AB saw 208 more doctor registrations last quarter

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

According to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, there were 12,327 registered physicians at the end of June 2025. That’s a net increase of 204 over the previous quarter and a net increase of 571 over the same period in 2024.

Of the 18 communities listed in their report, 4 saw no change in the number of registered physicians.

Calgary, unsurprisingly, had the largest net increase, at 88, and Edmonton had the second highest, at 51, followed by Red Deer, at 8.

Lethbridge gained 2 physician registrations.

That quarterly net increase of 204 was a result of 243 new registrations and 39 cancellations:

Of the new registrations, 14 were for physicians who returned to Alberta and 167 who were trained outside of Alberta. When we compare that with the 4 who left Alberta, we get a net migration of 177 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 5 years or so (I couldn’t find any CPSA data beyond 2016):

Quarter	Number	Change
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 second quarters together. First, we’ll compare second quarter registrations to first quarter registrations.

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

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

Physician registrations in the second quarter this year were the best we’ve seen since 2016, which itself had held the previous record. Oddly enough, our lowest second quarter 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 1,808, or 17.19%.

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 nearly 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 June 2025, there were 4,980,659 residents and 12,327 physicians. That’s 1 physician for every 404.04 residents, an improvement.

However, at the end of 2022, the ratio was 1 physician for every 399.64 residents, so it’s not the best ratio we’ve seen, as demonstrated in the chart below.

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.

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

Well, 29 of the 101 new registrations were from people trained in the province, compared to 25 in 2024. 167 were new registrations from outside Alberta and 32 were “restored”. In 2024, those numbers were 110 and 22, respectively, in the fourth quarter.

There were 14 registrations for physicians who returned to Alberta, compared to 2 in 2024. However, 4 of the 39 cancelled registrations were from physicians who left the province, as I pointed out earlier, leaving a net migration gain of 177 physicians when added to the 167 registrations from physicians trained from outside Alberta.

Of the remaining 35 cancellations, 9 physicians retired and 2 died, compared to 5 and 3 in 2024. As well, there were 21 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 22 in the second quarter of 2024.

Finally, 3 physicians voluntarily erased their registrations. During the second quarter of 2024, 4 did so.

Oh, and I just want to point out that out of those 12,327 registered physicians, only 4,480 are registered in family medicine. That’s a jump of nearly 80 from the 4,400 we saw in the previous quarter.

The third quarter of 2024 saw a massive increase of 524 physician registrations in family medicine, the largest increase per quarter increase since at least 2016. However, nearly half of that vanished in just the following quarter.

That’s the second largest decrease in a single quarter since at least 2016. And we have not recovered from that drop yet.

With that decrease comes a reduction in the per capita coverage of family doctors. We’ve gone from 1 registered family doctor per 1,058.39 residents in the third quarter of 2024 to 1 per 1111.75 in the second quarter 2025.

To be fair, we’re still lower than the previous second quarter, when there was 1 registered family doctor per 1182.55 residents.