CAMROSE, Alta. – Alberta’s 17 regional hospital boards will be a combination of elected and appointed members, the minister of health announced.
Shirley McClellan said two-thirds of the members will be elected. The other third will be appointed to prevent domination of health boards by special interest groups.
McClellan made the announcement last week in a news release after months of study.
The two-year term of members now serving on regional health authorities expires at the end of June. Present members can apply for another term or new members will be appointed until the first elections in the fall of 1998 in conjunction with municipal elections.
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Served their time
“We considered simply extending the terms of current members, but felt they had done their duty in serving in these difficult roles for two years,” she said.
Under the plan, most health professionals earning more than half their income from health authorities or Alberta Health won’t be allowed on the board. Their spouses are also ineligible.
Under the new system, regional health authorities will develop wards or boundaries to ensure equal representation. The health authorities will also lose their ability to requisition money locally.
“Although RHA requisitioning powers were few, limited to specific capital costs, the majority felt that funding of these items should be the responsibility of the provincial government,” McClellan said.
Other provinces reforming
Meanwhile, Manitoba has appointed board members for the province’s 10 northern and rural regional health associations.
In a press release, health minister Jim McCrae said the new boards will spend the next year preparing to take over needs assessment, budgeting and delivery of services in their areas. The transfer of authority and funds from the provincial health department will start in April 1997.
This past fall Saskatchewan elected two-thirds of the board members of its 29 health districts for the first time. The districts have been responsible for health-care delivery for the past two years.
