Alberta
Serious Incident Response Team investigation into death of suspect who stabbed police dog
News Release from the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT)
Investigation into fatal officer-involved shooting near Ardmore continues
On June 20, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) was directed to investigate the circumstances surrounding an incident that took place that same day during which a member of the Cold Lake Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) discharged a service firearm, resulting in the death of a 28-year-old man.
On that day at about 6:38 p.m., RCMP received a call requesting police attend to a location on Township Road 622 between Range Roads 442 and 443. The caller reported that he had come upon a young woman on the road who reported that she had been assaulted by a man, who had also taken her vehicle keys before departing on foot, leaving the woman’s vehicle parked in the middle of the road. The woman spoke to police, provided the man’s name and indicated that while providing the man, who was known to her, a ride, he was acting strangely and began choking her dog, attempting to kill it. The woman indicated that she was able to exit the vehicle and remove her dog, but that the man had struck her. She stated to police that she believed the man may have consumed methamphetamine, and believed that he was not in possession of any weapons. The initial caller reported to police that the man was still in the area but had proceeded on foot down a cut line.
Two members of the Cold Lake RCMP responded to the call and requested en route that Police Dog Services (PDS) also be dispatched to the call. Before their arrival on the scene, the members were also informed that the man had an outstanding warrant and had been previously flagged for violence towards police.
At about 7:02 p.m., RCMP members arrived at the location, and following a track by the Police Service Dog (PSD), they located the man near a fenced oil company compound. A confrontation occurred between RCMP members, the PSD and the man, during which the PSD was stabbed and one RCMP member discharged his service firearm, striking the man. RCMP members provided first aid to the man and requested Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Upon their arrival, EMS assumed care of the man, but ultimately pronounced him dead at the scene of the incident. No RCMP members were injured during the confrontation, but the PSD sustained several stab wounds. A knife was recovered from the scene and has been seized as an exhibit.
As ASIRT’s investigation is underway, no further information will be released at this time.
ASIRT’s mandate is to effectively, independently and objectively investigate incidents involving Alberta’s police that have resulted in serious injury or death to any person, as well as serious or sensitive allegations of police misconduct.
From the Fraser Institute
On Monday, the Smith government announced that beginning next year it will change the way it funds surgeries in Alberta. This is a big step towards unlocking the ability of Alberta’s health-care system to provide more, better and faster services for the same or possibly fewer dollars.
To understand the significance of this change, you must understand the consequences of the current (and outdated) approach.
Currently, the Alberta government pays a lump sum of money to hospitals each year. Consequently, hospitals perceive patients as a drain on their budgets. From the hospital’s perspective, there’s little financial incentive to serve more patients, operate more efficiently and provide superior quality services.
Consider what would happen if your local grocery store received a giant bag of money each year to feed people. The number of items would quickly decline to whatever was most convenient for the store to provide. (Have a favourite cereal? Too bad.) Store hours would become less convenient for customers, alongside a general decline in overall service. This type of grocery store, like an Alberta hospital, is actually financially better off (that is, it saves money) if you go elsewhere.
The Smith government plans to flip this entire system on its head, to the benefit of patients and taxpayers. Instead of handing out bags of money each year to providers, the new system—known as “activity-based funding”—will pay health-care providers for each patient they treat, based on the patient’s particular condition and important factors that may add complexity or cost to their care.
This turns patients from a drain on budgets into a source of additional revenue. The result, as has been demonstrated in other universal health-care systems worldwide, is more services delivered using existing health-care infrastructure, lower wait times, improved quality of care, improved access to medical technologies, and less waste.
In other words, Albertans will receive far better value from their health-care system, which is currently among the most expensive in the world. And relief can’t come soon enough—for example, last year in Alberta the median wait time for orthopedic surgeries including hip and knee replacements was 66.8 weeks.
The naysayers argue this approach will undermine the province’s universal system and hurt patients. But by allowing a spectrum of providers to compete for the delivery of quality care, Alberta will follow the lead of other more successful universal health-care systems in countries such as Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland and create greater accountability for hospitals and other health-care providers. Taxpayers will get a much better picture of what they’re paying for and how much they pay.
Again, Alberta is not exploring an untested policy. Almost every other developed country with universal health care uses some form of “activity-based funding” for hospital and surgical care. And remember, we already spend more on health care than our counterparts in nearly all of these countries yet endure longer wait times and poorer access to services generally, in part because of how we pay for surgical care.
While the devil is always in the details, and while it’s still possible for the Alberta government to get this wrong, Monday’s announcement is a big step in the right direction. A funding model that puts patients first will get Albertans more of the high-quality health care they already pay for in a timelier fashion. And provide to other provinces an example of bold health-care reform.
Nadeem Esmail
Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
From the Montreal Economic Institute
Alberta’s move to fund acute care services through activity-based funding follows best practices internationally, points out an MEI researcher following an announcement made by Premier Danielle Smith earlier today.
“For too long, the way hospitals were funded in Alberta incentivized treating fewer patients, contributing to our long wait times,” explains Krystle Wittevrongel, director of research at the MEI. “International experience has shown that, with the proper funding models in place, health systems become more efficient to the benefit of patients.”
Currently, Alberta’s hospitals are financed under a system called “global budgeting.” This involves allocating a pre-set amount of funding to pay for a specific number of services based on previous years’ budgets.
Under the government’s newly proposed funding system, hospitals receive a fixed payment for each treatment delivered.
An Economic Note published by the MEI last year showed that Quebec’s gradual adoption of activity-based funding led to higher productivity and lower costs in the province’s health system.
Notably, the province observed that the per-procedure cost of MRIs fell by four per cent as the number of procedures performed increased by 22 per cent.
In the radiology and oncology sector, it observed productivity increases of 26 per cent while procedure costs decreased by seven per cent.
“Being able to perform more surgeries, at lower costs, and within shorter timelines is exactly what Alberta’s patients need, and Premier Smith understands that,” continued Mrs. Wittevrongel. “Today’s announcement is a good first step, and we look forward to seeing a successful roll-out once appropriate funding levels per procedure are set.”
The governments expects to roll-out this new funding model for select procedures starting in 2026.
* * *
The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.
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