Overview
- The province plans a staged rollout beginning in September, with an expression-of-interest for physicians opening June 22 and formal applications to follow later this summer.
- Only certain elective, non–life‑threatening procedures will be allowed in private settings, including many orthopaedic surgeries, cataracts, select ENT and gynaecological operations, and minimally invasive general surgeries.
- Doctors must meet minimum public‑service hour requirements to qualify for dual practice and can lose that status if they fail to keep those hours; the exact hour thresholds will be set by Acute Care Alberta for each specialty and region.
- The program requires separate private records, mandatory reporting to the province, and integrated electronic reporting for privately provided services as part of oversight intended to protect public surgical capacity.
- Opposition politicians and health advocates warn the move could weaken the public system and say the government should instead better staff and use underutilized public operating rooms, while the government argues the model will attract physicians and cut wait times.