment and incentivize innovation to improve our system. I am so grateful to everyone involved and I want to say a “huge thank you” to those who helped to get this agreement done.
Our government chose to fight with doctors instead of collaborating and this opportunity to make things right is truly a gift, one that I am truly honoured to see happening. We have a lot of work to do to earn back the trust of our front lines and this is a great start. Alberta will invest $750 million to stabilize our health care system; more than $250 million is targeted funding over four years to address pressures including recruitment and retention programs so that more Albertans can access family doctors. I, along with our municipal partners, have been advocating for this for some time. This means an 8.2 per cent increase for family physicians and a 1 per cent lump sum recognition payment. The agreement will be in force for four fiscal years, from April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2026.
• One per cent rate increase in each of the first three years (2022-23 to 2024-25) and 1 percent recognition lump sum payment in 2022-23. This is in line with other recent public sector agreements. The $252 million in new spending over four years is for targeted initiatives: $59 million in annual funding and $16 million in one-time investments targeted at communities and specialties facing recruitment and retention issues.
• Lump sum increases for Primary Care Networks (PCNs) of $20 million in each of 2022-23 and 2023-24 to provide additional support for primary care while the Modernizing Alberta’s Primary Health Care System (MAPS) work takes place.
• The agreement also outlines processes and other commitments to jointly address key issues related to physician compensation, including: stipends, overhead and z-codes; caps to daily visits; virtual code enhancements for psychiatry; and extending physician support programs to medical examiners.
Also, medically required diagnostic imaging (DI) services, including x-rays, ultrasounds and fluoroscopies referred by uninsured health providers will now be insured under the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan. What this now does is chiropractors, physiotherapists and audiologists are able to provide referrals for insured DI services, will ease congestion in the primary health care system and improve patient access so diagnosis and treatment won’t be delayed, and increases access to publicly funded DI services for patients who can’t pay out-of-pocket or don’t have third party insurance when they are referred for diagnostic imaging services by chiropractors, physiotherapists and audiologists. Albertans are investing about $8.4 million into this program.
• The Chiropractic Association of Alberta (CAA) has worked with the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) to advocate for the reinstatement of insured DI services ordered by uninsured practitioners.
“The AMA has supported the CAA’s position based on the principles related to safety and value for patients, improving comprehensive and coordinated care, and improving the efficiency of the health care system. The inclusion of these health care providers in multidisciplinary care teams can benefit overall care delivery. Specifically, the scope of practice for physiotherapists allows them to play a role in reducing surgical wait times. On March 31, 2020, the government implemented its Physician Funding Framework; one of its initiatives reinforced that only referral for DI from practitioners who provide publicly funded services could be covered under the AHCIP. This removed the ability of uninsured service providers to refer patients for insured DI services. The change did not affect the providers’ scope of practice or their ability to refer patients for DI services. It only transferred the responsibility for payment for these DI services from the AHCIP to the patient (or their third-party insurance provider).”
I was honoured to join Astokomii Smith, Elder Black and Elder Wolfleg as Alberta declared Sept. 30 as the Day for Truth and Reconciliation in our beautiful province. The Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which will occur in perpetuity, is a time to recognize the harmful legacy of residential schools, honour the survivors of residential schools as well as the children who perished in them and recommit ourselves to meaningful Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
As always, we love to hear from you.
(Leela Sharon Aheer is the MLA Elect for Chestermere-Strathmore)