AHS hid reimbursement policy for 15 years
A program covering out-of-pocket diagnostic scans existed since 2011 but was never publicized to patients or doctors.
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Alberta Health Services operated a reimbursement policy for privately paid MRI, CT, and PET scans for over a decade without telling anyone about it.
The program, which ran from 2011 to 2025, allowed patients deemed medically urgent by their doctors to get their out-of-pocket diagnostic costs covered by the government. But AHS officials couldn't even explain how it started. In a March 2025 briefing note, AHS leadership noted the policy's "original intent is unknown" and "appears the policy was not formally approved by AHS processes of the time."
Because it was never communicated broadly to patients, physicians, or the government, only 40 to 50 patients a year bothered to apply — and just 10 per cent of those requests got approved. AHS discontinued the program in 2025, citing Alberta's incoming preventative testing policy and the old program's "inefficiencies and low uptake."
Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange announced in October that Bill 29 would introduce a new reimbursement policy for the same diagnostic tests. The announcement made it sound like a novel direction for the province. No mention was made that Alberta already had one.
