
Privatization concerns sparked by potential new Alberta health-care 'prototype'
CBC
Alberta Health is currently exploring a proposed "campus" in the city of Airdrie that would see a "one-stop shop" built that aims to serve most health-care needs in the municipality located north of Calgary. The proposal comes from a private company called One Health Associate Medical.
Proponents behind the project say they hope it could serve as a prototype for other communities across Alberta struggling to serve residents amid a health-care crisis, with a goal of reducing unnecessary urgent care visits and wait times.
But it has simultaneously raised concerns from public health advocates, who are uneasy about the project's potential to reshape the landscape around privately delivered, publicly funded health care in the province.
Today, all urgent care facilities across the province are operated by Alberta Health Services.
Alberta has a history of implementing various publicly funded health-care arrangements with private corporations, including arrangements put in place to address surgical backlogs, and privatized community lab services.
But a for-profit operator of an urgent care centre in Alberta would be a first, and something the public health non-profit group Friends of Medicare calls a possible "massive, unprecedented shift."
"This would be a huge step to how we deliver health care," said Chris Galloway, the organization's executive director.
It comes after years of fits and starts tied to various health-care initiatives in Airdrie, a community that has seen its population boom in recent years.
"Our proposal [is] that we build a facility where a primary care and enhanced primary care team is present," said Dr. Julian Kyne, a long-time physician in the community and director of One Health Associate Medical.
"Doctors are present, co-located with an urgent care centre."
In December 2023, the provincial government provided One Health Airdrie with an $85,000 grant to initiate a business case. That business case has been submitted and is currently being studied by the province.
A government spokesperson said there have been no decisions made about who would operate a possible site proposed by One Health.
Airdrie is home to more than 80,000 people, making it the largest community in the province without a hospital. The city already has a 24-hour urgent care centre, but advocates have long been pushing for expanded services.
"We're told quite often, you're really close to Calgary. Go to Calgary," said Michelle Bates, executive director of the Airdrie Health Foundation, a charity that raises money for health in the Airdrie area.

As Alberta's transportation minister prepares to unveil a passenger rail strategy this summer, freedom of information documents obtained by CBC News show that Premier Danielle Smith's husband, David Moretta, was invited to three meetings in 2023 about passenger rail and its potential expansion in the province.