All physicians, physician assistants (PAs) and medical learners must be registered with CPSA before they practise medicine in Alberta. CPSA’s registration team reviews all applicants’ education and qualifications, and assesses skills when needed to ensure their future patients 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 have the same expectations of all physicians, including locums, physicians with Canadian credentials and those with international training, to ensure they practise safely and competently.

In 2024, international medical graduates (IMGs) made up nearly 37 per cent of Alberta’s physician workforce. All IMGs must obtain sponsorship before they undergo CPSA’s Practice Readiness Assessment (PRA) process. In March 2024, CPSA expanded physician sponsorship so that Alberta Health Services (AHS) is no longer the sole sponsor of IMGs undergoing the PRA. Now, individuals, organizations, corporations and others with an interest may apply to sponsor a family medicine or specialist physician position within their desired community. 179 applicants were approved to sponsor a total of 313 family medicine and specialist physician positions in Alberta as of Dec. 31, 2024. These numbers are in addition to positions sponsored by AHS.

CPSA’s five-year pilot project, the Accelerated Jurisdiction Route which launched in January 2023, has sped up the PRA process for IMGs whose training is comparable to that obtained in Canadian universities. As of Dec. 31, 2024, a total of 57 physicians have completed the accelerated route and are practicing independently in their respective communities.

Part of CPSA’s responsibility as the medical regulator in Alberta is to ensure physicians and physician assistants have the expertise required to provide high-quality health care. Medicine is an ever-evolving profession and physicians must commit to life-long learning to ensure they maintain their competence and enhance their skills and knowledge for the benefit of their patients.

CPSA’s Continuing Competence team works with physicians throughout their careers, supporting ongoing growth and development while also identifying those who may benefit from additional education or support. Through a number of quality assurance and quality improvement programs and tools, Continuing Competence’s goal is to encourage self-reflection and a commitment to ongoing improvement so patients in Alberta can trust they are receiving the best care possible.

In 2024, we continued to refine the processes of our new Health & Practice Conditions Monitoring (HPCM) program (formerly the Physician Health Monitoring Program, or PHMP), completing the transition of assessments and monitoring to independent third-party providers. We also continued to support physicians in meeting the requirements of the Physician Practice Improvement Program (PPIP) by updating available information on CPSA’s website and aligning PPIP’s five-year cycle with a physician’s five-year continuing professional development cycle.

CPSA’s Infection Prevention & Control (IPAC) team is responsible for overseeing infection prevention and control measures and medical device reprocessing (MDR) in Alberta’s medical clinics. We develop requirements, guidance and resources to help protect patients and clinic staff from infection.

In 2024, IPAC continued to support Alberta’s community-based medical clinics in providing safe and high-quality patient care. Over the past year, we completed several projects aimed at improving the medical device reprocessing (MDR) assessment process for clinics, CPSA team members and contracted assessors. These initiatives included refining communication workflows, updating the assessment platform and developing new resources, templates and guidance for medical clinics. 

To ensure these projects effectively addressed clinic needs, we engaged clinics through a post-assessment survey which covered key criteria, including communication clarity, resource accessibility and the overall assessment experience. The results showed a significant improvement in satisfaction with the MDR assessment process with the rates of satisfaction improving from 64% in 2023 to 73% in 2024. 

The integration of CPSA’s Medical Clinic Registry with our IPAC program has ensured that medical clinics are not only meeting high standards of care but are also receiving ongoing support to maintain effective infection prevention and control practices. This helps protect patient health and increases confidence in the services provided at medical clinics.

CPSA is committed to protecting the public by ensuring physicians and physician assistants provide the highest quality of care for all Albertans.

Anyone has the right to file a complaint about a physician or physician assistant registered in Alberta—mistakes can happen, but when patient care and safety are impacted, we need to know. Most regulated members will receive a complaint at some point in their careers, and while this can certainly be concerning, we look at complaints as a learning opportunity and, when appropriate, will work with regulated members to resolve issues so their practice can be improved going forward. Very few complaints progress to a formal disciplinary hearing, and those that do are typically serious cases of unprofessional conduct where patient safety has been compromised.

After an extensive planning and testing process, the Professional Conduct team moved complaint submissions online in early 2024, with the launch of the Complaints Centre. The Complaints Centre allows users to submit complaints using a web-based form and the information provided is then automatically triaged into CPSA’s system. This reduces barriers and streamlines the complaints process while allowing our team to action complaints more efficiently. Since its launch, the team has continued to improve the Complaints Centre based on feedback from Albertans and CPSA’s team.

CPSA is the only medical regulator in Canada with a devoted in-house Analytics, Innovation & Research (AIR) 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 PPP, TPP Alberta and REVU work closely together on many initiatives, including developing and gathering research and knowledge translation of our important work.

