Nearly 200,000 Albertans walked out of emergency rooms without receiving treatment in 2024, according to a new report from the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI).The report shows 199,615 patients left Alberta emergency rooms before care, representing 8.8% of all visits and a 76.5% increase since 2019. Across Canada, more than 1.2 million patients, or about one in every 13 visits, left emergency rooms untreated last year, a 35.6% rise since 2019. The national average stands at 7.8%..MEI economist Emmanuelle B. Faubert said many of the cases in Alberta involve urgent but non-life-threatening conditions, leaving patients at risk of worsening health. “These patients are not leaving because they feel better, but because the system is failing them,” Faubert said.The MEI warns delayed or forgone care often results in more complicated medical cases. .U.S. studies show 55% of patients who leave emergency rooms without treatment seek care within three weeks.The think tank recommends expanding upstream care by increasing nurse practitioner clinics, granting broader practice authority to pharmacists, and allowing independent Immediate Care Medical Centres to treat non-life-threatening emergencies.Faubert said policymakers must act to prevent the crisis from worsening.
