Alta. to transfer some hospitals away from AHS

The province’s premier claims Alta. plans to lease new hospitals to Alberta Health Services (AHS) with the option to transfer operations to another operator if the hospital deems AHS unsatisfactory.  Premier Danielle Smith claims fear of losing a hospital to another provider will motivate AHS managers to do better. While this plan is only intended to apply to newly built hospitals, Smith suggests the province will consider taking back ownership of some existing hospitals as a next step. This comes as the province is dividing its provincial health authority into four separate organizations dealing with primary care, continuing care, mental health and addiction and acute care, with AHS remaining responsible for the latter.