On Friday afternoon, April 24, the Government of Alberta announced an investment in rural health care. This announcement came after a tumultuous time in Alberta’s health care.
Earlier this year, the government indicated it would not extend its agreement with doctors that was set to end March 30. Instead, it introduced a new funding framework that was to come into effect on April 1. On March 17, the government announced it would not go ahead with changes to physician payments for the time based complex modifiers, and on Friday, Minister of Health, Tyler Shandro reinforced this decision.
The government also announced the $60,000 cap and flat fee on the Rural and Remote Northern Program would be abolished. It upped on-call rates for rural doctors and froze the Medical Liability rates for rural physicians at a $1,000 deductible per year.
“Over the last several weeks, discussions with rural caucus and rural physicians have made it clear there are unique challenges to recruiting and retaining physicians in communities outside of Alberta’s major cities. These changes recognize that difference and will significantly improve access to health care for patients in rural communities,” said Shandro.
The government also said it was spending $81 million this year to address rural physician recruitment and retention. It also noted $6 million will be used to pay for the schooling of 20 medical students over the next three years to incentivize young Albertans from rural communities to return to practice in their home communities after completing medical school.
Drumheller family doctor, Rithesh Ram, welcomes the changes.
“This is a great step forward and definitely helps promote rural health. It is a fantastic start,” he said, “and it happened because the Minister went to the grassroots MLAs and community rural physicians to review their concerns.”
He adds, had they continued to wait on the AMA, they may not have gotten to this point and in this timely manner because the AMA prefers a more uniform or flat agreement amongst all the specialities.
“But rural health is significantly different and deserves to stand separately from the rest.”
He says removing the $60,000 cap is very important.
“The way the variable fee works relies on an additional fee you get every time you bill. You can’t bill unless you are actually seeing patients. Whereas with a lump sum, you basically got topped up whether you worked full-time or not; in a fee for service structure you should be incentivised to work more and see more patients.”
He is also supportive of the work being done to recruit and retain rural physicians. This package includes direct financial incentives to physicians to live and practice in underserved communities, investment in the Rural Health Professions Action Plan, Rural Medical Education Programs, Physicians Locum Service Program, and the Rural On-Call Program.
“The University of Calgary programs, DLRI and UCLIC specifically, are significant and need to be promoted and funded as they directly impact and improve the number of physicians going to rural communities,” he said.
Dr. Ram noted again that while this is a great start, there is still a lot of work to be done with regards to a new alternative payment structure for rural physicians that does not include capitation. Despite the pandemic, he hopes the Minister will continue to work with his rural MLAs and their community family physicians in this regard.
Dr. Ram credits local MLA Nate Horner for continuing to advocate for rural health. “MLA Horner has been a strong voice for rural communities,” said Ram. “We wouldn’t have gotten this far without him.”

Canada Post workers at the Drumheller Post Office took swift action to stop a scammer from taking more funds from a senior member of the community.
    Darin Sherk of the Drumheller Post office tells the Mail, that last week a senior came in and purchased a couple of express posts and was putting cash in the envelopes.
    The next day the same person came in right when the post office opened in a state of panic wondering if they had sent the express post off and if there was any way to stop them.
    “I asked if he was being scammed and he said he was,” recalled Sherk.
    The senior told Sherk, an individual telling him he had won a prize from Publishers Clearing House was scamming him. He had sent one envelope with $900, and a second with $3,400. Then Sherk got on the phone and with the help of Canada Post’s Calgary sort location, they were able to stop the $900 parcel and were also able to put a block on the second, which had already been sent on. As of Friday, it has not been stopped, but the block should end its delivery.
    “The sad thing is, although he didn’t get into great detail, since April of last year, this couple has been defrauded of $14,000 by people saying they are Publishers Clearing House,” said Sherk.
    He said the senior figured it out when the scammer called saying the tracking number was invalid, and he had to send another.
    Sherk says even with all of the awareness campaigns, they still regularly see people come in, and they are able to recognize it is a scam.
    “This is about the fourth one we have stopped this year,” said Sherk. “It breaks my heart for this elderly couple because that was probably a lot of their savings.”
    Sherk wants to let the community know there are still many types of fraud, and while they were lucky to intercept this particular one, residents need to be aware. There are many resources for people who have been scammed or believe they are being scammed. Go to www.aintifraudcentre.ca