{"id":836616,"date":"2026-07-30T20:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T20:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/836616\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T20:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T20:08:08","slug":"alberta-is-allowing-patients-to-self-refer-for-some-diagnostic-tests-whats-the-end-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/836616\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta is allowing patients to self-refer for some diagnostic tests. What\u2019s the end game?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Allowing people to self-refer may allow them to get tests faster, but it doesn\u2019t magically create more health professionals to deal with the results.Chris Young\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Starting Friday, Albertans can get some diagnostic tests<\/a> \u2013 MRIs, CT scans, ultrasound, X-rays \u2013 without a referral from a physician. <\/p>\n

They will also have the pleasure of paying for these services out-of-pocket, and they will be eligible for reimbursement only if the tests detect a new cancer. <\/p>\n

Talk about a lose-lose. <\/p>\n

In announcing the Patient Choice and Self-Referral for Preventative Health Testing<\/a> initiative, Premier Danielle Smith called it \u201cpeace of mind\u201d testing. She also said the change would result in earlier detection of cancer, improve health outcomes and ease pressure on the public system.<\/p>\n

But these claims are dubious. <\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s plans to regulate, oversee new private-pay medical testing regime fall short, experts say<\/a><\/p>\n

Physicians have an important role as gatekeepers, to ensure that tests, from blood tests through to diagnostic imaging and genetic testing, are done purposefully. <\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s not very difficult to get a referral for a diagnostic imaging test if there is even a mild suggestion it may be useful. <\/p>\n

Alberta<\/a> alone does more than seven million<\/a> of these tests annually. Research suggests about one in five<\/a> of the procedures are unnecessary. <\/p>\n

According to \u201cWaiting Your Turn<\/a>,\u201d a report from the Fraser Institute, the average wait time across Canada is 8.8 weeks for CT scans, 18.1 weeks for MRI scans, and 5.4 weeks for ultrasound. <\/p>\n

Waits are long and problematic, but unregulated self-referral will create more problems than it solves. <\/p>\n

More than 30 years ago, Alberta allowed patients to purchase diagnostic imaging tests privately, with a referral. (Most other provinces have since followed suit.) That was supposed to ease wait times, but they\u2019ve only grown worse. <\/p>\n

Allowing people to self-refer may allow them to get tests faster, or \u201cjump the queue,\u201d to use Canadian health care parlance. But allowing more testing doesn\u2019t magically create more health professionals to deal with the results.<\/p>\n

The most likely result of self-referral will be more \u201cincidentalomas\u201d \u2013 incidental findings that ultimately mean nothing but trigger a cascade of further tests. <\/p>\n

The Alberta Medical Association says private-pay outsourcing will not meaningfully reduce<\/a> wait times or public system burdens. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn the contrary, the evidence shows it may introduce new risks, including overuse, incidental findings, downstream publicly insured costs, erosion of the public system, widening equity gaps and further destabilization of the workforce,\u201d it concludes in a recent report. <\/p>\n

So why does the Alberta government want to urge more testing?<\/p>\n

The cost of waiting: Why some patients go private for faster diagnosis<\/a><\/p>\n

Certainly, there is an element of ideology at play. Among the United Conservative Party\u2019s base, there is a lot of distrust of health professionals and a lot of rhetoric about medical freedom. They don\u2019t want some smarty-pants doctor toiling in a socialist system preventing them from getting whatever test they want.<\/p>\n

There is also a stubborn clinging to the \u201csteam valve\u201d argument: the notion that allowing people to pay privately for services will ease waits and access problems in the public system. <\/p>\n

That was the principal selling point for a related change, announced late last year<\/a>, allowing some physicians to work simultaneously in the private and public systems, providing elective procedures like cataracts and hip and knee replacements, in an approach known as dual practice. <\/p>\n

Neither of these changes will make an appreciable difference to access or waits. Nor is there any promise to regulate thoughtfully or measure if the changes are actually effective.<\/p>\n

So we need to ask: What\u2019s the end game?<\/p>\n

Opinion: What my hernia operation taught me about private health care<\/a><\/p>\n

In the case of dual practice, Ms. Smith has been careful to say it\u2019s for elective procedures. With self-referral, the government is emphasizing that it is for \u201cpreventative\u201d diagnostic testing.<\/p>\n

In other words, Alberta is allowing more private payment and private delivery for services that are not \u201cmedically necessary.\u201d And, under the terms of the Canada Health Act, only \u201cmedically necessary\u201d care must be publicly funded.<\/p>\n

With its action, the province is gnawing away at the edges of legislation that has very vague wording, and, in doing so, gradually opening a door for parallel public and private systems of care. <\/p>\n

The way to counter this approach is not to get overly worked up about the changes, which, in isolation, are not that important.<\/p>\n

Rather, Canadians who care about the robustness of the publicly funded health insurance system should be taking the bull by the horns and asking: What are the limits of medicare?<\/p>\n

Because, ultimately, that\u2019s the gauntlet being thrown down by Ms. Smith.<\/p>\n

Clearly, a publicly funded health care system cannot provide all things to all people all the time. <\/p>\n

But drawing the lines between public and private provision and payment care should be done deliberately, not stealthily. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Allowing people to self-refer may allow them to get tests faster, but it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":836617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,84,392,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-836616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}