Alberta seeks to move public health to Primary Care Alberta from AHS
Alberta has tabled another suite of amendments as it pushes forward with refocusing the health care system.
Bill 55 — the Health Statutes Amendment Act 2025 — if passed would transfer front-line public health services out of Alberta Health Services (AHS) to Primary Care Alberta and move public health inspections to Alberta Health.
Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said at a news conference on Thursday the decision to move public health to Primary Care Alberta is to allow AHS to focus on delivering acute care services.
'Public health transcends all of the agencies,' LaGrange said. 'The policy side needs to reside within government.'
The province passed two pieces of legislation in spring and fall 2024 to stand up the four new provincial health agencies and transition AHS from the province's sole regional health authority to an acute care service provider.
Front-line public health services moving to Primary Care Alberta include newborn screening, immunizations, communicable disease control and health promotion.
Under the proposed amendments, strategic direction and policy development, public health inspections and surveillance, and medical officers of health would move to Alberta Health.
'It doesn't make sense to have the medical officers of health just within Alberta Health Services, they have to take on that broader role of making sure that they can address public health issues across the whole health care continuum and they currently report up to the chief medical officer of health. It's just now physically they will be with the chief medical officer of health,' LaGrange said.
Alberta NDP health critic Sarah Hoffman said the bill is 'further evidence' that the premier is focused on 'creating chaos' rather than hiring more health care staff. She added moving staff from public health into the department will end up costing Alberta.
'Many of these folks have been leaders in our communities for years and have intentionally chosen not to work within government. Now saying that they have to report to the chief medical officer of health, who reports to the deputy minister, who reports to the minister who reports to the premier — that isn't what most of them signed up for,' Hoffman said.
The province said as the refocusing progresses, no public health functions and activities will be disrupted, there will be no front-line job losses and the collective bargaining process will be 'respected' moving forward.
When asked what will happen to unions affected by the changes, LaGrange said the province will continue to connect and have discussions with affected health care providers and practitioners.
'There's also a choice for the individuals who are moving. They can choose to move or not move. That happened in Recovery Alberta (and) in other moves as well,' LaGrange said.
In a statement from the province, it said staff transferring to Primary Care Alberta or the ministry will not be required to change unions and their current collective agreements will remain in place. However, unions affected by staff transitioning from AHS to the Government of Alberta will then work with the government to negotiate an agreement.
Under the health care refocusing, the Ministry of Seniors, Community and Social Services will be overseeing continuing care, including assisted living. In fall 2024, amendments to the Health Information Act designated the ministry as a custodian, enabling it to access information.
Officials said proposed amendments in Bill 55 are needed to further enable the ministry to collect, use and disclose necessary information to support the minister's mandate as a sector minister for continuing care.
The legislation would also make amendments to the Protection of Persons in Care Act to allow the director to delegate some or all of their authority to an employee in the department of health. Officials said the current act only allows the director to make decisions on allegations of abuse which creates a bottleneck, contributing to a backlog.
The province said the amendments would allow for quicker decisions to be made and prevent future backlogs. According to the province, as of March 21, the backlog has been reduced by 88 per cent to 92 cases from 766 cases.
ctran@postmedia.com
@kccindytran
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