The dashboard aims to empower patients, support health care workers, and highlight opportunities for improvement.
The Government of Alberta is introducing a new online health system dashboard that intends to give the public clear, accessible insight into how the province’s health services are preforming.
The new health system dashboard will be updated monthly and is designed to increase transparency by sharing up-to-date data on surgery volumes and wait times for both select surgeries and cancer surgeries. It also includes a map that details which facilities perform surgeries and what types of surgeries are performed at each facility. This tool will be undergoing expansions to include things such as screening rates, acute care metrics, and information on assisted living and mental health and addiction.
RMA welcomes the initiative to improve transparency in the provincial healthcare system. This dashboard has the potential to help identify gaps support resourcing to rural hospitals. However, it is difficult to see how the dashboard can accurately capture the unique challenges that rural communities face, including staffing shortages, limited service availability, and long travel distances for care. It is important that metrics are in place to ensure rural healthcare facilities are not unfairly compared to large urban hospitals with significantly different resources and patient volumes.
Kallie Wischoff
Policy Advisor
825.319.2245
kallie@rmalberta.com
Wyatt Skovron
General Manager of Policy & Advocacy
780.955.4096
wyatt@rmalberta.com