The Alberta government has introduced legislative amendments that, if passed, would enable the final phase of a health-care restructuring process that began in 2023 and which officials say will improve service delivery and oversight.
Bill 55, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, was tabled in the legislature on May 1 and makes changes to five pieces of legislation. One amendment transforms the province’s health authority, Alberta Health Services (AHS), into an acute care provider by transferring many of its functions to the health ministry or to newly created health agencies.
Speaking at a May 1 press conference, Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said, “These amendments will ensure that all components of the health-care system can fully transition to our refocused health-care system–a system that Albertans have helped to build by sharing their expertise, their feedback, their experiences, and their insights.”
The province has been working on a health-care overhaul since 2023 and the latest changes are intended to improve access to care and decentralize decision-making by moving it to the front lines. The new model will establish four agencies, each focused on a type of care: Primary Care Alberta, Acute Care Alberta, Assisted Living Alberta, and Recovery Alberta.
All of the new agencies are now operational, except Assisted Living Alberta, which became a legal entity on April 1 and is set to launch this fall.
The new model was shaped through province-wide public engagement sessions, where Albertans and health-care workers shared their views on “what a refocused health-care system looks like to them,” LaGrange said. The health-care restructuring won’t disrupt delivery, the province said, adding there will be no job losses or changes to collective bargaining processes.
Amendments
Bill 55 amends the Public Health Act to transfer functions such as policy development, as well as public health inspections and surveillance, from AHS to the health ministry.
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Changes to the act would also transfer front-line public health duties, including communicable disease control, immunizations, and health promotion, from AHS to Primary Care Alberta. In addition, the province’s medical officers of health would move into the office of the chief medical officer of health.
The bill also amends the Health Information Act to grant the ministry of seniors, community and social services “further powers,” including the collection, use, and disclosure of health information deemed necessary for its role as the sector ministry for continuing care, the province said. This ministry will be in charge of Assisted Living Alberta.
The province also proposes changes to the Protection of Persons in Care Act, saying it “takes all allegations of abuse in publicly funded care facilities seriously.” The changes would provide additional capacity to investigate abuse allegations, particularly those involving adult patients.
Another proposed change would repeal certain sections of the Hospitals Act and incorporate elements of it into the Provincial Health Agencies Act, with the aim of streamlining health system governance under a single statute. Officials said the Hospitals Act is “outdated legislation,” and that the changes won’t impact quality of care in hospitals.
Health reform has been a key part of Premier Danielle Smith’s agenda. She has previously said she is not satisfied with the state of health care in the province.
“It’s no secret I have been unhappy with the level and quality of service delivered by AHS and in the inability of AHS to deliver quality and timely healthcare to Albertans,” she said in a Feb. 8 social media post.
“I will continue to relentlessly push forward to make improvements. Although that has required difficult decisions and major change, I do not accept the current results.”
As part of recent changes to the health system, the province announced last month a shift to an “activity-based” funding model for surgeries, with hospitals paid based on the surgeries they perform rather than receiving upfront payments based on projected service targets.
The change, the premier said, was aimed at increasing accountability and encouraging competition among medical centres while decreasing wait times. Meanwhile, the Opposition NDP has argued the change is a further step toward privatizing health care.
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