Doctors warn nearly half intend to leave province in 5 years amid cloudy future of Alberta health care

Local leaders are echoing concerns about doctor shortages as the organization representing Alberta's doctors warns nearly half of the physicians surveyed are considering leaving the province within five years.

The provincial health minister says work is underway to change how doctors are paid, but some Albertans say they are struggling right now to get care.

Rusten Jexnbayve's experience in Edmonton of not being able to find a family doctor is shared by more than 700,000 Albertans.

"I've tried, but the only option for me now is walk-ins," Jexnbayve told CTV News Edmonton while downtown on Tuesday.

Others, like Abigail Salvoi, wait for an extended period of time for an appointment.

"I've been trying to get in to see my doctors for about three-to-five months now," she said.

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Similar challenges are playing out in Hinton.

The town 270 kilometres west of Edmonton has a population of about 10,000 people and 6 full time family doctors.

Mayor Nicholas Nissen says residents are "starting to feel hopeless."

"They are starting to feel like promises are hollow, and the situation is only getting worse," he told CTV News Edmonton.

Hinton declared a local health care crisis earlier this year due to the doctor shortage, a situation the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) warns could worsen without changes to how doctors are paid.

The AMA wants to see the current fee-for-service model replaced with a more stable, competitive pay structure.

According to a recent AMA survey of about 1,300 of its members,15 per cent of physicians in rural, family and acute care are considering leaving their Alberta practices this year.

Forty-three per cent say they plan to leave the province by 2029.

"Our health-care system needs a rethink, because it's really not serving too many of us right now," Nissen said.

Dr. Paul Parks, the past-president of the AMA, says many Albertans will suffer and "some will even needlessly die because government is choosing not to act."

Parks says he has been working with the province on a new doctor compensation model for a year.

Instead, he says the province is too focused on overhauling the health-care system.

"I'll say unequivocally it is making things way worse," Parks told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday. "It's actually just making things chaotic."

Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange says the government has "done a lot of engagement right across the whole province" on health care.

"Are we feeling a strain on our health care system? There is a strain on the system across the country," she told CTV News Edmonton.

LaGrange says new acute and primary care agencies will roll out this fall following the formal introduction of Recovery Alberta, the agency that oversees mental health and addictions care, adding the province hopes to announce a new sustainable pay model for doctors soon but would "not commit to an exact date."

LaGrange said she is "working through a report" by a rate review committee following an announcement in the spring that the government and the AMA had agreed to a framework for the funding compensation model. That came after LaGrange signed a memorandum of understanding last fall with Parks to work on the new funding model.

That came after LaGrange signed a memorandum of understanding last fall with Parks to work on the new funding model.

"I did receive a report. I'm working through that report," she told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.

"I'm continuing to work through my processes to make sure ... that we are able to implement a new funding model that is both financially sustainable and that will be successful for family physicians for the long term."