Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange are set to provide an update Thursday afternoon on a new compensation model for family doctors.
Alberta Medical Association president Dr. Shelley Duggan will also be answering questions.
Global News will livestream the 1:30 p.m. news conference in the video player above.
Last December, LaGrange committed to creating and implementing the Physician Comprehensive Care Model or PCCM by fall 2024. In April, the province, along with the Alberta Medical Association, started developing it.
A framework for the new contract agreed to back in the spring will see Alberta expand on its fee-for-service compensation model for family physicians and introduce funding that is based on clinic size and capacity, as well as compensation for administrative work done outside of patient visits.
While not all of Alberta’s roughly 5,000 family doctors are expected to switch from the fee-for-service payment plan, earlier this year LaGrange said she thought a “good portion” will make the change.
A report last spring from the Canadian Institute for Health Information found the number of family physicians per 100,000 people in Alberta has been declining since 2017, from 130 to 119.
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In October, the province also came out with a new compensation deal for medical residents that includes wage increases of three per cent in each of the first two years, and two per cent in each of the last two years.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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