September 9, 2024

Dear colleagues,

Welcome to the first Specialty Care Alliance Bulletin!

The Specialty Care Alliance (SCA), formed on August 22, 2017, provides a forum for the unified voice of Specialty Care physicians in the province. It is comprised of 12 specialists (including 2 non-voting members) and is supported by AMA staff from Section Services and the Accelerating Change Transformation Team (ACTT). Its vision is “specialists committed to patient care, partnerships and driving system improvement” and has the significant task of representing the diverse needs of 40 different sections.

Representatives from various specialty care sections and key stakeholders collaborate to advance common interests and shared goals, with a focus on system stewardship and addressing the various issues and opportunities within Specialty Care.

Visit the SCA web page to learn more.

This issue includes articles on:

Case Based Rates
Provincial Specialty Access Steering Committee
Physician Practice Improvement Program
CII (Community Information Integration) Webinar for Specialists
Become an ACTT Physician Lead

Case Based Rates

The SCA is working with multiple AMA partners to develop a comprehensive proposal for Case Based Rates (CBR). This initiative arose from a needs assessment of the specialty care sections conducted in January to enhance patient care and sustain viable patient practices.

CBR includes tray fees and overhead costs (staffing, building and equipment) covering everything except physician billing fees, which means it does not impact the physician budget.

The CBR model facilitates the transfer of low risk, publicly funded procedures to community setting. This shift will not only free up acute care capacity, but also generate significant cost savings of about 30% per case, allowing more procedures to be completed sooner. Physicians must maintain AHS privileges, provide on-call coverage and manage complex cases in hospitals. Collaborating with the AMA during the application process will ensure unified negotiations to address inflationary pressures and establish contractual certainty with default clauses, ultimately leading to better protections for physicians and community surgical facilities.

The next steps include:

aligning physicians and government
compiling each section’s procedures that would qualify for CBR along with reasonable rates and business plans
developing a comprehensive business case
include this as part of negotiations with Alberta Health for the February 2025 budget

For further information, please contact Bertus Eksteen at bertuseksteen@icloud.com.

Provincial Specialty Access Steering Committee (PSASC)

PSASC is a newly formed joint committee between specialty care and primary care aimed at facilitating shared decision making and accountability for provincial specialty access programs. These include specialty advice, patient care, clinical and referral pathways and central access and intake.

AMA ACTT is supporting 11 non-AHS physician PSASC members, including two non-family medicine specialists. Specialty care representation is essential for this committee to participate in collaborative decision-making on agenda items such as the proposal to discontinue specialty specific provincial referral forms.

Any concerns with specialty access programs (i.e. FAST, Referral Pathways) should be shared with your section president, so it can be communicated to the SCA, which will bring them forward to PSASC.

Need Help with PPIP? (Physician Practice Improvement Program)

The Physicians Practice Improvement Program (PPIP) was launched by the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) on Jan 1, 2021, to fulfill its legislated mandate of ensuring professional competence.

All CPSA regulated members must fulfill each of the three required PPIP activities within a five-year cycle. These activities are focused in three areas: ‘Practice-driven Quality Improvement’, ‘CPSA Standards of Practice’ and ‘Personal Development’.

The AMA ACTT is supporting physician members in completing their CPSA PPIP requirements. Throughout the year (and beyond), AMA ACTT will be hosting 90-minute webinars that will provide all the information, tools and resources required to complete each of the 3 PPIP activities. Five topics are currently available for registration, with more coming soon. Current topics include:

Burnout Prevention
Conflict Management
Providing Virtual Care
Community Information Integration (CII)
Fostering Healthy Team Culture

For information on dates and how to register, please visit the AMA website.

New Webinar for Specialists: Sign Up for CII and Fulfill a PPIP Requirement!

Signing up for Community Information Integration (CII) is an excellent opportunity to complete one of the required practice improvement activities mentioned above. CII is a technology that enables you to send consult reports to Netcare from your EMR with just a click. Nearly 800 physician specialists are already participating in CII!

Join Dr. Bertus Eksteen and AMA ACTT for a 90-minute webinar on October 3 at 5:30 p.m., where you will gain a better understanding of CII and complete a PPIP action plan!

This webinar is for physicians practicing in one of the following EMRs: Accuro, AVA, CHR, Healthquest, Med Access, PS Suite. CII is not applicable for providers working solely in Connect Care facilities.

Join today! Become an ACTT Physician Lead

Are you passionate about physician leadership and supporting the creation of a high-performing health system? AMA ACTT invites you to join our team of dedicated physician leaders.

ACTT Physician Leads:

Deliver practical information (and inspiration) to peers through various webinars and presentations
Provide insights and recommendations related to projects and initiatives
Connect with peers and hone their leadership skills and abilities

All activities are fully supported by ACTT and physicians are remunerated for their time. To learn more, please contact actt@albertadoctors.org

This Bulletin serves to provide valuable updates about the system improvement work happening on your behalf. SCA Bulletins will continue to be distributed as information evolves. If you have any questions, please contact specialtycarealliance@albertadoctors.org.

For more information regarding supports provided by ACTT, visit our web page on the new AMA website.

Regards,

Specialty Care Alliance