To practise medicine in Alberta, all physicians, physician assistants (PAs) and medical learners must be registered with CPSA. CPSA’s Registration team assesses and confirms that all applicants have the training and credentials needed to ensure patients in Alberta receive the highest quality of care.

Once registered, physicians and PAs must renew their CPSA practice permits annually to confirm any new certifications and practice details. We expect all physicians to practise competently, including locums, physicians with Canadian credentials and those with international training.

Everyone deserves high-quality care when they seek medical help. As Alberta’s medical regulator, we are here to ensure patient safety by setting minimum expectations of professional and ethical medical practice in Alberta through CPSA’s Standards of Practice.

CPSA’s Standards of Practice and the Canadian Medical Association’s Code of Ethics and Professionalism (adopted by CPSA) are enforceable under the Health Professions Act (HPA) and are used in CPSA’s complaints and hearings processes.

We regularly review our standards to ensure they are up to date and comply with provincial and federal laws and regulations. Throughout the year, CPSA works collaboratively with multiple organizations to review the standards and ensure our regulated members and the public have opportunities to share feedback through a consultation process that outlines the proposed changes and updates.

As indicated in the HPA, Council can only approve a new standard or an amendment to an existing standard after receiving feedback from the Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services.

A career in medicine means a commitment to lifelong learning. Medical knowledge constantly evolves and, for the benefit of patients, it’s important that regulated members maintain their competence and continuously enhance their practice throughout their careers.

CPSA’s Continuing Competence team works with physicians and physician assistants to ensure they have the skills necessary to provide patients in Alberta with high-quality care. With a focus on education and support through a variety of quality assurance and quality improvement programs, the goal is to encourage self-reflection and an overarching focus on ongoing practice improvements.

CPSA is the only medical regulator in Canada with a devoted in-house analytics, innovation and research team. The regulatory research supported by CPSA’s AIR department strengthens physician competency and impacts medical regulation across Canada and internationally.

The AIR department includes:

• Physician Prescribing Practices (PPP) program

• Tracked Prescription Program (TPP Alberta)

• Research & Evaluation Unit (REVU)

AIR team members from REVU, PPP and TPP Alberta work closely together and across CPSA on many initiatives, including developing and gathering research and knowledge translation of our important work.

Patients in Alberta deserve the highest quality of care, and CPSA’s complaints process is one way we meet our mandate of serving the public interest.

The Professional Conduct team is responsible for accepting and investigating complaints about physicians and physician assistants practising in Alberta. While complaints are no doubt challenging to face, most regulated members will receive at least one at some point in their careers. Generally, CPSA approaches complaints as a learning opportunity and, when appropriate, will work with regulated members and patients to resolve issues so patient care can be improved going forward. Serious allegations of unprofessional conduct, where patient safety may have been compromised, will typically go before a Hearing Tribunal for formal disciplinary action.

CPSA’s HDO steps in when a complaint progresses to a hearing, a complainant requests a review of a dismissed complaint, or when there is an appeal of a Hearing Tribunal, registration, accreditation or capacity assessment decision.

The HDO team also oversees CPSA’s Complaint Review Committee (CRC) and Hearing Tribunal membership list, and organizes all logistics behind hearing, review and appeal proceedings, including scheduling times that work for all involved parties and circulating needed materials and documents to all participants.

Hearing Tribunal and appeal decisions must be delivered in writing and the HDO organizes the distribution of these decisions, working with CPSA’s Privacy team on redactions if needed and with the Communications team on decision publication as appropriate to ensure CPSA is transparent with the public.

If you’ve been for lab work, an x-ray or have undergone another diagnostic or out-of-hospital surgical procedure, you have likely been in a CPSA-accredited facility. CPSA is responsible for assessing and accrediting these facilities to help ensure they provide safe, high quality care to patients across Alberta.

The Accreditation team works with committees and experts to develop and apply accreditation standards that help facilities create cultures of continuous quality improvement, learning to uphold high standards of service as well as patient and staff safety. In support of this, CPSA is an institutional member of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua), a global organization dedicated to promoting quality improvement in health care and providing guidance for the development of robust health and social care standards. Our accreditation standards meet internationally recognized benchmarks as demonstrated by independent review and external validation through ISQua. Currently, CPSA’s diagnostic laboratory, diagnostic imaging, pulmonary function diagnostic and sleep medicine diagnostic standards are accredited by ISQua’s External Evaluation Association.

