Friday is the deadline for expressions of interest in two grant programs aimed at improving primary health care in rural Alberta.
But there could be wiggle room for communities seeking shares of $12 million over two years, which is earmarked for programs focused on clinics and their teams. The province said that — depending on interest so far and how many grants are awarded by Friday — the deadline may be extended.
Criteria for the Rural Team Recruitment Grant involve salary cost-sharing and an increase in clinic capacity. To receive a Municipality Supported Clinics Grant, meanwhile, an applicant must focus on existing clinic infrastructure and a defined need for team-based models of care, combined with commitments for municipal cost-sharing and new investment.
Open to eligible rural and remote communities, both grants also require sustainability planning that’s coupled with evaluation and regular reporting.
“Albertans have made it clear that timely, reliable access to primary care is a top priority,” said Livingstone-Macleod MLA Chelsae Petrovic, the UCP’s parliamentary secretary for health workforce engagement. “We are responding with our focused approach to enhance services that are vital to our health care system.”
Petrovic’s comments to the legislative assembly also applied to $30 million in primary health care grants to four community health care centres in Calgary and Edmonton. Funding for all the grants is made possible by a Canada-Alberta agreement to improve health care for underserved Albertans and to expand team-based care.
Improved team-based care is among needs highlighted in the final report of Modernizing Alberta’s Primary Health Care System, or MAPS, which focuses on areas like governance, accountability, capacity and investment. Drawing on recommendations from three panels, including one made up of international experts, MAPS generated a two-year implementation plan published in April that the province says will serve as a “guidepost for action."
