Alberta government unveils new family doctor pay structure aimed at improving primary care

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“This new model will make Alberta an enticing and competitive place for doctors to come and to settle and set up shop and to stay for good,” Premier Danielle Smith said.

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“When primary care is strong, the rest of our health system is strong, too.”

The Alberta Medical Association, a doctor advocacy organization, worked with the province to develop the primary care physician compensation program in the spring and has been calling for Health Minister Adrian LaGrange to start it for months.

On the condition that 500 physicians enrol in the program, the new model will launch on April 1, the start of the next provincial budget year. Doctor enrollment, carried out by the AMA, begins in January.

The program includes incentives for maintaining high patient numbers, improving technology, enhancing team-based care and adding efficiencies in clinical operations.

Sarah Hoffman, Alberta NDP shadow minister for health, issued a statement in response to the new compensation model.

“There are nearly a million Albertans without access to a family doctor, so this is a good first step,” she said. “This agreement is way overdue and although it is better late than never, this agreement should have been done back in May when the premier promised it would be signed within a couple of weeks. Hopefully, this will stop the further hemorrhaging of health-care workers who have had to close practices, move away from our province, and even leave the profession.”

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READ: Smith says new Alberta family doctor pay structure will be revealed in ‘weeks’

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The association’s president Shelley Duggan said in September the delay to move doctors away from the current fee-for-service approach would hurt the health care system.

Smith in October said the structure would be revealed “in the coming weeks” but there hasn’t been any announcement until today.

This is a developing story. More details to follow.