Classified: Alberta Health Services

An Open Letter to the Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Alberta Minister of Health Regarding the August 6, 2010, Alberta Health Services Report on MS and CCSVI

I recently read the “Alberta Health Services Information Sheet On Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI)” which was prepared by members of your department and made available to the public on August 6, 2010. I found this report to contain numerous factual errors, misleading statements and half truths. It also included blatant, fear mongering and an incredi...

Adults' use of health services in the year before death by suicide in Alberta.

BACKGROUND The suicide rate in Alberta is consistently above the Canadian average. Health care use profiles of those who die by suicide in Alberta are currently unknown. DATA AND METHODS Death records were selected for people aged 25 to 64 with suicide coded as the underlying cause of death from April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2006. The death records were linked to administrative records pertainin...

Dark forecast for mental health in Alberta.

Health Link Alberta: a model for successful health service integration.

Health Link Alberta is a model of successful regional integration. Launched as a single-region service in 2000, Health Link Alberta was rolled out as a province-wide service in 2003, operating as one service from two sites (Calgary and Edmonton). Provincial integration of Health Link Alberta was successful because it took the time to establish collaborative governance structures, build relation...

Costs of health services utilization of people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder by sex and age group in Alberta, Canada.

OBJECTIVES To estimate the annual health services utilization (HSU) cost per person with FASD by sex and age; the lifetime HSU cost per person with FASD by sex, and the annual HSU cost of FASD for Alberta by sex. METHODS The HSU costs of FASD including physician, outpatient, and inpatient services were described by sex and age. The costs per person-year were estimated by multiplying the avera...