You come first
Refocusing the health care system will put you first in every health care decision and give experts the right space to ensure you are getting the world-class health care you need and deserve.
Where or how you access your health services will not change.
- For a health emergency, surgery or treatment for a serious illness – patients will still go to a hospital or acute care facility.
- Checkups and help with a general health concern – patients will still go to a family doctor, walk-in clinic or other primary care provider.
- Patients with mental health or addiction concerns will still access usual treatment services and can call Alberta Health Services (AHS) helplines or 2-1-1 to get connected with resources.
- Albertans who require assisted living will still get the care they need in continuing care homes or assistance from home care.
Get involved
Join us for the second round of in-person public engagement happening across Alberta. These sessions are your chance to learn more about the health system refocusing and share your valuable feedback.
I want to know what's going to happen to:
Primary care
Primary health care includes all the services in your community that support your day-to-day health needs through every stage of life.
Primary Care Alberta
Primary Care Alberta will coordinate primary health care services to provide all Albertans and their families with improved access to the care they need so they can avoid visiting the emergency department or being over-reliant on acute care services.
Primary Care Alberta will focus on achieving key outcomes including:
- ensuring every Albertan will be attached to a primary care provider team
- supporting integrated teams of health professionals, including family physicians, nurse practitioners and pharmacists, to provide comprehensive primary care and ensure they have appropriate access to patient health information
- providing timely access to high-quality primary care services, including after-hours care, specifically in rural and remote areas in Alberta
- improving access to virtual and digital health services
Primary Care Alberta’s work will also complement the immediate actions announced through MAPS to stabilize and improve primary health care access across the province and to support care providers.
Assisted Living Alberta
Transforming Alberta’s continuing care, home care, and community care systems for seniors, people with disabilities and vulnerable Albertans.
Assisted Living Alberta (ALA), Alberta’s new provincial health agency, will ensure Albertans province-wide are getting high-quality patient-centered care when and where they need it.
The new agency will offer Albertans a comprehensive system of care, as well as a full range of wrap-around services including medical and non-medical supports, home care, community care and social services.
Assisted Living Alberta is on track to be established in the spring of 2025.
Assisted Living Alberta will:
- continue the work to add more continuing care spaces,
- support health workforce initiatives,
- advance innovative solutions in accessing continuing care programs and services
The creation of the new agency will not interrupt service delivery in any way. Achieving the vision for Assisted Living Alberta will occur in phases, with a full spectrum of services and supports added over time.
Albertans are invited to share their feedback and help shape the future of assisted living services through an online survey open from January 30 until March 3, 2025 at Alberta.ca/lead-the-way.
Acute care
Acute health care is there for you during times of an emergency or serious illness or injury, and includes hospitals, urgent care centres, emergency rooms, surgeries, cancer care, laboratory services, clinical operations and emergency medical services (EMS).
Acute Care Alberta
Acute Care Alberta will work directly with service providers, including AHS, Covenant Health and contracted EMS providers, to speed up access to high-quality care, reduce wait times and make sure every patient’s journey through the acute care system is efficient and effective across the province.
Acute Care Alberta will focus on achieving key outcomes, including:
- shorter wait-times at emergency departments and for surgeries
- faster EMS response time
- higher-quality care across the province and enhanced access to care in rural areas
Patient-focused funding
With Acute Care Alberta now fully operational, Alberta’s government is exploring reforms to acute care funding to make it more transparent and accountable. A patient-focused funding model will enhance effectiveness and ensure a fair allocation of resources in our new refocused system.
- Learn more about Patient-focused funding
Mental health and addiction
Mental health and addiction care provides recovery-oriented services that span prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery supports in both in-patient and out-patient settings for children and adults.
Recovery Alberta
On September 1, 2024, Recovery Alberta began operations as the province’s new provincial health agency focused on delivering public mental health, addiction and correctional health services.
Alberta’s dedicated frontline workers, service providers and mental health and addiction professionals provide exceptional care to Albertans and remain essential to Recovery Alberta. More than 10,000 AHS Addiction & Mental Health and Correctional Health Services staff and about 800 physicians transitioned to Recovery Alberta and are continuing to operate and manage contracts for about 1,650 psychiatric beds, 1,350 addiction detox and treatment beds, and health services for more than 4,800 people in 10 provincial correctional facilities.
Recovery Alberta will deliver mental health, addiction and correctional health services and will focus on:
- ensuring every Albertan struggling with the disease of addiction and/or mental health challenges is supported in their pursuit of recovery
- providing Albertans with access to a full continuum of recovery-oriented supports that help them improve overall well-being and sustain recovery
- improving mental health and addiction care for Albertans by further expanding access to treatment and recovery supports across Alberta
Having mental health, addiction and correctional health services under a dedicated provincial agency ensures these services are prioritized and receive the attention and resources needed to provide better patient care.
Recovery Alberta is supported by more $1.13 billion for the delivery of mental health and addiction services.
Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence (CoRE)
In June 2024, the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence (CoRE) began operations as Canada’s first research centre focused on recovery. CoRE is an important step in the government’s work to refocus health care and builds on the innovative work being done to improve recovery-oriented mental health and addiction services.
CoRE supports government with program evaluation, data analysis and expert advice on global best practices to produce the best outcomes for Albertans pursuing recovery.
CoRE’s mission is to empower recovery through data and analysis with a focus on:
- research and evaluation
- data and analytics
- expert advice
- guidance and leadership collaboration
The department of Mental Health and Addiction and Recovery Alberta will work closely with CoRE to advance the mental health and addiction system in Alberta.
The establishment of CoRE was supported by an investment of $5 million in 2024-25.
Health care for Indigenous communities
As a First Nations, Métis or Inuit person, you often face many barriers accessing appropriate health care. To support better health outcomes, we are building more meaningful connections to identify improvements that reflect the unique nature of your communities.
We are creating an Indigenous Advisory Council with representatives from First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities of Alberta. This council will advise the following agencies to help determine local priorities by planning and proposing new health care solutions:
We're committed to improving access to timely and appropriate health care services and have established an Indigenous Patient Complaints Investigator and an Indigenous Health Division within Alberta Health.
Learn more about what is being done to improve health care for Indigenous communities.
Rural health care
Albertans living in rural and remote communities face unique challenges that require tailored supports and approaches to deliver safe, high-quality and sustainable health care services. To help guide actions, address challenges and improve outcomes in rural and remote health care, Alberta’s government launched a rural health action plan.
Focus areas of the action plan include:
- Workforce: creating a healthy, sustainable, engaged and efficient health workforce in rural and remote Alberta.
- Access: delivering high-quality and appropriate health care services when and where Albertans need it.
- Models of care: creating unique care models and solutions that serve the needs in rural and remote communities.
- Community care: establishing community-specific supports to promote the physical and mental well-being of rural and remote Albertans.
- Prevention and wellness: supporting rural initiatives to reduce risk factors and encourage protective measures to reduce strain on the health system.
As part of the health care refocusing, we’re also creating regional advisory councils that will represent rural and urban communities across Alberta. These councils will provide a way for you to share your perspectives on how to improve health care in your community and improve local decision-making.