Reg Radke

[Parksy @PfParks]

This is excellent explainer👇 everybody should read it and understand what will happen w the govt’s plan…

The Premier and Ministers of Health should read it.

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

Best easy to read & follow summary of the issues in our healthcare system

[Dr. Raj Sherman @RajSherman]

Activity Based Funding Alone Will Not Fix Alberta's Healthcare Crisis:

Alberta is moving forward with Activity Based Funding (ABF), where hospitals and surgical facilities are paid according to the number and complexity of procedures they perform.

Let's start with an important point: this is not inherently a bad idea.

When properly designed, Activity Based Funding can improve efficiency, increase transparency, reward productivity, and reduce wait times for procedures such as cataracts, hip replacements, knee replacements, and day surgery.

High performing healthcare systems in Australia and Scandinavia have successfully incorporated versions of ABF into their funding models.

But those same jurisdictions teach us an important lesson.

They do not rely on Activity Based Funding in isolation. They pair it with robust investments in primary care, prevention, home care, rehabilitation, assisted living, long term care, community-based services, and significantly greater acute care capacity.

These countries maintain approximately 3.8 to 4.2 acute care beds per 1,000 population. Alberta has approximately 1.76 beds/1000, less than half.

This capacity gap, combined with blocked patient flow, is Alberta's fundamental healthcare challenge.

After 35 years in the front lines, I can say with confidence that once Albertans gain access to care, they generally receive world-class care. Access is the problem.

Every day, sick Albertans sit in crowded emergency department waiting rooms wondering why the system is failing them.

Many assume the problem starts in the emergency department. It does not.

The emergency department is where the failure becomes visible.

For decades, Alberta's population has grown faster than its healthcare capacity. Our population is aging, chronic disease is increasing, and medical care is becoming more complex.

At the same time, hundreds of patients who no longer require acute hospital care remain in hospital beds because they are waiting for home care, rehabilitation, transition units, assisted living, or long-term care.

Hospitals are designed to treat acute illness, not to house patients waiting for the next level of care.

Healthcare is fundamentally a flow system and we have a major flow problem, especially in the Edmonton zone.

Patients enter through primary care, emergency departments, and ambulance services. They move through hospitals and, when ready, back into the community through home care, rehabilitation, assisted living, and long-term care. When any part of that flow becomes blocked, the entire system slows down.

That is exactly what Albertans are experiencing today.

Hospitals function best at approximately 85% occupancy. Above that level, delays increase, flexibility disappears, and patient flow slows. When hospitals routinely operate at 100-110% capacity, they do not become more efficient, they become less safe.

The consequences are predictable and preventable.

Emergency departments back up. EMS crews wait to transfer patients into care. Admitted patients board on stretchers waiting for inpatient beds. Surgeries are delayed or cancelled. Patients may be discharged earlier than ideal because of bed pressures, increasing the risk of complications and readmissions.

Most concerning, the risk of medical errors rises when healthcare professionals are forced to work in overcrowded, high-pressure environments for prolonged periods.

Chronic overcrowding contributes to burnout, moral distress, absenteeism, staff turnover and less efficiency. Asking healthcare workers to function indefinitely in crisis mode is neither sustainable nor safe.

Public hospitals managing complex admissions, emergencies, and Alternate Level of Care patients cannot fairly compete in a pure activity-based funding model against facilities focused primarily on lower-complexity elective procedures.

Changing the funding formula will not solve these structural issues.

If Alberta is serious about improving access and reducing wait times, our priorities should be clear:
1. Retain, recruit, and support healthcare workers.
2. Expand acute care capacity, particularly in Edmonton, which serves a vast and underserved northern region.
3. Move Alternate Level of Care patients to the appropriate level of care within 24-48 hours whenever possible.
4. Expand home care, rehabilitation, transition units, assisted living, and long-term care.
5. Strengthen primary care, prevention, and community-based services.

The single most important performance measure in healthcare is not the number of procedures performed. It is how quickly patients receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

A patient who requires admission should move from the emergency department to an inpatient bed within six to eight hours, 90% of the time.

