Alberta dual-practice doctors could begin offering private surgeries in fall
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government will allow some physicians to offer privately paid surgical procedures while also working in the publicly funded system beginning in September.
It’s inviting surgeons to apply this summer to be able to charge patients for elective procedures like hip and knee replacements outside their publicly funded practice.
Surgical Services Minister Adriana LaGrange says the status quo isn’t working as too many Albertans are sitting in the queue too long to get surgery.
She says the change will attract doctors, increase capacity and cut down waits by allowing some patients to choose a paid option close to home.
The contentious move, announced last year, has drawn concern from the Opposition NDP and public health advocates who say it will degrade an already under-resourced public system, and is fundamentally unfair.
NDP critic Sharif Haji says the government should properly fund the health-care system — including staffing under-used operating rooms — rather than moving towards a two-tier system.
Key details, like the minimum hours in public facilities a doctor must work to be eligible, are yet to be determined.
LaGrange says there will be no privately paid emergency or life-threatening procedures, including cancer-care treatment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2026.
