Dr. Brendan Bunting
Dr. Brendan Bunting – President, Alberta Medical Association
Influential Icon: Medicine man
Whether it is Premier Ralph Klein or Prime Minister Paul Martin, any politician’s proposal to reform health care in the province of Alberta will likely have to pass muster with Brendan Bunting, the president of the Alberta Medical Association.
The Ponoka physician effectively holds this veto due to his skillful stewardship of the medical association that represents the province’s 6,300 doctors. Bunting’s prowess at the bargaining table was confirmed again in early December, when the Alberta Medical Association signed an eight-year agreement with the provincial government and Alberta’s health regions. In addition to hiking physician fees by 9.1% over the next three years (hiking the province’s master budget by $282 million to $1.65 billion), the agreement also provided $100 million over three years to support 24-hour, seven-day-a-week managed access to services. In addition to Bunting’s success at contract talks, the native of Belfast, Ireland has also seized the bully pulpit on issues ranging from childhood obesity to health care reforms.
Q: What single biggest reform to health care would make the job of doctors easier?
A: Better access to services, access to diagnostic tests, access to hospitals, just better right across the form. All levels of government are working to improve the health care system; all of them aim to achieve quality access to health care services for Albertans. We want to help our patients [get] what they need out of the system.
Q: What one situation do you wish you could have the chance to face again and how would you respond differently?
A: I try to spend a little time deciding what I am going to do. Once I’ve done it, I’d don’t like going back.
Q: What keeps you sane?
A: You have to balance things in your personal and professional life. I take an interest in my children, one is 21 and the other is 17. We like to go skiing and hiking, I also like to play tennis and golf when I get the chance. I can’t do that every weekend, but I like to do [those things] when I have a chance.
Q: Which of these best describes you: Dreamer, Decision-Maker or Doer?
A: I’m no one of those things. I’m an analytical type of thinker. There is a lot of need to bring people together and build consensus and sometimes look at things in a different way than everybody else does. When you can convey those viewpoints to other people, it allows things to move ahead a little better.
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