Alberta Health Services’ snag leads to potential delay of patient referrals

The Health Quality Council of Alberta is investigating how some medical referrals weren’t properly processed, potentially affecting 14,000 patients over the past five years across the province.The referrals were made to specialists outside of Alberta Health Services, such as physiotherapists and dietitians.The health authority’s CEO, Athana Mentzelopoulos, says it does an average 100,000 referrals per year, but in some cases it can’t confirm if patients received referral services.