72 AB doctors retired or left Alberta last quarter

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta recently released their fourth quarter Physician Resources in Alberta update for 2025.

According to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, there were 13,008 registered physicians at the end of December 2025. That’s a net increase of 239 over the previous quarter and a net increase of 796 over the same period in 2024.

This is the first time the number of physician registrations has passed the 13,000 mark.

Of the 18 communities listed in their report, all but 6 saw an increase in the number of registered physicians.

Wetaskiwin lost the most registrations, at 4, followed by Fort Saskatchewan, at 3. Lethbridge and Spruce Grove each lost 2 registrations, and Airdrie and Medicine Hat each lost 1 registration.

Calgary, unsurprisingly, had the largest net increase, at 108, and Edmonton had the second highest, at 69, followed by Red Deer, at 13.

That quarterly net increase of 239 was a result of 337 new registrations and 98 cancellations:

Of the new registrations, 66 were for physicians who returned to Alberta and 223 who were trained outside of Alberta. When we compare that with the 58 who left Alberta, we get a net migration of 231 physicians into the province. Remember, that is for registrations. Theoretically, a doctor could leave Alberta but maintain their registration in the province.

The numbers reflect the physicians who maintained an active licence within the applicable quarter; it cannot be interpreted as those who are actively practising. . . . These counts do not necessarily reflect physicians’ functional area of practice, or even if they have an active clinical practice.

“Methodology”. Physician Resources in Alberta Quarterly Update: Oct 01, 2020 to Dec 30, 2021, pp. 1,3.

Let’s look at the registration numbers over the last 9 years or so (I couldn’t find any CPSA data beyond 2016):

Quarter	Number	Change
Oct–Dec 2025	13,008	1.87%
Jul–Sep 2025	12,769	3.59%
Apr–Jun 2025	12,327	1.68%
Jan–Mar 2025	12,123	-0.73%
Oct–Dec 2024	12,212	0.71%
Jul–Sep 2024	12,126	3.15%
Apr–Jun 2024	11,756	1.07%
Jan–Mar 2024	11,632	-0.9%
Oct–Dec 2023	11,738	1.1%
Jul–Sep 2023	11,608	3.1%
Apr–Jun 2023	11,260	1.2%
Jan–Mar 2023	11,132	-2.4%
Oct–Dec 2022	11,407	0.5%
Jul–Sep 2022	11,346	2.5%
Apr–Jun 2022	11,069	0.9%
Jan–Mar 2022	10,965	-1.7%
Oct–Dec 2021	11,153	-0.1%
Jul–Sep 2021	11,167	2.2%
Apr–Jun 2021	10,927	0.6%
Jan–Mar 2021	10,866	-2.3%
Oct–Dec 2020	11,120	-0.3%
Jul–Sep 2020	11,152	2.3%
Apr–Jun 2020	10,905	0.9%
Jan–Mar 2020	10,812	-1.2%
Oct–Dec 2019	10,948	0.4%
Jul–Sep 2019	10,906	2.9%
Apr–Jun 2019	10,599	0.8%
Jan–Mar 2019	10,519	-1.5%
Oct–Dec 2018	10,674	0.4%
Jul–Sep 2018	10,630	2.7%
Apr–Jun 2018	10,351	0.7%
Jan–Mar 2018	10,274	-1.0%
Oct–Dec 2017	10,376	0.0%
Jul–Sep 2017	10,379	2.9%
Apr–Jun 2017	10,088	1.0%
Jan–Mar 2017	9,991	-0.6%
Oct–Dec 2016	10,048	0.0%
Jul–Sep 2016	10,043	3.4%
Apr–Jun 2016	9,713	1.2%
Jan–Mar 2016	9,596	-1.2%

Let’s look at all the fourth quarters together. First, we’ll compare fourth quarter registrations to third quarter registrations.

This was the largest percentage-based increase over the previous quarter since at least 2016.

And here are the 10 fourth quarters with how much they’ve changed from the previous fourth quarter.

Physician registrations in the fourth quarter last year were the best we’ve seen since 2016, breaking the previous record, which was set the year before. Oddly enough, our lowest fourth quarter increase was in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the first quarter of 2019, the last quarter before the UCP took power, Alberta physician registrations have grown by 2,489, or 23.66%.

By comparison, Alberta saw a net increase of 1,513 physician registration under the NDP. That’s an increase of 16.52%, and that was over just 4 years; the UCP have now been in power for over 6 years.

Before we get too excited, we should keep in mind that while the number of physician registrations has indeed increased, so has the overall population. Comparing the registration increase with the population increase can help us determine whether the number of registrations is keeping up with—or even exceeding—the population, which could lead to improved access to medical care.

In the first quarter of 2019, just before the UCP took power, Alberta had 4,324,254 residents and 10,519 registered physicians, leaving us with 1 physician for every 411.09 residents.

At the end of December 2025, there were 5,040,871 residents and 13,008 physicians. That’s 1 physician for every 387.52 residents, an improvement.

This is the best third quarter ratio we’ve seen, as demonstrated in the chart below. In fact, this is the best ratio we have seen in any quarter since at least 2016.

Keep in mind that these are all physicians, including specialists. So, while the number of registered doctors might have increased recently, that doesn’t mean access to acute care has improved.

More on that in a moment.

Now, how do these registration break down by where they came from and where they went to?

Well, 26 of the 337 new registrations were from people trained in the province, compared to 18 in the fourth quarter of 2024. 223 were new registrations from outside Alberta and 22 were “restored”. In 2024, those numbers were 128 and 27, respectively, in the fourth quarter.

There were 66 registrations for physicians who returned to Alberta, compared to 37 in 2024. However, 58 of the 98 cancelled registrations were from physicians who left the province, as I pointed out earlier, leaving a net migration gain of 231 physicians when added to the 223 registrations from physicians trained from outside Alberta.

Of the remaining 40 cancellations, 14 physicians retired and 1 died, compared to 10 and 1 in 2024. As well, there were 22 removed registrations. These were for physicians who were suspended or were licensed for a limited period and have since been removed from the register. This number was 14 in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Finally, 3 physicians voluntarily erased their registrations. During the fourth quarter of 2024, 9 did so.

Oh, and I just want to point out that out of those 12,769 registered physicians, only 5,967 are registered in family medicine. That’s a jump of 88 from the 5,879 we saw in the previous quarter.

With that increase comes an improvement in the per capita coverage of family doctors. We had 1 registered family doctor per 844.79 residents in the fourth quarter of 2025, down from 855.48 patients in the third quarter and 1,128.51 patients in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Keep in mind that last year, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta designated all family medicine physicians and general practitioners, who were previously identified as non-specialists, as specialists in family medicine to better align with the services they provide and to make Alberta consistent with other Canadian jurisdictions.

A significant improvement in that ratio was because of a change in classification, not because of a massive increase in the number of people who are actually practicing family medicine.

We will have to see how the ratio changes as time goes on and we have more data with the classification changes.

Oh, and one more thing: these registrations do not specify how many of the registered physicians are practicing in private care and how many of the are practicing in public care.