|
The Alberta Cardiac Access Collaborative’s overarching goal is to improve Albertans’ access to cardiac services from the time they experience symptoms to rehabilitation.
In 2003, Capital Health, Calgary Health Region and Alberta Health and Wellness established a Cardiac Services Access Committee to develop appropriate length of wait times for coronary artery bypass surgery and angioplasty for Alberta. In 2006, providers from across the province attended a Patient Journey Symposium, where all regions were invited to participate in a provincial plan to improve access to health services for cardiac patients and families. From there, a comprehensive proposal was developed and in 2007, the Alberta Cardiac Access Collaborative received $11.8 million in funding from Alberta Health and Wellness through its Wait Times Initiative.
The Collaborative has completed its initial project phase and as of April 2009 is in a 12 month sustainability period where the initiatives are transitioning from project to program.
The Collaborative has focused on reducing wait times for cardiac health services, increasing patient satisfaction, improving patient compliance with treatment, and improving health outcomes.
A series of inter-related demonstration projects across the province have been designed around:
-
Coordination: Improve province-wide coordination, integration and communications
- Heart Attack: Improve access to urgent care for ST-elevated heart attack patients by further implementing Vital Heart Response in the north and STEMI (Strategic Evaluation and Assessment of Acute Myocardial Infarction program) in the south
- Heart Failure: Redesign how heart failure services are provided and where by building on the expertise of existing heart failure clinics and creating new capacity
-
Patient Navigation: Improve access to planned care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and those requiring cardiac device implementations by implementing a patient navigation model
-
Arrhythmia: Increase patient access to arrhythmia services and device implantation by triaging patients for general consultation, organizing care and initiating treatment
|