The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta recently released their third quarter Physician Resources in Alberta update for 2024.
According to the College, there were 12,126 registered physicians at the end of September 2024. That’s a net increase of 370 over the previous quarter and a net increase of 518 over the same period in 2023.
Of the 18 communities listed in their report, all but 1 saw a net increase of registered physicians over the last quarter. Unsurprisingly, Calgary, the largest city in the province, had the largest net increase, at 190, followed by Edmonton, at 120. “Other locations” collectively saw an increase of 24 physician registrations, however. Brooks saw the largest decrease, having lost 1 registration.
That quarterly net decrease of 370 was a result of 417 new registrations and 47 cancellations:
New
- 365 new registrations
- 39 restored registrations
- 12 returning to Alberta
- 1 who came out of retirement
Cancelled
- 5 left Alberta
- 7 erased their own registrations
- 21 were removed
- 1 died
- 13 retired
Of the new registrations, 12 were for physicians who returned to Alberta and 222 who were trained outside of Alberta. When we compare that with the 5 who left Alberta, we get a net migration of 229 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 8 years or so (I couldn’t find any CPSA data beyond 2016):
| Quarter | Number | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 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 third quarters together. First, we’ll comparethird quarter registrations to second quarter registrations.
Alberta always sees an increase in the third quarter of the year, so the fact that we had a increase last quarter isn’t necessarily a cause for celebration.
Which is why we must put the decrease in context. As we see from the above chart, last quarter’s increase was the second largest increase of any third quarter since at least 2016.
Keep in mind, however, that this comes after the 6 third-quarter increases in registrations that were under 3%, which brings the average third-quarter increase since 2016 to 2.79%.
Here are the 9 third quarters with how much they’ve changed from the previous third quarter.
Physician registrations in the third quarter this year were the best we’ve seen since 2016 and the highest ever under the UCP—by a long shot.
Since the first quarter of 2019, the last quarter before the UCP took power, Alberta physician registrations grew by 1,607, or 15.28%.
By comparison, during the 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%, a little more than 1 percentage point more than what we’ve seen under the UCP.
In other words, Alberta saw a larger increase physician registrations in 4 years under the NDP—relative to what they started with—than they have in 5 years under the UCP.
Now how do the third quarter registrations break down by where they came from and where they went to?
Well, 143 of the 417 new registrations were from people trained in the province, compared to 138 in 2023. 222 were new registrations from outside Alberta and 39 were “restored”. In 2023, those numbers were 193 and 42, respectively, in the third quarter.
There were 12 registrations for physicians who returned to Alberta, compared to 9 in 2023. However, 5 of the 47 cancelled registrations was from physicians who left the province, as I pointed out earlier, leaving a net migration gain of 229 physicians when added to the 110 registrations from physicians trained from outside Alberta.
Of the remaining 42 cancellations, 13 retired and 1 died, compared to 8 and 3 in 2023. 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 13 in the second quarter of 2023.
Finally, 7 physicians voluntarily erased their registrations. During the third quarter of 2023, 5 did so.
Oh, and I just want to point out that out of those 12,126 registered physicians, only 4,619 are registered in family medicine, which works out to be about 1 family doctor for every 1,058 residents.
At the end of September 2023, Alberta had 1 family doctor for every 1,081 residents.
