ACCA seeking communities for health co-op pilots

The ACCA met with Minister of Health Tyler Shandro on March 3 to explore the potential of piloting co-operative health clinics in rural Alberta as described in Solving Health Care Challenges Together brief.   The response was positive and ACCA will continue to work with Ministry staff to deepen our explorations.  

The proposed pilot would be based on adapting successful health co-operatives in Saskatchewan and Wisconsin, with a hallmark of both models being the use of salaried doctors and enabling other health professionals to work to their full scope of practice.

As you know, new co-operatives are best formed when guided by leaders with existing co-operative experience.  Are you a member of a rural community that may be interested in this concept?  Ideal pilot communities would be between 2000 and 25,000 in size and demonstrate strong local leadership with a history of being pro-actively involved in improving health care in their communities. e.g. already have a community-owned clinic.

For more information, or to discuss whether a health care co-operative might serve your community, please contact Paul Cabaj, Executive Director at execdir@acca.coop