Alberta, more than any other province, showed some areas of strength and other areas of real weakness in its delivery of health care last year, according to the third annual Canada Health Consumer Index (CHCI).
The annual index, released earlier this month, ranks the 10 Canadian provincial health care systems from the perspective of consumers by assessing the extent to which the health systems meet the needs of users.
In the study, analysts from the Frontier Centre and the Health Consumer Powerhouse compared health care systems in five areas: patients’ rights, problem prevention, wait times, patient outcome and range and reach of services.
Good patient outcomes in Alberta resulted in the province ranking near the top of the country in that category. However, long waits for care badly hurt the province’s overall score.
The index found that wait times for cataract removal, radiation therapy and appointments with specialists were all longer than the national average.
Albertans suffer from long wait times for care despite per capita health care spending that is among the highest in the country, according to the CHCI.
For the third year in a row, Ontario topped the index, due to good patient outcomes and shorter than average wait times. British Columbia and New Brunswick follow closely behind to form a distinct top tier of health care service.
According to the report, each of the seven remaining provinces had areas of relative strength and areas of weakness that prevented them from joining the top three.
The index found no significant relationship between health care spending and health care performance and noted that stronger performance in the top provinces cannot be attributed to a higher level of spending.
The board of the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) has approved a new policy to cover high-alcohol content beer that brings them in line with other high-alcohol products.
The new mark-up rates, which took effect on Dec. 17, range from $4.05 for beer with an alcohol percentage between 11.9 per cent and 16 per cent to $13.30 for beer with an alcohol percentage between 22 per cent and 60 per cent.
Chris Peters, manager at the Campbell Liquor Store said the new rates have had an impact on prices at the store.
“We’ve definitely had to bring them down quite a bit,” he told the Gazette on Monday.
The AGLC Board said it was concerned with requests to register extremely high-alcohol content beer and last month suspended registrations while a new policy could be developed.
The new mark-up rates apply to new stock or products coming into Alberta. They are not applied retroactively to products currently in retail stores.
Peters said the Campbell Liquor Store carries about a dozen types of high-alcohol beer that range from $6 to $20. He said he has not heard any complaints from customers regarding the price of high-alcohol beer.
Previously, the federal government classed beer products with an alcohol content higher than 11.9 per cent as an “imitation spirit” so the AGLC set the same threshold.
According to the AGLC, high-alcohol beer accounts for about a dozen of the 1,400 beer products available in Alberta.