Primary health care grants – About

Overview

The Municipality Supported Clinics Grant Program and the Rural Team Recruitment Grant Program have been developed to increase access to, and strengthen, primary health care services across rural and remote areas of Alberta.

The team-based care grant programs will support:

municipalities and regions by providing funding for team-based models of care, especially where gaps exist due to family physician retirements or clinic closures
community organizations and clinics that want to hire additional team members to increase capacity within their clinic so clinicians can see more patients and improve access

The grants will provide funding over 2 years. They are designed to:

increase access to primary health care services
improve the sustainability of rural health care
foster local solutions for health service delivery

Alignment

The grants align with the Modernizing Alberta’s Primary Health Care System (MAPS) initiative, which was implemented to:

strengthen primary health care in Alberta
ensure all Albertans have access to timely, appropriate primary health care services

The rural team-based care grants also align with the Rural Health Action Plan 2024-2027 which prioritizes:

equitable access to health services regardless of rural or remote locations
modernizing rural health care approaches
engaging local communities in health care decision-making

To achieve the outcomes in MAPS and the Rural Health Action Plan 2024-2027, primary health care must be accessible to Albertans in their community. This requires teams of health care professionals working together to provide timely access to preventative, proactive care that is supported through infrastructure and information technology.

The 2 grant programs will help achieve these goals by investing stimulus funding for team-based care and strengthening primary health care across rural and remote areas in Alberta.

Funding

Funding for the grant programs is a result of the recent Canada-Alberta Agreement to Work Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians. Through the agreement, an additional $200 million was allocated to help:

improve access to family physicians
ensure that primary health care is available for all Albertans when and where they need it

A significant portion of this additional funding has been dedicated to stimulus funding for developing and promoting team-based care, especially in rural and remote areas of Alberta.