Calgary's Doctor Dilemma: Is Our Primary Care a Perpetual Patchwork, or is Real Reform on the Horizon?
The Gist: Beyond Quebec's Borders, A Familiar Frustration
Down in Quebec, a recent C.D. Howe Institute report paints a stark picture: despite two decades of reforms, a quarter of Quebecers are still without a regular family doctor. Researcher Tingting Zhang points to coercive policies and misaligned incentives, not a lack of physicians, as the real culprits. It’s a classic case of 'reform without results,' and while the report is focused east, for many Calgarians, it rings with an uncomfortably familiar truth. Our local struggles with primary care access aren't just a rumour whispered over Timmies; they're a daily reality.
What This Means for You, Calgarian
Forget the snow, the real chill often hits when you need a family doctor. Close to 650,000 Albertans are actively seeking a family physician, a number that has been cited by the Alberta Medical Association. A University of Calgary-led study highlights the dramatic drop in family practices accepting new patients, plummeting from nearly 900 in 2020 to a mere 164 in 2024. If you're one of the many trying to navigate the Alberta Find a Doctor website, you know this isn't just a statistic – it's your health on the line.
This isn't merely an inconvenience. Only about half of Albertans (54%) with a family doctor can actually get an appointment when they need one, and a meager 40% can secure same- or next-day care, a figure that has only worsened over the last five years. This forces many Calgarians to the already overflowing emergency rooms at places like Foothills or Peter Lougheed for issues that should be handled by a family doctor. A staggering 27% of Albertans visited an ER last year, and shockingly, 18% of those left without being seen – more than double the national average. That's your time wasted, your health potentially jeopardized, and our healthcare system further strained. The C.D. Howe report's findings about physicians grappling with more complex patient cases, working fewer clinic days, and being bogged down by administrative tasks echo precisely what our local doctors are facing.
The Flip Side: Alberta's Own Rx for Reform?
It's not all doom and gloom on Deerfoot. The Alberta government isn't blind to the crisis. In December 2024, Premier Danielle Smith's government unveiled a new primary care physician compensation model set to launch in Spring 2025, pending at least 500 doctor sign-ups. The promise? To make Alberta's family doctors among the highest-paid in the country. This new model aims to incentivize doctors to take on larger patient panels, provide after-hours care (a welcome relief for our ERs!), embrace technology, and, crucially, enhance team-based care. They're even offering an additional 10% for administrative duties, recognizing the hidden workload our doctors shoulder.
The province's Modernizing Alberta's Primary Health Care System (MAPS) initiative is actively working to strengthen the system, backed by a $200 million investment over two years to improve access. We've even seen a reported increase in family physicians accepting new patients in Calgary—over 400% compared to 2024, contributing to a net gain of 355 family physicians in Alberta from June 2024-2025. However, despite these efforts, a recent survey revealed that 61% of Alberta family doctors are still considering leaving the provincial health-care system, with many eyeing early retirement or a move out of Alberta entirely. It seems solving the 'how' doctors are paid is only one piece of a much larger, more intricate puzzle. Even with commitments to team-based care, funding for allied health professionals within these teams remains limited, with only about four such professionals for every 10 family physicians.
The Bottom Line: For Calgarians, It's About Outcomes, Not Just Initiatives
The Quebec experience serves as a cautionary tale: simply throwing money or new programs at a deeply entrenched systemic issue won't magically solve it. The C.D. Howe report found Quebec had rising physician numbers and high compensation, yet access still floundered due to structural problems. Here in Calgary, our government's new compensation model is a step in the right direction, addressing some of the core issues of doctor workload and incentives that Zhang highlighted. However, the true test won't be in the headlines of new initiatives, but in the tangible results for everyday Calgarians.
Will our waiting rooms shrink? Will getting a same-day appointment become less of a minor miracle? Will our emergency rooms finally catch a break from preventable visits? For the hundreds of thousands of Calgarians still struggling to find a family doctor, and for those who have one but can't get in, the answers to these questions will define whether Alberta's latest reforms deliver real relief, or if we're doomed to repeat the same frustrating cycle, just with a different provincial backdrop.
