The AHS Health Plan and Business Plan is a public accountability document spanning a three-year time frame. It describes at a strategic level the actions AHS will take in carrying out its legislated responsibilities with a primary focus on the delivery of quality health services.
Health Plan and Business Plan development is guided by direction received from Alberta Health and is aligned with and supports the Ministry’s business goals. A key feature of the plan is ensuring that mechanisms for measuring and monitoring results and achievements are identified.
These goals and their corresponding objectives will help define our specific commitments and propel us toward our vision. Within three years, Albertans can expect a stronger, more integrated provincewide health system. We are focusing our actions on enhancing care in communities, improving health outcomes, and creating a more sustainable system.
By putting these operational goals into action, AHS will emerge better positioned to meet the health needs of Albertans today and in the future. We are also supported by the work done to-date finalizing AHS’ vision, mission and values. We are also guided by our four foundational strategies that focus on our people, our patients, research and innovation, and the information management and information technologies required for a best-practice healthcare system.
Below we show each goal with its related objectives and examples of the priorities we are undertaking to achieve these goals. We have also defined performance measures and targets over this three-year health plan which will enable us to evaluate our progress and to link our objectives to specific results.
To achieve better health for all, we must take a different approach to the planning and design of services, ensuring our health system is integrated and co-ordinated between providers and patients. This will improve the experiences of patients and will lead to improved clinical practice, a more co-ordinated approach to team-based care, and more satisfied patients and staff.
Objective 1
We will work to make the transition from hospital to community-based care options more seamless (Enhancing Care in the Community).
Objective 2
We will strive to make it easier for patients to move between primary, specialty and hospital care.
Objective 3
We will respect, inform and involve patients and families in their care while in hospital.
Objective 4
We will work to improve access to community and hospital addiction and mental health services for adults, children and families.
We encourage Albertans to be co-partners in health. To reflect this, we actively engage with patients and families, staff and physicians, volunteers, local communities and other health partners. Together, we are building a health system that gives patients control over factors that affect their health, improves service quality, promotes leading practices, consistently applies standards, and increases local decision-making.
Objective 5
We will strive to improve health outcomes through clinical best practices with a focus on wait times and access.
Objective 6
We will work to improve the health outcomes of Indigenous People in areas where Alberta Health Services has influence.
Objective 7
We will work to reduce and prevent incidents of preventable harm to patients in our facilities.
Objective 8
We will focus on health promotion and disease and injury prevention with an emphasis on childhood immunization.
We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of health professionals, support staff, volunteers and physicians who promote wellness, prevent disease and injury, and provide healthcare to a diverse population every day. We also host students from universities and colleges, providing clinical education experiences.
Objective 9
We will strive to improve our workforce engagement.
Objective 10
We will work to reduce disabling injuries in our workforce.
* Employee engagement rate is based on a five-point scale, with one being ‘strongly disagree’ and five being ‘strongly agree’ for overall satisfaction AHS employees responded about the work they do at AHS.
** Disabling injury rate is the count of disabling injury claims per 200,000 hours based on Alberta Health Services (AHS) paid hours. A disabling injury is defined as any Workers Compensation Board (WCB) claim resulting in lost time and/or modified work.
As we face service and cost pressures, we will continue our efforts to manage expenditure growth and to maximize the value of each dollar we spend to remain within provincial budget targets. We have to evolve and adapt to a changing system with increasing demands. This requires innovation to work differently, while maintaining quality and safety. We must also make difficult decisions in the coming years to contain costs and become sustainable, and guide future planning to reach positive financial health.
Objective 11
We will work to improve efficiencies through implementation of operational and clinical best practices while maintaining or improving quality and safety.
Objective 12
We will work toward integrating clinical information systems to create common, comprehensive patient records (Connect Care).
CIHI = Canadian Institute for Health Information* Addressed only through attrition
** AHS general ledger