Even in the middle of summer, many Edmonton patients are waiting four to six hours simply to be assessed by a physician. Another respiratory virus season is only months away.

Activity Based Funding may improve surgical efficiency and deserves a fair evaluation. But Albertans should not mistake a funding reform for a healthcare solution.

Until we fix the bottlenecks at both the entry and exit doors of our hospitals, our emergency departments and inpatient wards will remain overcrowded and inefficient regardless of how hospitals are funded.

The biggest bottleneck in Alberta healthcare is not the operating room…It's patient flow…It's the hospital entry and exit door.

@ABDanielleSmith @nenshi @PfParks @JMeddings @raghu_venugopal @TheSGEM @TheBreakdownAB @RealTalkRJ @cspotweet @BradenMannsYYC @UCPCaucus @abndpcaucus

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

Check out author_matthewflagler 🇨🇦's video! #TikTok https://t.co/Lhhxna1CuZ Alberta is NOT ‘carrying’ Canada !

[Markham Hislop @politicalham]

The Alberta Energy Regulator is captured by the oil and gas industry.

That means it conflates the public interest with the industry's interests.

Either reform the AER or blow it up and start over.

The status quo is unacceptable.

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

Check out Forward Canada's video! #TikTok https://t.co/tWlZKU3xzg Alberta is building (literally $90 million). a private school system

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

Check out Andrew Longhurst's video! #TikTok https://t.co/hfwHYvxu9P the beginning of two-tier healthcare …following the US model

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

Check out Musicman's video! #TikTok https://t.co/L9RoB333wb what the Federal govt provides to Alberta

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

Check out Pete Guthrie MLA's video! #TikTok https://t.co/IrrqlCYg0W loss of transparency & accountability with the UCP govt in Alberta

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

Check out author_matthewflagler 🇨🇦's video! #TikTok https://t.co/4D9b5ga606 & sign the petition to support constitutional protection for healthcare & education n Canada

[Laura Babcock 🇨🇦 @LauraBabcock]

“Danielle Smith is not trading in information and data she’s trading in fear and innuendo! … UPC is dictating who is a good person, who is allowed to be here, and who is undesirable! Many people in Alberta are concerned!”

🇨🇦 The OShow 🔗 https://t.co/Jzg83oH3Ja #ableg #Cndpoli

[Richard Knack @RichardKnack]

Seniors in Alberta being hit by UCP!
UCP continue supporting major corporations with low taxes.

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

Unreal …the lowest income earners will suffer the most

[Kathleen Petty @kathleen_petty]

Thousands of Alberta seniors to lose income supplement as province faces rising provincial deficit
https://t.co/O8pPCQvYjS

[The Breakdown @TheBreakdownAB]

Danielle Smith has blamed 600,000 "newcomers" for $9 Billion in costs.

But as we saw last night, the vast majority of social programs that she's referring to wouldn't be eligible to the types of newcomers she's blaming.

Full episode on our YouTube!

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

Check out toe_politics's video! #TikTok https://t.co/Kpv3nwWUEZ… a great explanation … of what is happening in the USA (& to some extent n other places)

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

Global Village Centre Brooks https://t.co/l5uBIaHkQ2 via @YouTube

[The Breakdown @TheBreakdownAB]

"we are united in our concerns about recent actions of our provincial Government. We feel it is important to call out unacceptable behaviour & demand that our elected representatives protect our rights, & work for all Albertans."

From the open letter in the Camrose Booster.

[David Climenhaga @djclimenhaga]

List describes two weeks of needless deaths and near misses in Alberta ER hallway and waiting room ‘death zones’ https://t.co/3sRqY8CiRg… #ableg #abpoli #abhealth @PfParks

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

Check out GEO Archi's video! #TikTok https://t.co/6rZ6GRW7lj relationship between US$ & oil & global power

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

https://t.co/68JfYqzKPX

[Reg Radke @regjoy]

https://t.co/68JfYqzKPX this lawsuit also includes JBS & Cargill