MAPS update: Primary care corridor health corporations

Alberta’s government is creating seven primary care corridor health corporations, including the Calgary Primary Care Corridor Health Corporation, under Primary Care Alberta (PCA), as announced in a July 16 news release.

These primary care corridor health corporations (or Primary Care Corridors) will support coordination across Alberta’s 39 PCNs, align service delivery with provincial priorities, and enhance accountability and oversight.

PCNs will continue to operate as independent organizations with their own staff and governance to deliver team-based care, as clarified by the Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services (PPHS) in a July 21 town hall. PCNs will transition from the current grant funding agreements to service agreements with the Primary Care Corridors.

Aligning with the seven existing regional health corridors, the Primary Care Corridors will take on planning and coordination work as a new model that builds on the recommendations of the Modernizing Alberta’s Primary Health Care System (MAPS) initiative for a stronger regional approach:

• The new model aims to reduce the administrative load on front-line providers by handling regional planning, funding agreements, reporting, and coordination.
• This will allow PCNs to continue focusing on delivering local team-based primary care with physicians and other health professionals.
• The regulation to create the legal entities will come into force on Tuesday, Sept. 1.
• The Primary Care Corridors are expected to become operational in spring 2027.

PPHS also clarified that this new model is a refined version of the originally proposed regional network model, and that they will share more information on the model and meet with PCNs in the coming months as the next steps.