Medical Matters: annual renewal

Read time: 4 minutes

By Dr. Sayra Khandekar, Assistant Registrar, Registration 

As a physician and CPSA’s Assistant Registrar, Registration, I have the unique opportunity to understand both the realities of completing the annual renewal, and what happens ‘behind the curtain’ at CPSA every year to develop and improve the renewal process for regulated members. I am pleased to share positive changes you can look forward to and process updates to be aware of as you prepare to complete your renewal form(s) and payment(s). 

Annual renewal changes 

As you may know, CPSA is in the multi-year process of improving the annual renewal.  

We are delighted to announce that your annual renewal form(s) have a whole new look and feel this year. These design updates reflect ongoing feedback collected from regulated members like you and the participation of physician and physician assistant testers during our development process each year. We hope that these design updates improve the form’s navigation, and that the enhanced chat support function provides you with the information you need to answer each question thoughtfully, accurately and efficiently.  

We are also adding an annual renewal checklist, which will be available directly in your CPSA Portal to help you easily view and action any outstanding renewal items, as well as a self-serve payment option to make payment processing easier than ever. 

Successor custodian 

As indicated in CPSA’s Patient Record Retention standard of practice and CPSA Bylaws, physicians who are custodians of patient records are required to name a successor custodian to support continuity of care for patients. Although we’ve always had this requirement, this year, affected physicians will need to provide the name and contact information of their designated successor custodian when filling out their annual renewal form.   

If you are a custodian of patient records and have not yet designated a successor custodian, we encourage you to do so before your annual renewal. As per the Health Information Act, your successor custodian can be a designated regulated health professional and does not need to be another physician or a colleague within your discipline. For a list of regulated health professionals eligible to be successor custodians, please refer to pages 15 and 16 of the Health Information Act Guidelines and Practices Manual. For those working in a facility within any of AHS’s successor organizations (Primary Care Alberta, Acute Care Alberta, Assisted Living Alberta or Recovery Alberta), these organizations will continue to be the custodian of patient records in the same way they are now. There will be a way for you to indicate this on your annual renewal form.  

We encourage you to use the Successor Custodian Template to confirm an agreement between yourself and an identified successor custodian. This template is just meant to be a starting point—feel free to make amendments to your final agreement to ensure it meets your needs. Once this agreement is established, please have your successor custodian’s name, email address, phone number and professional address at the ready for when you fill out your annual renewal.  

If you have any questions about successor custodians in advance of the renewal season, you can contact support@cpsa.ca and we’d be happy to help. 

Fees and payment options 

CPSA Council approved a fee reduction to the tune of 10% for 2027 annual physician and physician assistant fees. This means that your 2027 annual fee will be 10% less than the same practice permit fee was last year ($1,800 for physicians and $450 for physician assistants). This reduced fee covers a one-time 13-month practice permit for changes to the annual renewal period next year. To learn more, read the article about how your annual renewal fees are determined and used.  

Other notable updates from the Registration department 

In addition to the annual renewal project, CPSA’s registration department has been hard at work making changes and improvements through multiple initiatives: 

• Sponsor application fee reduction: As a result of CPSA’s commitment to improving the process for sponsor applicants, we made an important change to the application process. As of June 1, 2026, the sponsor application fee has been reduced from $2,000 to $200. Stay tuned for further updates as we continue to look for more ways to streamline the sponsorship approval process and improve our support for this incredibly popular program in Alberta. 

• A new modernized digital format for quarterly physician numbers: CPSA provides publicly available physician resource numbers, categorized by register, specialty and practice location, on a quarterly basis. Now, instead of sharing this quarterly data through a paper-based PDF report, CPSA shares it through a new digital format. 

Final thoughts 

Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete your annual renewal. From personal experience, I would suggest getting it done as soon as possible because December always feels long on the to-do’s and short on time! Annual renewal is an important touchpoint with all regulated members and the way we fulfill our legislated requirements to keep information on the profession accurate. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your annual renewal or CPSA’s Registration department, please feel free to reach out to support@cpsa.ca for assistance.