New Alberta hospital agency to be up and running in the spring: minister

Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Health for Alberta, makes a health care announcement in Calgary on December 21, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Todd Korol

Alberta's health minister says the province's new hospital agency will be operational next spring, months later than expected.

Adriana LaGrange announced Monday that hospitals now run by Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health will answer to the new agency, Acute Care Alberta, once it's running.

The United Conservative Party government is breaking apart Alberta Health Services as part of a major overhaul and had originally aimed to have all four new organizations replacing the agency operating before 2025.

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Recovery Alberta, the first of the four new organizations, started up in September, and Primary Care Alberta was incorporated Monday, LaGrange said.

An operational date for the new agency responsible for continuing care has yet to be announced.

LaGrange told reporters the delay for acute care is necessary to ensure it succeeds.

"We want to get this work done right," she said. "The acute care system is complex, and making sure we set the system up for success now and into the future is critical."

She said the province is establishing a working group to help with the transition and startup of Acute Care Alberta, and Dr. Chris Eagle, former president and chief executive of Alberta Health Services, has been hired as an "external special adviser."

Eagle served as the second-ever leader of Alberta Health Services more than a decade ago but resigned partway through his five-year contract because he thought the agency needed "fresh eyes and fresh energy."

Before leading Alberta Health Services, Eagle was the president of the Calgary Health Region, one of the nine regional health authorities that existed before the formation of the provincial agency in 2009.

LaGrange said she doesn't think any disruptions in care or services will occur during the transition period, and that Alberta Health Services employees won't see any changes.

"Albertans will continue to access acute care services as they always have, and health-care workers will continue to provide that same exceptional care," she said.

LaGrange did say that "at least 500" Alberta Health Services managerial positions have been eliminated through the restructuring, although she said some of those positions no longer fall under the agency's mandate as an acute care service provider and other positions were already vacant.

Another change LaGrange announced Monday was that the province was reconfiguring the health "zone" system that's currently in place and replacing it with "health corridors."

Alberta Health Services' existing zone system is used for planning and service delivery purposes and divides the province into five geographic areas.

LaGrange said there will be seven corridors moving forward based on travel patterns.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2024.