Alberta government moving EMS under new organization in health overhaul

As part of the provincial government's move to restructure the health-care system, changes are coming for EMS in Alberta.

Emergency health services in the province — including ambulances and paramedic care — will be transferred from Alberta Health Services to a new organization that will become fully operational on April 1: Acute Care Alberta.

"These changes will allow emergency health services to focus on improving efficiency, patient safety and response times in all parts of the province, while also being responsible for meeting performance targets and its own workforce development and well-being," said Health Minister Adriana LaGrange in her announcement Monday.

So far, the province has established two provincial health agencies: Recovery Alberta and Primary Care Alberta. The last remaining organization, Assisted Living Alberta, will become a legal entity on April 1.

As the organizations roll out, LaGrange said the government is creating a centralized shared services model that will be responsible for human resources and information technology services across the entire health-care system.

In addition, the Alberta government has allocated $60 million over three years in its latest budget to its EMS vehicles capital program. The funding from that program is used to replace and upgrade old ambulances, vehicles and other equipment.

"By strengthening the EMS system, we reduce strain on our hospitals. Fewer delays and transportation also means patients are getting to the right care faster," said LaGrange.

In a statement, Mike Parker, president of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), said EMS workers need additional backup more than they need new equipment.

"No one calling 911 is worried about whether it's EMS or AHS or Acute Care. They're worried about who is arriving and how long it's going to take," said Parker.

Dr. Paul Parks, an emergency physician and past president of the Alberta Medical Association, agrees that more staff is needed — not just with EMS, but across the entire health system. He said if the intention of this move is to improve integration of the system, then he wants to see Acute Care Alberta operating immediately.

"If they're just shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic, that's not a good thing. The ship is still going down," said Parks.

"If they're going to move the emergency health services into a new agency and allow it to co-ordinate better so it can plan workforce, it can plan how many ambulances we need and it can co-ordinate with Covenant Health and with Alberta Health Services, then that would be a better thing. But we need to do that ASAP."

LaGrange said she's expecting to receive a followup report with recommendations to improve EMS by the end of March. The first report, released in 2023, recommended stepping toward privatization, which received pushback from unions like the HSAA.