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AHS continues to be successful in balancing its budget, meeting its targets every year since 2010 and recording an operating surplus in 2016/2017 of $67 million. Before AHS was formed, the average cost to treat a patient in hospital was rising by 3.4 per cent annually. Since 2014-15, that annual increase has dropped by one per cent, equating to more than $40 million in savings per year.

AHS is the most efficient health-care system in Canada when it comes to administration costs. It spends 3.3 per cent of total expenses on administration, the best in the country, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

The Office of the Auditor General of Alberta has also recognized this. In a 2017 report, the OAG stated: “The formation of AHS in 2008 was a step forward and presented Alberta with significant opportunities to integrate public health-care delivery. This work has produced real results … .”

While Alberta continues to rank as one of Canada’s top per-capita spenders on health care, the benefits of operating as a single health region has allowed AHS to focus on finding efficiencies. AHS has saved more than $600 million over the last four fiscal years through a number of initiatives such as procurement and inventory best practices, and cost avoidance through different models of care.

AHS started as a merger of multiple health regions and entities 10 years ago. Since then, financial sustainability has been a clear focus, and equally important has been our focus on delivery of quality health care. In our 10 years, there have been many challenges, and many successes. Increasingly, others are also noting the successes that have helped AHS become a high-performing health-care organization, such as: