Auditor general says Alberta needs better system to track health-care performance

December 11, 2025

RED FM News Desk

Alberta’s auditor general says the province needs a stronger framework to track and assess the performance of its health-care system.

In a new report, Doug Wylie outlined several recommendations after identifying inconsistencies in existing reporting practices, including those tied to Premier Danielle Smith’s 2022 health-care action plan.

Wylie noted that public reporting was a key promise in Smith’s plan, but in the months that followed, updates were inconsistent and did not always address the commitments that had been made.

Smith introduced her plan shortly after becoming premier, around the same time she dismissed the board of Alberta Health Services and replaced it with a single administrator.

According to the report, nearly half of the planned performance metrics were never reported on, and in some cases data was selectively presented to make the system appear more efficient than it actually was.

The audit also highlighted issues beyond Smith’s plan, including Alberta Health Services’ failure to follow provincial reporting requirements when it did not release a business plan in 2023.

Wylie said Thursday that he does not believe politics drove the inconsistencies. Instead, he pointed to a lack of adherence to best practices, significant turnover in AHS leadership, and conflicting priorities between the AHS board and government ministries as key factors.