December 2020
From the Primary Care Alliance

Note: Primary Care News is being published early due to the holiday period.

Despite 2020 being an exceptionally challenging year, it has also been a year of continued progress in the development of the Patient’s Medical Home Model and the Primary Care Alliance would like to thank you for your steadfast commitment and continued efforts to drive change in healthcare in Alberta. 

On behalf of the PCA, AMA and the editorial contributors to this newsletter, we wish you and your family all the best for a safe, peaceful holiday season and may 2021 bring us all to a happy, healthy New Year.
 
FEATURE STORIES
Section of Family Medicine/Section of Rural Medicine update


With 2020 coming to a close, read on at the link below for a Year-End message from Section of Family Medicine President, Dr. Craig Hodgson.
Building blocks for successful transitions of care
 
The Home to Hospital to Home Transitions Guideline is now available. A webinar in support of improving transitions of care will be held in January.
Read on for more details and registration.
Register now for ACFP's Virtual Family Medicine Summit
 
The Alberta College of Family Physicians is pleased to invite you to join them a their first-ever Virtual Family Medicine Summit.

Register before Dec. 31 and have your name entered into a draw for a special Summit VIP Gift bag valued up to $60.00!

Use this special promo code - PCA4Summit to receive $50.00 off your registration fee. The code will expire Dec. 31, 2020.
Finding answers - How Community Encounter Digest information helped an ICU patient

A young woman is admitted to hospital suffering a hemorrhagic stroke. She is quickly operated on but following surgery hospital staff are puzzled when the woman’s blood pressure remains very high.

Read more to find out how a CED helped hospital staff find the answers they needed.
IN OTHER NEWS
New research article on Primary Care Networks
Primary care, and its transformation into Primary Health Care, has become an area of intense policy interest around the world. A new article on Alberta PCNs has been published on BioMedCentral entitled: An implementation history of primary health care transformation: Alberta’s primary care networks and the people, time and culture of change. This article looks into the past, present and future of PCNs by surveying PCN stakeholders on: Governance, zone partners, Schedule B, and PMH implementation. 

New Primary Healthcare Data
The Heath Quality Council of Alberta says it has updated the data across the Primary Healthcare section of their FOCUS on Healthcare website. These interactive charts are updated annually and are a resource for reliable information about what patients experience with primary healthcare in the province. 

More physician participants needed for a study to improve symptom management for cirrohosis care
Led by Dr. Lee Green, Enhancing Alberta Primary Care Research Networks, is conducting a qualitative research study seeking to understand the thinking and decision-making processes that take place when primary care physicians manage the symptoms of patients living with cirrhosis. Currently, the project would like additional representation from Edmonton and northern Alberta. The team is looking to interview primary care physicians in a one-hour virtual (e.g., Zoom or telephone) format to know more about their role and thinking within the process of symptom management in cirrhosis care. Honorariums will be offered. Email Lynn Toon for details.
 
RFP issued for community lab services
Alberta Health Services and Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL) have issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking private-sector partners to provide community lab services across Alberta. Read more details in the news release.
 
eReferral Advice Request updates
As of Dec. 3, Calgary Zone Neurology has added Stroke management issue as a new Advice Request reason for referral. In addition, Internal Med – Infectious Disease- STI is now available province-wide through eReferral Advice Request. Providers can submit non-urgent questions about STI-related issues and receive a response from a Clinical Development Nurse within five calendar days. Quick references and e-training videos on how to submit an Advice and Consult Request are available online. A list of specialties and their reasons for referral are also available. For training support, please contact the eHealth Netcare Support Services team at 1-855-643-8649 or email ehealthsupport.
 
Edmonton Zone surgery auto-dialer project's second phase to start Jan. 2021
Starting in January, the AHS Surgical Waitlist Management team will be rolling out the second wave of the Surgical Autodial project to validate surgery waitlists in the Edmonton Zone. The first wave of the project covered over 7,000 waitlisted patients for General Surgery, Gynecology and Urology. As part of this initiative, patients in the Edmonton Zone who have appointments for ENT and Otolaryngology, Orthopaedics, Vascular or Plastic surgeries will be called through an automated telephone system to confirm their place on surgery waitlists.
If you have a patient waiting for surgery, or you are referring one to surgery in the Edmonton Zone, please share that these calls are not scams and to visit ahs.ca/waitlist for more information.
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