Photo Courtesy Alberta Health Services

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Alberta

AHS completing rollout of FAST program to help patients get quicker referrals and procedures

Dec 22, 2022 | 11:39 AM

Red Deer, AB – A new program will help Albertans find a urologist or orthopedic surgeon quicker.

The program, called FAST, or Alberta Facilitated Access to Specialized Treatment, enables family doctors and other providers to send referrals to a central tea, which then assigns the referral to a specialist with the shortest wait-list, according to a release from Alberta Health Services.

“The FAST program is an important step in the Alberta Surgical Initiative that will cut wait times at every step of a patient’s surgical journey,” says Jason Copping, Minister of Health. “This program will help patients see a specialist faster after they have received a referral from their primary care provider, and streamlines the process for busy family doctors, who can send their referrals to one place rather than sending to multiple different specialists.”

The objective of FAST is to ensure patients are receiving their scheduled surgeries within clinically appropriate wait times.

The program has existed in Edmonton with rollout across the province since August, Since then, more than 15,000 referrals have been made.

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“FAST is aimed at reducing wait times but it also gives patients choice in their care,“ says Mauro Chies, AHS Interim President and Chief Executive Officer. “With FAST, family doctors can request their patient be referred to the next available specialist, or they can request a specific specialist or a specific location that the patient and their doctor have decided works best for the patient and their family. The whole program aims to improve how patients and providers experience care.”

The FAST program will expand to all surgical specialties in the upcoming months. To support the roll out of FAST, providers and patients are invited to share their referral and consultation experiences through an online survey.