Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, centre, makes a health-care announcement with Justin Wright, left, Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services and Dr. Rob Davies in Calgary, Monday, July 27, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshJeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Starting Friday, Albertans will be able to decide for themselves whether they need a range of medical diagnostic tests, and they will be able to pay a private provider to do them.
If the tests turn up a new cancer diagnosis, the provincial government will reimburse the cost for the scan, Premier Danielle Smith said Monday. The move is another step in Alberta’s efforts to remake its health care system.
The new rules fall short of what Ms. Smith’s government promised last year, but they nevertheless mark an expansion in Alberta’s bid to encourage private health care operators to set up in the province.
Until the new policy comes into effect Friday, Alberta patients are limited in their ability to access MRIs, CT scans, ultrasounds and X-rays without a referral from a physician.
The regulations provide a more detailed look at how Ms. Smith’s government intends to use legislation it passed earlier this year, paving the way for residents to receive reimbursements for self-referred tests.
“This new approach complements and strengthens Alberta’s public health care system. It won’t replace it,” Ms. Smith said at a Monday news conference.
“Medically necessary care will remain prioritized and publicly funded as it always has.”
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Alberta was the first province to allow private, out-of-pocket MRI scans. Canada’s first private MRI clinic opened in Calgary more than 30 years ago and several other provinces now also permit privately paid tests such as MRI and CT scans, though typically with a referral from a doctor.
The Official Opposition Alberta NDP criticized the new plan on Monday, saying it will only benefit those willing to pay thousands of dollars for tests.
In October, Ms. Smith and Adriana LaGrange, then-minister of primary and preventative health services, announced coming changes that would allow Albertans to privately purchase “any diagnostic screening and test services they wish,” including MRIs, CT scans, full-body scans and blood work.
Out-of-pocket costs would be fully reimbursed if the purchased test revealed a “significant or critical condition,” Ms. Smith said in a video posted last October.
Monday’s announcement limited the scope of that promise. Beginning Friday, Albertans who uncover a new cancer diagnosis will be reimbursed for the cost of their test but won’t see their costs covered if they discover a different illness.
The new rules will let private clinics set their prices for diagnostic tests allowed under the regulations. The government will reimburse scans and tests at prescribed rates that will be published publicly on Friday.
“We just want to put the power in the hands of the patient so that they can get those peace-of-mind tests and hopefully get the all-clear,” Ms. Smith said. “But if they do end up getting something diagnosed, we want them to be reimbursed so that they can get directly into treatment.”
Justin Wright, Alberta’s Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services, said the province chose to begin with cancer diagnoses so it could build out a “sustainable” system that doesn’t overburden services.
Jaye Lang, spokesperson for Mr. Wright, said in an e-mail that the province has always planned a phased approach, and that future expansion “will be considered over time.”
Mr. Wright said clinics will be expected to first handle scans referred by physicians: “Any additional services that they take on are secondary, exclusively after physician-referred services.”
While the system is a first for Alberta, its health agency has previously offered reimbursements for private tests on a much smaller, unofficial basis. There are few similarities between that former policy and Alberta’s new self-referral system.
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Documents obtained through a freedom-of-information request show Alberta Health Services, the province’s health agency, had operated since 2011 under what it described as an informal and unapproved policy reimbursing small numbers of patients who paid out-of-pocket for urgent MRI, CT and PET/CT scans at private clinics through a doctor’s referral.
AHS recommended discontinuing that policy in March, 2025. The documents say roughly 40 to 50 people submitted reimbursement requests annually, with about 10 per cent of those being approved. The redacted document said applications were often rejected because AHS’s previous criteria were never communicated.
“In many cases, ordering providers have incorrectly informed patients that they will be reimbursed without following the appropriate steps, resulting in unrealistic expectations,” said the briefing note recommending the policy be discontinued.
Alberta Health Services did not respond to a request for comment asking when it discontinued the program.
Sharif Haji, a health critic for the Alberta NDP, said in a statement that the new rules are evidence that Ms. Smith’s government has “given up on fixing public health care.”
“Today’s announcement guarantees faster access to diagnostic tests for those who can afford to pay thousands of dollars for some tests, while everyone else is left waiting even longer,” Mr. Haji said.
The federal Health Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
With files from Carrie Tait
