AHS: A Primer

Confused by latest scandal between AHS and Premier Danielle Smith? Join me as I try to parse through the information and find out more about our health care system – and any potential corruption or scandals. What is AHS? Alberta Health Services is an enormous entity that oversees public health care services in Alberta including ambulances, cancer centers, and hospitals. They help run both direct and indirect services. They have more than 113,000 direct employees and run provincial labs (Alberta Precision Laboratories), ambulances and other services[1]. AHS has many layers of boards, directors, and counsels. Because they are the sole entity for the province, they have many different departments and levels.

The first two levels are fairly simple, you have the Minister of Health, Adriana LeGrange with the AHS board, chaired by the CEO, reporting directly to her. Underneath them, you have various directors. But what are the Advisory and Wisdom Councils? Both serve to, as the name implies, give advice to health care officials. The Provisional Advisory Council gives advice on province-wide services including Addiction and Mental health; Cancer; Seniors and Continuing Care; and Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression.[1] The Wisdom Council’s purpose is to “provide guidance and recommendations that draw upon traditional and cultural knowledge and practices to ensure appropriate and innovative health service delivery for Indigenous peoples in Alberta.”[2] But you also have the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons who license doctors, administrate, and investigate complaints. They aren’t related to this scandal, at least at this time,but they are another important part of the Alberta Healthcare system.

[1]From the acfp.ca [2] https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/about/ac/ahs-ac-wisdom-council-tor.pdf [2] https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/about/ac/ahs-ac-wisdom-council-tor.pdf [3] https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/about/ac/ahs-ac-wisdom-council-tor.pdf [4] https://acfp.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/WhosWhoInHealthcareWebSpread.pdf