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Alberta Health Services (AHS) is the single health authority for the Canadian province of Alberta.

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Alberta Health Services
Type Health Care
Industry Health care
Founded May 2008
Founder(s) Government of Alberta
Headquarters Edmonton, Alberta
Area served Alberta
Key people Minister of Health
Health Board
President & CEO
Employees 117,000 (2012)
Website albertahealthservices.ca

Alberta Health Services (AHS) is the single health authority for the Canadian province of Alberta.

Alberta Health Services delivers medical care on behalf of the Government of Alberta's Department of Health through 400 facilities throughout the province, including hospitals, clinics, continuing care facilities, mental health facilities and community health sites, while providing a variety of programs and services.

AHS is the largest single health authority in Canada and is the largest employer in the province of Alberta as well as being the 5th largest single employer in Canada.

Alberta Health Services is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta.

Contents

History[edit]

Alberta Health Services was created as a "superboard"[1] in May 2008 with the controversial abolition of the following regional health authorities:

  • Aspen Regional Health Authority
  • Calgary Health Region
  • Capital Health
  • Chinook Health
  • David Thompson Regional Health Authority
  • East Central Health
  • Northern Lights Health Region
  • Palliser Health Region
  • Peace Country Health Region

as well as the following agencies:

  • Alberta Mental Health Board
  • Alberta Cancer Board
  • Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission[2][3]

Health services in Alberta have undergone several governance reorganization attempts in recent decades, with successively fewer separate public organizational entities.[4][5][6][7]

Mission and organization[edit]

Alberta Health Services has articulated three broad goals (access, quality and sustainability) which expand into eight 'areas of focus' (e.g. improving access, fit for the future, learning and improving) and 20 strategic priorities.[8]

Alberta Health Services has been organized so as to separate acute hospital facilities (with separate reporting lines for major tertiary, metropolitan and regional hospitals) from smaller hospitals and community services, the latter of which are organized into five zones (North, Edmonton, Central, Calgary and South). The Calgary Zone, for example, includes some sites and services formerly administered by the Calgary Health Region while other services have been reorganized on a provincial scale.[9]

Leadership[edit]

Edmonton-based Dr. Stephen Duckett[10] was the inaugural President and Chief Executive Officer of Alberta Health Services, taking up the role on 23 March 2009. He was replaced on 23 November 2010 by Dr. Chris Eagle. The Alberta Health Services board includes several notables including Eldon Smith OC, MD, FRCPC.

Employees[edit]

Alberta Health Services employs 117,000 staff (of which 7,400 physicians), including clinical, administrative and support personnel across the province. Staff belong to a variety of professional organizations and associations, including United Nurses of Alberta,[11] several locals of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees,[12] and the Health Sciences Association of Alberta.[13]

Facilities[edit]

Main article: List of hospitals in Alberta

AHS maintains and runs a number of different types of facilities.[14] These include:

  • Cancer Care
    • For the prevention, detection, treatment, education and care of cancer patients, as well as to facilitate research of cancer.
  • Continuing and Long-Term Care
    • For the treatment of patients with complex health needs requiring 24-hour on-site services from registered nurses.
  • Emergency
    • For immediate care of patients with all types of conditions.
  • Hospitals
    • For medical, surgical, or psychiatric care of the sick and injured.
  • Labs
    • For the processing of medical samples and tests.
  • Mental Health & Addictions
    • For treatment and care of patients diagnosed with mental health or addiction issues.
  • Other
    • A wider array of miscellaneous health facilities include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, home care, hemodialysis and others, and also include Public Health Centres which provide services such as prenatal, postpartum, health promotion/disease and injury prevention, bereavement services, communicable disease and school health.
  • Urgent Care
    • To treat patients with unexpected but not life-threatening issues requiring same day treatment.
  • X-Ray & Imaging Clinics
    • For procedures such as MRIs, X-Rays and other types of scans.

Calgary Zone[edit]

The Calgary Zone administrative offices are located in the Southland Park business complex. Calgary Zone comprises territory formerly administered by the former Calgary Health Region and includes four major acute care sites (hospitals) including Foothills Medical Centre, Peter Lougheed Centre, Rockyview General Hospital, and Alberta Children's Hospital.

Edmonton Zone[edit]

The Edmonton Zone administrative offices are located in Seventh Street Plaza. Edmonton Zone comprises territory formerly administered by the Capital Health Region and includes eight acute care sites (hospitals) in the metropolitan area, which include: University of Alberta Hospital (Edmonton), Royal Alexandra Hospital (Edmonton), Grey Nuns Hospital (Edmonton), Misericordia Community Hospital (Edmonton), Sturgeon Community Hospital (St. Albert), Leduc Community Hospital (Leduc), WestView Health Centre (Stony Plain), and Fort Saskatchewan Health Centre (Fort Saskatchewan).

Rural Zone[edit]

A large network of hospitals are maintained in the outlying communities of Alberta. They include[15]

Emergency medical services[edit]

In addition to primary in patient care, Alberta Health Services took over responsibility for all emergency medical services (EMS) from municipalities on April 1, 2009, making ground ambulances a responsibility of the provincial government.[16]

Provincial air ambulance transitioned to AHS in April 2010.[17] Also included in the provincial model of EMS are inter-facility hospital transfers, and EMS dispatch. In total, EMS serves the provincial population of 3.5 million over an area of 660,000 square kilometres.

In 2010, EMS averaged about 400,000 ambulance responses annually, with approximately 30% of these being patient transfers between health care facilities, and 70% being emergency responses.

EMS is provided by the provincial government through a hybrid of direct delivery and contracted services. In 2010 this hybrid consisted of 194 ground ambulance locations (115 direct delivery/79 contracted providers). Practitioners include approximately 4,000 paramedics, emergency medical technicians and emergency medical responders.

The STARS air ambulance flew approximately 1,300 missions in 2010, and another 5,500 patients were transferred by fixed-wing aircraft via contracted air ambulance providers in Alberta in that same year.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Tories create health superboard. http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=4b0743f0-2046-4b13-8be7-7e2e4ca7e10d
  2. ^ Liepert, R. (2009). Provincial health structure: Alberta Health Innovation Report Fall, pp. 12–13 also at http://www.healthinnovationforum.org/2009/nov/01/recent-changes-health-structures-alberta/
  3. ^ Philippon, D (2009). Health care system reorganization: expectations, approaches and impact Health Innovation Report Fall, pp. 44–49
  4. ^ Philippon, D. J. and S. A. Wasylyshyn (1996). Health-care reform in Alberta. Canadian Public Administration 39(1): 70-84.
  5. ^ Reay, T. and C. R. Hinings (2005). The Recomposition of an Organizational Field: Health Care in Alberta. Organization Studies 26(3): 351-384.
  6. ^ Hinings, C. R., A. Casebeer, et al. (2003). Regionalizing Healthcare in Alberta: Legislated Change, Uncertainty and Loose Coupling British Journal of Management 14:S1(December): S15-S30.
  7. ^ Casebeer, A., T. Reay, et al. (2006). Experiences of Regionalization: Assessing Multiple Stakeholder Perspectives across Time. Healthcare Quarterly 9(2): 32-43.
  8. ^ strategic direction
  9. ^ formal structure
  10. ^ Dr. Stephen Duckett's biography
  11. ^ UNA "about" page
  12. ^ AUPE "about" web page
  13. ^ HSAA "about" page
  14. ^ AHS facilities website
  15. ^ AHS hospital list
  16. ^ AHS backgrounder
  17. ^ EMS Transition

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alberta_Health_Services&oldid=550991360"
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