Medical facilities that provide a prescribed health service, as defined under CPSA’s Bylaws, must undergo an accreditation assessment when they first open or anytime they renovate, move or add a new service. We re-evaluate accredited facilities on a four-year assessment cycle (or sooner if needed).

At CPSA, our people help pave the path towards organizational progress and patient safety. In addition to our regulatory work, CPSA has operational departments that help keep the wheels of our organization turning while providing important support to our regulatory teams—all while working on their own projects that drive advancement and improvement within our organization.

Communications

CPSA’s team of in-house communications professionals acts as a strategic partner to all departments across the organization, helping to determine the proper pathways for connecting and communicating with regulated members, Albertans and our partners. Our dynamic department ensures CPSA’s annual report, website, social media channels and monthly digital newsletter are engaging and informative. Communications also leads CPSA’s engagement efforts by hearing directly from Albertans and regulated members to ensure our messaging is meaningful and puts people on the right path towards the information and resources they need.

Corporate Services

Corporate Services keeps our organizational operations running smoothly and efficiently by overseeing finance, payroll and benefits administration, risk management, infrastructure and general office support, while also supporting CPSA’s Finance & Audit Committee. Our department continually searches for ways to enhance and make internal processes more efficient for team members.

Customer Experience (CX)

CPSA’s CX team is the main pathway for those reaching out by phone, email and live chat to connect with CPSA. CX is a centralized place for information about all areas of CPSA, and Albertans, regulated members, our partners and anyone else who reaches out to us can expect quick and helpful support. Through our high volume of inquiries, CX also finds internal process improvement opportunities to continuously make the customer experience better.

Information Management

Bringing together our Information Technology (IT), Records Management and Privacy teams, the Information Management department creates pathways that connect our people to the tools and technology they need to do their work. Our department provides reliable systems and technical expertise to ensure our online programs, like cpsa.ca and CPSA Portal, are accessible and available to users. We also establish clear pathways for the secure storage, handling and access of confidential and non-confidential information, manage requests for sensitive records and lead CPSA’s response when privacy breaches occur.

Office of the Registrar

The Office of the Registrar provides strategic oversight for the two distinct pathways of CPSA’s work: regulatory and operational. The operational side of this department includes our Governance and Policy, Continuous Quality Improvement, Strategic Priorities and legal coordination teams, while the regulatory side includes our Standards of Practice team and the Hearings Director’s office. Our department supports CPSA Council and Council Committees and offers strategic executive leadership for CPSA’s Path to Truth and Reconciliation.

People & Culture

People & Culture supports team members along their career pathway at CPSA—from recruitment and onboarding, to supporting team members’ professional growth, to retaining team members to create meaningful careers. In addition to our human resources functions, our department leads CPSA’s people-focused programs that contribute to our positive, welcoming workplace culture. We also spearhead internal programs for respect in the workplace, team member engagement and Truth and Reconciliation initiatives. At CPSA, our people help pave the path towards organizational progress and patient safety. In addition to our regulatory work, CPSA has operational departments that help keep the wheels of our organization turning while providing important support to our regulatory teams—all while working on their own projects that drive advancement and improvement within our organization.

Communications

CPSA’s team of in-house communications professionals act as a strategic partner to all departments across the organization, helping to determine the proper pathways for connecting and communicating with regulated members, Albertans and our partners. Our dynamic department ensures CPSA’s annual report, website, social media channels and monthly digital newsletter are engaging and informative. Communications also leads CPSA’s engagement efforts by hearing directly from Albertans and regulated members to ensure our messaging is meaningful and puts people on the right path towards the information and resources they need.

In 2025, the Communications department fielded more than 75 media inquiries.

Corporate Services

Corporate Services keeps our organizational operations running smoothly and efficiently by overseeing finance, payroll and benefits administration, risk management, infrastructure and general office support, while also supporting CPSA’s Finance & Audit Committee.

Our department continually searches for ways to enhance and make internal processes more efficient for team members.

In 2025, Corporate Services spearheaded renovations at CPSA’s office to support our evolving team. In addition:

•         Accounting processed 7,988 vendor invoices.

•         Payment methods for annual renewal and professional corporations were a split of 80% credit card, 19% preauthorized payment and 1% cheques.

Customer Experience

CPSA’s Customer Experience (CX) team is the main pathway for those reaching out by phone, email and live chat to connect with CPSA. CX is a centralized place for information about all areas of CPSA, and Albertans, regulated members, our partners and anyone else who reaches out to us can expect quick and helpful support. Through our high volume of inquiries, CX also finds internal process improvement opportunities to continuously make the customer experience better.