Primary Care Alberta Clinical Updates - December 11, 2025

Reminder: HPV primary screening has launched for ages 50 to 69

As of November 5, 2025, Alberta has transitioned to HPV primary screening as the standard for cervical cancer screening beginning with women and people with a cervix aged 50 to 69. This change strengthens early detection and introduces a more sensitive test for individuals nearing the end of the target age for cervical cancer screening.
  • For provider resources, including FAQs, the clinical pathway and follow-up instructions, visit Primary Care Alberta’s Screening for Life website.
  • Note: The Cervical Cancer Screening Clinical Practice Guidelines will be undergoing a review process over the next several months. Healthcare providers will be notified when updated guidelines are available.
The sample collection and lab submission process will remain unchanged. However, referral decisions will now be based on HPV genotype and cervical cytology results.

If a patient has a positive HPV result, they may seek your support for follow-up testing.

Planning for provincial access to HPV primary screening for women and people with a cervix aged 25 to 49 is ongoing. At this time, these patients will continue to be screened using Pap tests.

Ownership of Alberta Find a Doctor website transitioned to Primary Care Alberta (PCA) on Dec. 1

As part of ongoing healthcare reorganization work, the Alberta Find a Doctor (AFAD) website transitioned to PCA ownership on Dec. 1.

This change aligns with PCA’s goal of ensuring every Albertan has access to high-quality primary care services across the province, and supports more Albertans attaching to a regular primary care provider.

PCN clinics and providers should continue to contact their PCN with updates to listings. Non-PCN providers and clinics should now contact afadinfo@primarycarealberta.ca with any changes.

More updates are coming to AFAD in 2026 and will be shared in the coming months.

We thank PCNs for their wonderful work on AFAD and look forward to our continued partnership together. If you have any questions, please email afadinfo@primarycarealberta.ca

Primary Care Alberta requests feedback on virtual care

Primary care providers and staff are invited to share with PCA’s Virtual Care team their experiences around using virtual care technologies such as phone calls, video visits, email or securing messaging with their patients.

Feedback will help PCA understand how virtual care is currently being used to identify opportunities to improve access and patient/provider satisfaction.

Participate via:
  • Survey: Open until Jan. 23, 2026 and should take less than five minutes to complete.
  • Focus group: December 18 or January 15, 2026, from 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. Sign up by Dec. 15 here.
For more information, email virtualhealth@primarycarealberta.ca

Lab bulletin: Update to cystic fibrosis genetic test

Molecular genetic testing for cystic fibrosis and CFTR-related disorders has been updated to include 139 pathogenic variants in the CFTR gene as the first tier of testing. Criteria for full gene analysis and the polyT tract reporting policy have also been updated. These changes are effective immediately.

Lab bulletin: External Send Out test results in Netcare update

Effective December 18, External Send Out (ESO) test results will appear in the appropriate discipline folder in Netcare (the folder the test is associated with). Miscellaneous tests will continue to be filed in the “Other” Netcare folder.

Lab bulletin: Changes to Vitros analyzers limit

Effective December 9, the upper reportable limits on Vitros analyzers have been updated to align with the actual analytical performance of the Vitros platform. These updated limits will improve the reliability of results requiring dilution.

Samples that exceed the new upper reportable limit will be reported as “>” (greater than) the new limit. If numerical results are still required, samples can be referred to another site by physicians upon request.

Lab bulletin: Removal of Epic Enter/Edit functionality for POCT AmnioTest and AmniSure manual test result entry

Effective December 16, Epic’s Enter/Edit functionality for point-of-care testing (POCT) AmnioTest and AmniSure Manual test result entry will be removed, as part of the phased approach to remove all POCT Enter/Edit functionality.

All POCT patient results must be documented through the provincial POCT middleware, AegisPOC, either automatically with connected devices or through manual test result entry for unconnected devices. This workflow facilitates positive patient identification and completes patient test result documentation in Connect Care, including Epic and Netcare.

Lab bulletin: Changes to testosterone testing & reporting

Effective December 11, the following four changes have been made to testosterone testing and reporting:
  • Lab ID numbers have changed for:
    • “Testosterone, Free, Calculated” (LAB1756)
    • “Testosterone, Bioavailable, Calculated” (LAB1757)“Free Androgen Index” (LAB46244).
  • Components* used in testosterone calculations (i.e., “Testosterone, Free”; “Testosterone, Bioavailable”; and “Free Androgen Index”) will be reported individually instead of in panels.
  • Components* ordered together with the calculated tests will be cancelled as duplicates, except albumin.
  • “Testosterone, Total” will be centralized to Edmonton Base Lab for testing in APL North Sector.
    *Components include “Testosterone, Total”; Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG); and albumin.
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