As wait times climb, Albertans opt for private MRIs and CT scans

The time it takes to get medical diagnostic testing through Alberta public health care is increasing, leading some Albertans to pay out of pocket to get it done privately.

The most recent publicly shared data from 2023 shows fewer magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans are being performed through the public system while the time to get one done is going up.

"(The wait) is so stressful, so painful," said Zari Mann, a Calgarian who was referred to get an MRI back in May.

Her appointment was set for November, more than six months after her doctor told her to seek out the scan as part of a suite of testing for what she thought could be cancer.

The wait to try to get a proper diagnosis was too long for her, she said, so she opted to pay for a private scan.

She was booked in the next day.

"We pay for everything through tax. And when I need it, it is the waiting game that is killing us," she said.

She feels better now knowing she's going to be OK, but says she felt she had little choice but to pay out of pocket to receive a diagnosis in a timely fashion.

According to data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), wait times in 2023 increased for both MRIs and computed tomography (CT) scans.

The number of publicly funded MRIs in Alberta fell last year compared to each of the previous two years.

Median wait times for a CT scan jumped to 30 days last year, up from 17 days in 2022, while the median time to get an MRI increased from 46 days in 2022 to 60 days last year.

"It's hugely concerning to see the shift in that direction and knowing that for a lot of Albertans, they don't have $800 or $1,000 to fork out for a health-care service that is, in fact, publicly insured and should be publicly funded," said Andrew Longhurst, a PhD candidate and health policy researcher at Simon Fraser Institute.

"I think it speaks to really the desperate situation that a lot of patients are in, in the province, and the fact that government is not responding to address that crisis," he said.

Mann says she was told she could pay for the private MRI scan and be reimbursed later, but that has not happened.

She wants to see more staffing and funding put toward medical imaging to see wait times come down.

"We need to change it. We need to change the policy," she said.

"If we have to pay to get in, then don't lie to us."

CTV News requested updated wait-time data from the provincial government and posed questions to the health minister but did not receive a response prior to deadline.