Airdrie’s Highland Primary Care Network (HPCN) will benefit from a funding commitment by the Province, according to Executive Director Micheline Nimmock.
“It really does mean, for us, a renewed commitment from the Province in terms of primary care,” Nimmock said. “They’re committing to keep funding us on an ongoing basis which we think is really good news for primary care.
“We’re pretty confident now – and we have been for a pretty long time – that the funding for primary care networks is secure and is going to be for a long term to come,” she said.
Alberta Health announced Sept. 30 that primary care networks would be allowed to retain a small portion of the surpluses they have each year and have an ability to funnel that money back into patient care.
Nimmock said she wasn’t sure how much the HPCN would be allowed to retain.
“We haven’t seen the policy yet for surplus funding,” she said. “We don’t tend to carry forward a whole lot of operational funding from year to year. That piece that we’d be allowed to carry forward would be from our annual operating budget – we don’t have any surplus left in the bank. I tend to run pretty close to the line because I tend to spend the dollars the community needs for health services.”
A request to Alberta Health for more information regarding the amount of surplus the HPCN would be allowed to retain was not returned by press time.
Provincial funding for primary care networks is determined on a per patient basis, according to Nimmock.
“For us in this area...the number of patients is steadily growing, and as we get new doctors and as people move to the area, our patient population grows and our funding grows a little more every year,” she said.
According to Nimmock, the HPCN receives approximately $4 million in provincial funding. The Province uses a funding formula, which provides $62 per patient. This funding is used for operating costs.
There are currently 42 primary care networks in Alberta, providing health care to 3.5 million Albertans. The HPCN provides services to more than 68,000 patients at clinics in Airdrie, Didsbury, Carstairs and Crossfield.
The Province also announced Sept. 30 it would move $60 million of $65 million currently sitting in primary care network surpluses and closing reserves and use those funds to continue to improve patient care province-wide. In the event a primary care network is forced to close, the Province will now cover closing costs.
