Red Deer Attracting Physicians amidst Alberta‘s Healthcare Challenges
Red Deer, AB – While Alberta grapples with physician shortages, the city of Red Deer is experiencing success in recruiting new doctors, largely attributed to a new provincial payment model and a focus on collaborative, team-based care. The influx offers a potential roadmap for addressing healthcare access issues across the province.
The success in Red Deer comes as a new University of Calgary study highlights a critical factor beyond simply increasing physician numbers: rising patient complexity.While the number of family physicians in Alberta has kept pace with population growth, the demands on those physicians have substantially increased, requiring a shift in how care is delivered. This confluence of factors positions Red Deer as a potential model for physician recruitment and retention.
Dr. Paul Parks, president of the Alberta Medical Association (AMA), stated the new government payment model introduced this spring has been “a lifesaver” for family physicians considering retirement or leaving practice. The model compensates for previously unpaid administrative tasks like paperwork and form completion.”Having that recognized and compensated is a big change… something we advocated for a long time,” Parks said.
The AMA believes the new payment structure gives Alberta a competitive advantage in attracting doctors nationally.
However, the University of Calgary study, led by Dr. Braden Manns, senior associate dean of health research at the Cumming School of Medicine, emphasizes that recruitment is only part of the solution. “Twenty years ago I saw people with diabetes. Now I see people with diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and depression,” Manns explained. “The need for family doctor services is going up.”
Manns advocates for expanding Primary Care Networks (PCNs) to allow nurses and other healthcare professionals to handle more services, freeing up doctors to focus on complex cases. Currently, only four allied health professionals support every ten family doctors in alberta, and funding for team-based care remains limited. “It’s not just that we don’t have enough family doctors, it’s also the way that we use a family doctor,” Manns said.
The success in Red Deer suggests a combination of financial incentives and a commitment to collaborative care models may be key to stabilizing and strengthening primary healthcare access across Alberta. Further expansion of PCNs and increased funding for allied health professionals are seen as crucial next steps.
