Alberta ignores efforts to reduce unnecessary testing with preventative health testing initiative - Red Deer Advocate
Published 5:08 pm Tuesday, July 28, 2026The push in health care to reduce unnecessary medical testing may be an uphill battle in Alberta where citizens will be able forgo a doctor’s referral and opt to pay. . .
Published 5:08 pm Tuesday, July 28, 2026The push in health care to reduce unnecessary medical testing may be an uphill battle in Alberta where citizens will be able forgo a doctor’s referral and opt to pay for their own diagnostic screening tests starting July 31. Albertans will be able to purchase tests including MRIs, CT scans, x-rays and ultrasounds at participating private providers as part of a new preventative health testing initiative being touted as a way to detect cancer earlier. “An individual will have a pretty good idea of whether something’s not quite right with them, and in some cases they’ll be able to work with their practitioner to get the test that they need, and in some cases they haven’t been able to secure that,” said Premier Danielle Smith, during a press conference ahead of the initiative’s launch. “We just want to put the power in the hands of patients so they can get that peace of mind and hopefully get the all-clear. ”But Andrew Longhurst, senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, referred to a 2017 report from Choosing Wisely Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information that concluded up to 30 per cent of imaging tests, procedures, and pharmaceutical therapies across eight priority areas are potentially unnecessary. “This direction entirely flies in the face of that clinical evidence and the movement among clinicians saying a significant amount of medical imaging is actually unnecessary and exposes people to radiation,” said Longhurst, who wrote about the health testing initiative inAlberta Ends Equal Access to Medical Testing and Treatment. He said in the United States there is an overabundance of unnecessary testing because it’s so profitable. “It is highly routine, and it’s easy to do, and the margins are high, so it’s not a surprise that in Alberta we’re seeing this as a significant part of the for-profit push where medical imaging is going to be kind of the bread and butter of the profit making in the province. ”During the press conference, Primary and Preventative Health Services Minister Justin Wright said private clinics will set their own prices. Patients will be eligible for reimbursement at publicly funded rates if privately paid screening identifies a new, previously unknown cancer diagnosis. He also said the expectation is that physician-referred services will be delivered first. “This initiative is intended to add capacity, not to reduce or redirect the capacity available for public testing,” Wright said. Longhurst said as private businesses, medical imaging clinics will focus on the most lucrative profitable patients who pay to access private scans — not medical need. Allowing patients to pay for diagnostic tests comes a month ahead of Alberta launching its dual practice model so physicians can perform both publicly funded and privately paid surgeries, a system condemned by critics as two-tier health care. Longhurst said a two-tier system requires private-pay diagnostic testing which will allow people with money, or with private insurance, to jump the queue to access tests, and also receive faster treatment. “There’s nothing in the legislation that constrains, or sets safeguards, around how referrals are prioritized. It’s really going to be in the hands of physicians and surgeons. And If they are engaging in private pay practice, dual practice, the public system has very little certainty over what’s actually going to happen. ”