Province Wide Services are highly specialized procedures, such as organ transplants and major heart surgeries, that are provided to all Albertans through regional health authorities in Edmonton and Calgary.
Province Wide Services are available in addition to the basic health services provided by Alberta's 9 regional health authorities.
Province Wide Services require specialization and can only be delivered effectively and efficiently at one or two sites. Thus, they are restricted to the Edmonton and Calgary regional health authorities, which make these services available to all Albertans.
Almost 10 per cent of the Province Wide Services budget is allocated for high-cost drugs.
- Transplant Drugs – Transplant patients are eligible for immunosuppressants.
- HIV Drugs – Drugs for the treatment of patients with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection are dispensed through the Southern and Northern Alberta Clinics.
- Other Drugs – Other drugs funded by Province Wide Services include Pulmozyme (for cystic fibrosis), human growth hormone (for pediatric growth hormone deficiency and chronic renal failure), Flolan (for primary pulmonary hypertension) and Visudyne (for classic form of wet age-related macular degeneration).