CPSA’s Hearings Director’s Office (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 (Section 118) decisions.

The HDO also oversees the Complaint Review Committee (CRC) and Hearing Tribunal membership list by recruiting physician members to serve. The HDO team organizes all the logistics behind hearing proceedings, including scheduling times for hearings, reviews and appeals that work for all involved parties, and circulating needed materials and documents to all participants. When hearings take place virtually, we facilitate the online session to ensure they run smoothly and efficiently.

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

The HDO also organizes training and educational opportunities for committee members. Throughout 2024, we scheduled several training sessions for committee members on important topics like unconscious bias and decision writing. We also continued to refine processes to ensure efficiency and timeliness across the CRC process.

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.

Our team works with a number of committees and experts to develop and apply accreditation standards that help facilities create cultures of continuous quality improvement and 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 a complaint or concern is raised). New or innovative services offered in clinical settings, such as non-hospital surgical facilities and certain types of psychedelic therapy, are included in the accreditation process.

In 2023, we launched new psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAPT) accreditation standards. Throughout 2024, CPSA collaborated with the Government of Alberta’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction to facilitate synergy between the licensing for service providers under the legislation and accreditation requirements for individual facilities. This organizational collaboration streamlines regulatory processes for new and existing PAPT facilities.

In addition to developing accreditation standards and assessing facilities, CPSA registers x-ray, certain types of laser and mammography equipment. We ensure designated diagnostic equipment in Alberta is appropriately tested and meets legislated requirements. We register and re-certify equipment, keep a database of registered equipment and follow up on equipment safety concerns when necessary.

Facilities we accredit include:

• Cardiac Stress Testing facilities

• Diagnostic Imaging centres

• Diagnostic Laboratory Medicine facilities

• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy centres

• Neurodiagnostic laboratories

• Non-Hospital Surgical facilities

• Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy clinics

• Pulmonary Function Diagnostic facilities

• Sleep Medicine Diagnostic facilities

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.

At CPSA, our people are the driving force behind what we accomplish as an organization and instrumental to keeping patients in Alberta safe. While our regulatory work is at the forefront of what we do, CPSA has several operational departments that internally support our regulatory departments while working in their own meaningful ways towards our mission, vision and strategic directions.

Communications

Our team of communications professionals works strategically with all departments to deliver clear, effective and timely messages using the right channels. Communications manages CPSA’s online presence through our website, social media and monthly digital newsletter, The Messenger. This dynamic department is also responsible for developing CPSA’s annual report as well as leading engagement research initiatives with patients and physicians in Alberta.

Corporate Services

Our Corporate Services department provides oversight for finance, payroll and benefits administration, risk management, infrastructure and general office support, ensuring our organizational operations run smoothly. In 2024, Corporate Services co-led the implementation of a new and innovative team member management platform to support, streamline and better automate payroll processing for our team. The Corporate Services department also provides support for CPSA’s Finance & Audit Committee and CPSA’s Healthier Albertan Grant.

Customer Experience

Most inquiries coming to CPSA by phone, email or the live chat on our website are directed to our Customer Experience (CX) team. CX is a centralized hub for all things CPSA, where customers receive timely and professional service. CX also supports our organization internally by continually finding ways to make our processes more effective and efficient with the goal of continuously improving the customer experience for Albertans, physicians, our partners and anyone else who reaches out to us.

Information Management

Information Management is made up of CPSA’s Information Technology (IT), Records Management and Privacy teams. This department provides our team with the proper tools and technology to carry out our work, and they lend their technological expertise to make sure our online programs, like cpsa.ca and the CPSA Portal, are available for users. Information Management also provides our team with guidance for the proper storage and handling of confidential and non-confidential information, manages access requests for sensitive information and leads our privacy breach response.

Office of the Registrar

The Office of the Registrar is a unique department that encompasses both regulatory and operational work. The regulatory side of the department includes CPSA’s Registrar, Deputy Registrar, our Standards of Practice team and the Hearings Director’s Office. The operational arm includes our Chief of Staff, Governance and Policy team, Continuous Quality Improvement team as well as Legal Services. The CPSA team looks to the Office of the Registrar for strategic guidance and leadership, and the Office of the Registrar provides support to CPSA’s Governing Council and Council Committees. The Office of the Registrar also offers strategic executive leadership for CPSA’s Indigenous Advisory Circle and Anti-Racism Anti-Discrimination Action Advisory Committee.

People & Culture

Our People & Culture department leads CPSA’s people-focused programs and initiatives that contribute to a welcoming and positive workplace culture. People & Culture is responsible for human resources functions, including employment policy development, team member development and professional development, and recruitment and retention. People & Culture also leads internal programming for respect in the workplace, team member engagement, Truth and Reconciliation, and other equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives.