How Alberta’s Health Organizations Fit Together

Alberta’s healthcare system has been reorganized substantially. For years, Albertans became accustomed to thinking of Alberta Health Services, or AHS, as the organization responsible for most of the provincial health system. That model has changed. Alberta now organizes major areas of healthcare through specialized provincial health agencies, including Primary Care Alberta, Acute Care Alberta, Assisted Living Alberta and Recovery Alberta. AHS still exists, but understanding who does what now requires looking beyond the old AHS model.

Why did Alberta reorganize healthcare?

The Government of Alberta began what it calls the “refocusing” of the healthcare system in 2023.

The previous structure placed a very broad range of health services within Alberta Health Services. The province’s new approach separates major areas of care into organizations with more specialized responsibilities.

The government says the objective is to improve accountability, access, coordination and patient outcomes by giving organizations a clearer focus.

Whether the restructuring ultimately achieves those goals should be judged using measurable results such as access, wait times, continuity of care, health outcomes, workforce stability and cost as the new system matures.

The four provincial health agencies

The refocused system is organized around four principal provincial health agencies:

• Primary Care Alberta for primary and preventative healthcare
• Acute Care Alberta for acute hospital, emergency and surgical care
• Assisted Living Alberta for continuing care, home care and assisted living
• Recovery Alberta for mental health and addiction services

These organizations are intended to operate as parts of one provincial healthcare system rather than four completely independent healthcare systems.

What does Primary Care Alberta do?

Primary Care Alberta focuses on everyday healthcare and primary care.

Primary care is often the first point of contact between a patient and the healthcare system.

It can involve family physicians, nurse practitioners, midwives, community health services, public health services and other providers who help patients manage routine health needs and ongoing conditions.

Primary Care Alberta also provides access to health advice and helps connect Albertans with appropriate services.

For most patients, this is the part of the system associated with regular healthcare outside a hospital.

What does Acute Care Alberta do?

Acute Care Alberta is responsible for provincial oversight and coordination of acute healthcare.

Acute care includes services needed for serious illness, injury and conditions requiring hospital-level treatment.

This area includes hospitals, emergency departments, urgent care, surgery, cancer care, laboratory services, clinical operations and emergency health services.

Acute Care Alberta works with service providers including Alberta Health Services, Covenant Health and contracted emergency medical service providers.

This is an important distinction: Acute Care Alberta does not mean every hospital suddenly became a building operated directly by Acute Care Alberta.

Does Alberta Health Services still exist?

Yes.

AHS was not simply abolished when Alberta created the new provincial health agencies.

Its role has changed.

Under the refocused structure, AHS continues to be an important healthcare service provider, particularly within acute care, while responsibility for planning, oversight and different sectors of the system has been reorganized.

For patients, this means you may still see the Alberta Health Services name on facilities, services, websites or health information even though the overall governance structure has changed.

What does Assisted Living Alberta do?

Assisted Living Alberta focuses on continuing care and supports for people who need help living independently.

This includes areas such as home care, continuing care homes, assisted living and services supporting older adults, people with disabilities and other vulnerable Albertans.

Assisted Living Alberta became fully operational on September 1, 2025.

The broader objective is to help people receive appropriate support in homes and communities and to improve transitions between hospitals and continuing care.

This part of the system is especially important when a person no longer needs acute hospital treatment but still requires ongoing assistance or healthcare support.

What does Recovery Alberta do?

Recovery Alberta is responsible for the delivery of mental health and addiction services within Alberta’s refocused system.

It became fully operational on September 1, 2024.

Services can include mental health supports, counselling, addiction treatment and recovery-oriented services.

Albertans may still encounter services in familiar locations even though organizational responsibility has changed.

For an immediate mental health or addiction concern, patients should use the appropriate current service rather than worrying first about which organization administers it.

Where does Alberta Health fit?

Healthcare agencies deliver and coordinate services, while government ministries are responsible for areas such as legislation, policy, oversight, system planning and accountability.

Alberta’s ministerial structure has also changed during the refocusing process.

Primary and Preventative Health Services and Hospital and Surgical Health Services now have responsibilities across major parts of the healthcare system, while Mental Health and Addiction and Assisted Living and Social Services oversee their respective sectors.

This distinction between a government ministry and a health agency is important.

A ministry establishes policy and governmental direction. A provincial health agency has operational and sector responsibilities within that framework.

