Performance Report

Reporting our Performance: June 2010

Consistent with our values of accountability and transparency, this June 2010 report is our fourth release of detailed measures demonstrating the performance of Alberta Health Services in managing our provincial health system.

The health of every Albertan is at the centre of our patient-focused system. Providing good quality care and good preventive services to the people of Alberta and to do so in a manner that is financially sustainable is the primary focus of Alberta Health Services.

Transforming our provincial health system is an enormous task, one that requires specific targets, and action plans to achieve our three primary goals of quality, accessibility, and sustainability. Our future success will be measured by the health and satisfaction levels of Albertans.

From the baseline set in our September 2009 report, which included data representative of the end of regionalization, our transition to a provincial health system and the inaugural months of Alberta Health Services, this fourth release builds on that data, and also details the significant gains realized through the concerted efforts of health care teams throughout the province. Still, we have much work to do.

The measures presented here track our current and projected performance in a broad range of indicators that span the continuum of care including primary care, continuing care, population and public health, and acute (hospital based) care. In addition, they touch upon various dimensions of quality and utilization such as timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction rates and others.

Our transition to a single provincial health service has provided significant challenges in collecting this data. Former health regions had used different definitions and different ways of collating data which meant that the data were not compatible and didn't allow accurate or fair comparisons. We’ve taken time to resolve many of these discrepancies to ensure the data we present today are comparable, accurate and representative of our performance across the province.

The release of the June 2010 report confirms our commitment to provide information to the public on a quarterly basis. Over time, as we continue our work on data integrity across the province, we will expand this information as additional indicators become available. Enhancements to the report’s structure and format will also be considered as needs dictate.

Dr. Stephen Duckett
President & Chief Executive Officer

How to Read this Report

Alberta Health Services delivers care in five zones which reflect differences in population and geography.

Some measures contained in this report are broken down by zones to allow for comparison. In other cases metrics by facility will be presented based on peer groupings for like facilities. For instance, we will group all tertiary or teaching hospitals together for reporting purposes. This does not necessarily reflect exclusive complexity as many sites will perform complex care and tertiary facilities will also deliver care in routine cases.

Detailed activity and quality snapshots data on hospital, emergency and urgent care for the province have been presented with the most recent available quarterly data (third quarter of fiscal 2009/10, October-December, 2009). Wait time measures are available for selected procedures in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009/10 (January-March, 2010). Other population-based measures extend back as early as 2003/2004.

The development of a report like this is a learning process. At this early stage of integrating information from twelve former health organizations, it is important to note that variations in indicators across sites or zones can reflect both performance differences as well as differences in record keeping methods. As we work to develop reporting consistencies, retrospective changes in indicator results from one report to another may occur. These changes are anticipated as we enhance the integration of information, implement standard approaches to measurement and work towards more consistent record keeping across the province. Improvements on this front are ongoing, though much work remains to be done.

The data included in this report are derived within Alberta Health Services, Alberta Health and Wellness, the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA), the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI), and Stats Canada.