Headquartered in Edmonton, AHS delivers medical care on behalf of the Government of Alberta's Ministry of Health.

"[5] The "controlled implosion of Calgary General Hospital"—the Big Bang—was described as the "dawn of a regionalized, integrated healthcare system in Alberta.

Prior to these changes, health services in Alberta had undergone several governance reorganizations, which resulted in fewer separate public organizational entities, in 1996,[13][14] 2003,[15] and 2006.

"[4][17] AHS provides health services to some patients in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories, as well as to over 4.3 million Albertans.

[21] On June 12, 2013, Minister of Health Fred Horne fired the entire AHS Board over its refusal to cancel executive bonuses.

[22] Three days later, Janet Davidson[23] was appointed the AHS official administrator by Minister Horne to act in place of its board of directors.

[25] On April 4, 2022, the AHS Board asked Mauro Chies, Vice President, Cancer Care Alberta and Clinical Support Services, to serve in the role of interim CEO on a temporary basis.

[26] In 2021, Gregory Turnbull, QC served as board chair, Dr. Sayeh Zielke as vice-chair, and Brian Vaasjo, Deborah Apps, Heidi Overguard, Dr. Jack Mintz, Natalia Reiman, Sherri Fountain, Hartley Harris, Tony Dagnone, OC and Vicki Yellow Old Woman serve as board members.

[28] By 2019, Alberta Health Services employs over 103,000 staff and more than 8,200 physicians,[29] including clinical, administrative and support personnel across the province.

Urgent care services include treating patients with unexpected but not life-threatening issues requiring same day treatment.

The provincial government ordered regional health authorities to cut lab spending, which resulted in more public laboratories being established by 2005.

[35] AHS sent out request for proposals (RFP) for a "private provider to establish a single $3 billion lab for the Edmonton Zone.

[37] They would have replaced "hospital labs operated by AHS and Covenant Health, as well as the services now provided by the private company Dynalife."

LabCorp had acquired all outstanding shares of Canadian medical laboratory services company Dynacare Inc. for $480 million in May 2002.

She expressed concern that under the contract, the new facility to house the Edmonton lab would be owned by a private company, not by Albertans.

"[38] The newly elected United Conservative Party (UCP) government's Health Minister Tyler Shandro, cancelled the construction of a new super-lab—a "$595-million centralized public lab facility next to the University of Alberta's south campus".

[43] As of October 2019, APL continued to "work collaboratively with DynaLIFE, under contract to provide lab services in Alberta.

"[43] By November 30, 2019, the union that represents public laboratory workers expressed concern that 850 jobs in the public labs, could be lost, after Minister Shandro and APL sent out a Request for Expression of Interest (RFOI),[44] "to gauge market interest from private third parties for the provision of community lab services in Alberta" as part of their investigation into "new service delivery models.

[48] The south zone includes major centres such as Lethbridge and Medicine Hat serving approximately 309,000 Albertans.

The AHS EMS Special Operations Division is composed of paramedics who specialize in a variety of qualifications including - Rapid Access Paramedics (RAP) capable of providing access to festivals and large gatherings utilizing bicycles, golf carts and a variety of response vehicles.

- Public Safety Unit (PSU) provides medical support to municipal police services during large gatherings/protests.

——Quality Assurance Strategist ———Public Education Officer ———Coordinator Alberta Health Services provides physical security, asset and staff protection, and various law enforcement capabilities at corporate properties.

This is accomplished with a multi-tiered system including Corporate Investigations, Peace Officers and contracted security companies across Alberta.

[4]: 3  This disparity between Alberta's healthcare spending and other provinces is often a topical election issue and was a focus of the MacKinnon Report.