April 2024

From the Primary Care Alliance

Spring is emerging and brings with it the promise of renewal and new opportunities.

It is in this frame of mind that I look at the recent announcements about the new physician compensation model. On April 17, the Minister of Health and AMA President Dr. Paul Parks jointly announced that the Physician Comprehensive Care Model would be implemented by fall of 2024.

The new model will provide family physicians and rural generalists who are currently paid through fee-for-service or other compensation models with a new compensation option. One that will recognize and support family physicians and their teams to provide comprehensive, life-long patient care. The details still need to be worked out, for example rates and panel size requirements, but if this is done right this model could make Alberta a national leader in terms of compensation for family physicians and rural generalists – and it could also help us attract new talent to the province!

Ultimately, we hope that this model serves to increase access to primary care so that every Albertan can have a medical home of their own.

Dr. Ema Gye
Chair
Primary Care Alliance

Join the ACFP’s Celebration of World Family Doctor Day

On May 19, the Alberta College of Family Physicians (ACFP) will celebrate the remarkable contributions of Alberta’s family doctors and their colleagues across the globe! Partake in the World Family Doctor Day festivities by sharing your love of family medicine, recognizing a peer, or sporting your Family Docs Rock! swag. For all the ways to you can participate, visit the link below.

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New session available for PCN Governance Training – Essentials – Enrol Today!

We are excited to share that a new session has been added for PCN Governance Training – Essentials. If you are new to PCN Governance, this curriculum is for you! The PCN Governance Training - Essentials is for members of the physician not-for-profit board, joint governance committee, PCN non-profit boards, PCN executive directors and any individuals who provides direct support to PCN boards/governance committees. Learn more at the link below.

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PCN Pain Rounds – May 15 Session

Presented by the Calgary and Area Primary Care Networks, PCN Pain Rounds is a grand rounds-style webinar series for family doctors and multidisciplinary team members interested in improving the care they provide to people with pain. The next free webinar in this series will be on Wednesday, May 15, from 5:30 p.m.-7:00 p.m. For full details on topics, speakers, and to register, visit the link below.

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Let’s Chat GPT: General practice and technology

On May 23, 7:00 p.m.- 8:30 p.m., join the Alberta College of Family Physicians webinar to learn more about the background of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in health care and how to identify potential applications for it in a family medicine setting.

Discuss the barriers to implementation of AI in family medicine clinics and the privacy concerns related to the technology.

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Other news

Measles update: confirmed case in Edmonton / additional provider resources

Alberta Health Services (AHS) has confirmed that an individual with lab-confirmed measles has been in public settings in Edmonton while infectious. You can find details on exposure locations in this health advisory.
Anyone who attended these locations at these times who was born in or after 1970 and has less than two documented doses of measles-containing vaccine is at risk for developing measles.
Exposed people born in or after 1970 who have received fewer than two doses of measles-containing vaccine, who are pregnant, under one year of age, or have a weakened immune system are at greatest risk and should contact Health Link at 1-877-720-0707 as they may be eligible for medication to prevent measles.
Anyone who attended these locations at these times is strongly encouraged to review their immunization records and monitor themselves for symptoms of measles.
If symptoms of measles do develop, these individuals are advised to stay home and call Health Link at 811 before visiting any healthcare facility or provider.

Lab update on measles from APL

Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL) is asking primary care providers to take the following action regarding measles prevention and testing:

Ensure you and your staff are fully vaccinated to prevent acquiring measles
Familiarize yourself with the clinical presentation of measles
Check that you have sufficient supplies of nasopharyngeal swabs, Universal/Viral Transport medium and sterile urine containers for sample collection, and ensure the transport medium has NOT expired (expiry date on container)
Familiarize yourself and your nursing staff with how to collect a nasopharyngeal swab
Ensure you have sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment, especially N95 respirator, available
Before sending a suspect measles patient to have their blood collected, first contact the APL Appointment Booking line at 1-877-702-4486
Refer to the APL Guide to Services for additional information
Refer to the AHS IPC Acute Care Resource Manual for additional information

Read the full lab bulletin.

COVID-19 update

Starting the week of April 15, 2024, eligible Albertans at high risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 can choose to receive an additional dose of the vaccine targeting the XBB variant. The following groups have been identified as being at an increased risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19:

Individuals 65 years of age and older
Individuals six months of age and older with certain immunocompromising conditions;
First Nations, Métis and Inuit individuals six months of age and older, no matter where they live.

