Alberta lost 250 family doctors last quarter

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta recently released their fourth quarter Physician Resources in Alberta update for 2024.

According to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, there were 12,212 registered physicians at the end of December 2024. That’s a net increase of 86 over the previous quarter and a net increase of 474 over the same period in 2023.

Of the 18 communities listed in their report, 9 either saw a net decrease of registered physicians over the last quarter or saw no change in registered physicians.

Calgary, unsurprisingly, had the largest net increase, at 68, and St. Alberta had the second highest, at 10, followed by Fort McMurray, at 8.

Edmonton saw the largest decrease, at 18, followed by Red Deer, at 8. Lethbridge lost 3 physician registrations.

That quarterly net increase of 86 was a result of 210 new registrations and 124 cancellations:

Of the new registrations, 37 were for physicians who returned to Alberta and 128 who were trained outside of Alberta. When we compare that with the 90 who left Alberta, we get a net migration of 75 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
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 second largest percentage-based increase over the previous quarter since at least 2016.

And here are the 9 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, which itself had held the previous record. Oddly enough, our lowest fourth quarters were in 2020 and 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 1,693, or 16.098%.

By comparison, between the same period 4 years prior (first quarter of 2015 until fourth quarter of 2018), 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 to 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 2024, there were 4,931,601 residents and 12,212 physicians. That’s 1 physician for every 403.83 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, 18 of the 101 new registrations were from people trained in the province, compared to 22 in 2023. 128 were new registrations from outside Alberta and 27 were “restored”. In 2023, those numbers were 106 and 15, respectively, in the fourth quarter.

There were 37 registrations for physicians who returned to Alberta, compared to 80 in 2023. However, 90 of the 124 cancelled registrations were from physicians who left the province, as I pointed out earlier, leaving a net migration gain of 75 physicians when added to the 128 registrations from physicians trained from outside Alberta.

When you add up all registrations cancelled because physicians moved to other provinces, there were 120 in total during 2024. And there were 74 new registrations from doctors returning to Alberta. That’s a net migration loss of 46 registrations.

Of the remaining 29 cancellations, 10 physicians retired and 1 died, compared to 13 and 2 in 2023. As well, there were 9 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 9 in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Finally, 9 physicians voluntarily erased their registrations. During the fourth quarter of 2021, 8 did so.

Oh, and I just want to point out that out of those 12,212 registered physicians, only 4,370 are registered in family medicine. That’s a drop of nearly 250 from the 4,619 we saw in the previous quarter.

The third quarter of 2024 saw a massive increase of 525 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 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 to 1 per 1,128.51 in the fourth quarter.

To be fair, we’re still lower than the previous fourth quarter, when there was 1 registered family doctor per 1,173.03 residents.

Hopefully, this is just a statistical anomaly and not the start of a worrying trend.