Alberta is launching an $809 million “patient-focused” surgery funding model beginning in a dozen public hospitals throughout the province that will see them receive a predetermined price for each surgery performed, rather than relying on a fixed annual budget.
“It’s a system that aligns the incentives the right way,” Premier Danielle Smith said at a June 1 press conference in Calgary. “It rewards hospitals for treating more patients instead of making every patient a cost.”
The new model began to roll out last month at 12 hospitals run by Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health, including the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton and the Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary….