A review of the Alberta Health Services organization and structure has resulted in the firing of five senior executives.

Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne ordered the review in June and released the results of the report in Edmonton on Tuesday afternoon.

Horne was joined by AHS Official Administrator Janet Davidson and AHS Chief Executive Officer Dr. Chris Eagle at the announcement.

Alberta Health Services says it needs to streamline its senior management structure to better support patients and front-line staff.

The organization will be reducing senior executives from 80 to 10 and says the majority of the positions will be reprofiled to support front-line staff. Five positions are being eliminated.

“One of the most important findings of this report is the need for a structure where patients and people are the top priority. I agree with the Official Administrator, and want AHS to begin implementing this work immediately,” said Fred Horne, Minister of Health.

“While moving to a central health authority has brought with it many benefits, including approximately $700 million in cost savings and standardization of service, more work needs to be done in several areas including consultation and support for health care providers,”said Janet Davidson, AHS Administrator

“I understand and support the findings laid out in the Administrator’s report and will work with those closest to the patient to ensure any further changes to AHS consider their needs first and foremost,” sid Dr. Chris Eagle, AHS CEO.

The Minister of Health ordered the review to ensure Albertans receive top-quality medical care and value for taxpayers’ dollars.

Findings of the review include:

• Current AHS structure is top-heavy and not the best model to support front-line staff
• Structure is confusing to navigate
• Community leaders unsure of how to interface with AHS
• Current reporting structure causes confusion
• Unclear whether AHS’ vision is aligned with the vision of Alberta Health and other service delivery agents
• Extent to which stakeholder engagement is meaningful is questionable
• Greater overall performance should be expected given the substantial health expenditures made by the Government of Alberta
• The organizational structure should have the province divided into north and south, with each portion led by a vice-president, a chief operating officer and a medical director. Physicians will continue to have key roles on the Executive Team and throughout the organization.

A Plan of Action also came out of the review and includes:

• Senior management layers of AHS to be restructured to better support front-line staff with a clear focus on quality of care
• Stakeholder collaboration mechanisms to be imbedded into AHS structure to ensure meaningful consultation
• Corporate functions such as Finance, HR, Engagement and IT to work in service delivery areas as a matrix with strong reporting relationships to the Chief Operating Officers with the support of the VPs
• IT Strategy, People Strategy, Research Strategy, and Patient-centered Care Strategy to be developed and implemented
• Clear definition of VP roles developed and communicated
• Greater structural linkages with Alberta Health developed
• Robust performance targets established and communicated