Eligible Albertans can receive the additional XBB dose at a community pharmacy, as well as AHS Public Health Centres.

For full details, please visit the Alberta Immunization Policy to read the Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Novavax biological pages.
Ordering PPE: Reminder that physician clinics can purchase PPE from a vendor of choice and/or from AHS at cost. See the AHS PPE price list and the AHS for-cost PPE order form.

Questions: PHC@AHS.ca.

Patient safety culture opportunity

Would you like to know more about how your clinic’s culture supports patient safety? The Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) is looking to partner with primary care and community clinics interested in participating in a patient safety culture survey.

For more information, please visit the HQCA website. Every clinic that participates will receive a list of practical resources that can be used to guide improvements.

Give your patients a voice

Wondering what your patients are thinking? Are their needs being met? What could you and your primary care team be doing differently?

The Health Quality Council of Alberta has been offering a Primary Care Patient Experience Survey for years – and recently made a few important updates.
The survey is shorter, with just 25 core questions, and now includes Alberta Health’s updated Schedule B patient experience indicator (Overall, how would you rate the care you received from this clinic over the past 6 months?).

Visit hqca.ca/primarycarepatientsurvey to see how easy it is to get started with this free quality improvement offering.

Physician input needed

AH, AHS and the AMA are working in partnership to enable electronic submission of surgical referrals, as the first step towards fully electronic end-to-end flow of referral information between requesting physicians and consulting surgeons. Electronic data flows will eliminate many manual referral steps and allow physicians to work within their own Electronic Medical Record (EMR) charting systems.
As part of this transformative work, we are inviting interested healthcare providers to engage in a series of workshops that will delve into the referral process to clarify the needs of patients and providers. Your valuable insights will shape the future of seamless, patient-centered and provider-friendly electronic referral system.

The commitment is 90-minute virtual meetings, twice a month in May and June 2024. Compensation is per Infoway standard rates.

If you’re interested, email caroline.garland@albertadoctors.org.

FAST to accept gynecology referrals

The Facilitated Access to Specialized Treatment (FAST) Program will begin accepting gynecology referrals in Calgary, Central, North and South Zones on June 10, 2024. FAST currently accepts referrals for general surgery, orthopedic surgery, urology* and vascular surgery.

Edmonton Zone continues to intake colposcopy referrals and plans to add all gynecology reasons for referral in Fall 2024. FAST is a provincial central access and intake program. Learn more at AHS.ca/FAST.
*Urology referrals in Edmonton Zone should continue to be submitted through eReferral.

Big changes coming to Netcare eReferral this spring

This spring, Netcare eReferral is getting a significant upgrade. Referring, receiving and triage users will find improved functionality and a modernized user interface. Read the latest eReferral Bulletin to learn more.

Chronic Pain Program recruiting patients

The Alberta Virtual Chronic Pain Program is actively recruiting patients for a new online six-week group-based education and self-management treatment program, with several date options this spring.
It is accepting both clinician and patient self-referrals and can be found on:
Inform Alberta: Alberta Virtual Chronic Pain Program - InformAlberta.ca
Alberta Referral Directory: Alberta Referral Directory - Service At Facility Details
Connect Care: AHS PROV PAIN PROGRAM
Patients may self-refer via Health Link’s dedicated phone line at 1-877-719-7707. See this poster for more information.

Integrating Prevention into Connect Care for Health (IPiC-Health)

Alberta Health Services Cancer Prevention and Screening Innovation team is embedding health promotion into routine patient care at select AHS facilities in the Calgary Zone by providing Screening Brief Intervention and Referral for alcohol, tobacco, and physical inactivity.
To ensure continuity of care, we want primary care physicians to be aware of their patients screening and referral information to help support patients address their goals around tobacco use, alcohol use, or physical inactivity. This information may be found in the consult notes in Netcare or on the discharge summary accessed through Connect Care.

If you have any suggestions on how this information can best be communicated to you, email Kimberly Manalili.

Alberta Medical Association
12230 106 Ave NW, Edmonton AB T5N 3Z1
T 780.482.2626 | TF 1.800.272.9680
F 780.482.5445
www.albertadoctors.org
primarycarealliance@albertadoctors.org