What happened to cancer care?

Cancer care is part of Alberta’s acute-care structure.

During the refocusing process, provincial cancer care responsibilities were moved into the acute-care framework.

For patients, however, the practical priority remains accessing the appropriate cancer centre, specialist and treatment pathway.

Organizational restructuring should not be interpreted as meaning patients must independently determine which agency approves every stage of their cancer care.

What about ambulances and emergency services?

Emergency health services are part of Alberta’s acute-care system.

If you have a medical emergency, call 911.

You do not need to determine whether AHS, Acute Care Alberta or another contracted organization is administratively responsible before seeking emergency help.

The organizational structure matters for accountability and system management, but it should not create another decision for a patient experiencing an emergency.

What happens when a patient needs more than one organization?

This is one of the most important tests of the refocused system.

Real patients rarely fit neatly into organizational boxes.

An older Albertan might see a family physician through primary care, enter hospital through acute care, require mental health support through Recovery Alberta and later need home care or continuing care coordinated through Assisted Living Alberta.

Alberta states that the provincial agencies are intended to work together to support a seamless patient journey.

How successfully those transitions work in practice will be an important measure of the restructuring.

Where should you go for everyday healthcare?

For routine health concerns, preventative care and management of ongoing conditions, the usual starting point remains primary care.

This may mean your family doctor, nurse practitioner, walk-in clinic, community healthcare provider or another appropriate primary care service.

Albertans can also use provincial health navigation resources to identify available options.

The creation of Primary Care Alberta does not mean patients need to contact a provincial headquarters every time they need a medical appointment.

Where should you go for urgent or emergency care?

For a life-threatening emergency, call 911 or go to an emergency department.

Urgent but non-life-threatening conditions may be appropriate for an urgent care centre or another available service depending on your community.

For uncertainty about the appropriate level of care, Alberta’s health advice services can help patients understand their options.

Administrative restructuring should never delay emergency treatment.

Where should you go for mental health or addiction support?

Recovery Alberta provides mental health and addiction services, but patients do not need to understand the entire organizational chart before seeking help.

Existing access points, community services and provincial navigation resources can connect Albertans with appropriate care.

For a suicide crisis, 988 provides immediate crisis support across Canada.

For a medical emergency or immediate danger, call 911.

Where should you go for continuing care?

Albertans looking for home care, assisted living or continuing care services can use Alberta’s continuing-care and assisted-living navigation resources.

Assisted Living Alberta is intended to help coordinate this sector and improve movement between hospitals, community services and longer-term supports.

Families should ask about assessments, eligibility, available settings, costs and what portions of care or accommodation are publicly funded.

Why does the old AHS name still appear?

Large healthcare reorganizations do not happen overnight.

Facilities, staff, websites, records systems, telephone numbers, contracts and clinical programs can continue using familiar names while responsibilities change around them.

AHS also remains an active service provider.

Seeing “Alberta Health Services” therefore does not necessarily mean information is outdated. The important question is what role AHS has in that particular service under the current structure.

A simple way to remember the system

Think about the kind of care you need:

• Everyday and preventative care: Primary Care Alberta
• Hospital, emergency and surgical care: Acute Care Alberta
• Mental health and addiction: Recovery Alberta
• Home care, continuing care and assisted living: Assisted Living Alberta

Behind those agencies are government ministries responsible for policy and oversight, while organizations such as AHS, Covenant Health and other providers continue delivering healthcare services.

The system is still evolving

Alberta’s health refocusing has been implemented through several phases since 2024.

Recovery Alberta became operational in 2024, Primary Care Alberta and Acute Care Alberta were established during the next phase, and Assisted Living Alberta became fully operational in 2025.

Legislative changes continued through 2026 as Alberta completed what the government describes as the final legislative alignment phase of the refocused system.

That means organizational names, responsibilities and processes should be checked against current sources rather than relying on older explanations of Alberta healthcare.

The PureFarmFresh approach

Patients should not need an organizational chart to obtain healthcare.

But understanding the structure helps Albertans know who is responsible for different parts of the system and makes it easier to evaluate whether reforms are actually improving care.

The names may have changed. The questions that matter remain practical: Can people find care? How long do they wait? Is care coordinated? Are outcomes improving? And can patients move through the system without getting lost between organizations?

We explain the system. You decide what matters to you.