Alberta has announced that certain doctors will soon be able to opt in for what the province calls dual practice. Under the model, patients would be able to pay out of pocket for some procedures rather than wait in the public system.
According to the province, the procedures covered would include things such as hip and joint surgery, cataracts and hernias. These are non-life-threatening operations for which patients often face long waits before being treated.
Officials say the goal of the change is to relieve pressure on the public health-care system. By giving some patients the option to pay for quicker access, the province argues the overall strain on public services could be reduced.
The province also points out that more than 150 countries around the world have a version of dual practice in place. Alberta says it is learning from those examples as it works to design its own approach to the model.
The dual practice plan comes alongside a separate commitment of 1.2 billion dollars to expand cancer treatment in the province. That spending is aimed at bolstering cancer screening, hiring more oncologists and investing in more treatment centres and research.
The measures arrive as the group representing Alberta doctors warns that patients are still waiting too long to see certain specialists. The group says that while patients are generally satisfied with their specialists, many wait months and in some cases years to be seen.
Survey findings cited by the doctors indicate that fewer than half of Albertans report a positive experience when it comes to wait times, with many describing the timelines as extremely poor. The province's hospital and surgical health minister, LaGrange, has presented the new spending and the dual practice option as part of the response to those pressures.