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By Chris Brown

Publicly-funded

AHS eyeing expansion of cataract, ophthalmology surgeries

Apr 13, 2021 | 10:29 AM

EDMONTON – Alberta Health Services is issuing a Request for Proposals as it seeks to increase the number of publicly-funded surgeries in the province.

Today’s RFP is for ophthalmology chartered surgical facilities (CSF).

“Cataract and ophthalmology surgeries have long waitlists with many Albertans waiting longer than is clinically appropriate,” says AHS vice president, Quality, and chief medical officer Dr. Francois Belanger in a release. “This expansion of publicly-funded surgeries with CSFs will help manage the increased surgical demand and enhance capacity in particularly high needs areas such as cataract surgeries for Albertans.”

These independent facilities provide safe, low-risk surgeries without cost to patients, allowing hospitals to focus on emergency and more complex surgeries. Each facility is required to follow AHS policies and practices, ensuring Albertans continue to receive consistent, safe, high-quality care.

“We already collaborate with partners to perform a number of surgical procedures at our CSFs,” says Dr. Belanger. “These are publicly-funded procedures performed in a private facility. It’s a way for AHS — and many other health systems across Canada — to expand surgeries and reduce wait times.”

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The ophthalmology RFP will seek cataract and non-cataract surgeries in CSFs in Edmonton and Calgary.

The government says that in 2020 CSFs provided 15 per cent, or 44,000, of the 290,000 surgeries performed annually for Albertans.