Alberta’s new “Primary Care Alberta” agency to launch next month, aims to improve access to family doctors

Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange says the province’s new Primary Care Alberta agency - tasked with improving access to family doctors and nurse practitioners - will be operational by next month as part of the government’s major overhaul of the province’s health system.

The new organization will focus on strengthening primary care delivery, developing new models of patient-centred care, and expanding after-hours access through virtual services. LaGrange said the move is designed to ensure Albertans can get timely access to medical care, especially in communities struggling with doctor shortages and long wait times.

“Primary Care Alberta will give us a focused approach to ensuring every Albertan has access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner,” LaGrange said, noting that Alberta Health Services (AHS) has been too stretched to manage primary health care effectively.

The establishment of this agency comes as the province continues to break up AHS into four distinct entities, each overseeing a separate area of health care - primary care, hospital care, continuing care, and mental health and addictions.

Earlier this year, Recovery Alberta was launched to manage mental health and addictions services, marking the first phase of Premier Danielle Smith’s plan to decentralize AHS and improve accountability in the health system.

Health policy experts and frontline providers are watching closely to see whether the changes will deliver more localized, efficient care or add layers of bureaucracy. The Alberta Medical Association has said that while the reforms have potential, success will depend on funding and coordination among the new agencies.