Access the Legislation
The laws and standards on this page protect you as a care recipient, protect your personal information, protect caregivers at work, and explain the programs available to your family.
All downloadable documents are official government legislation — free to read, download, and share. Click ↓ Download to open a PDF, or → Visit to go to the official program page.
📅 Current as of May 31, 2026
All documents on this page reflect legislation and program standards as of May 31, 2026. Legislation, regulations, and program policies can change without notice. If you are reading this after May 31, 2026, please verify you are working from the most current version at the official government source. We do our best to keep this page current — but we cannot guarantee it reflects every change made after this date.
Important note: Not every home care arrangement is governed by the same rules. AHS-provided care, AHS-contracted care, CDHCI, self-managed care, private pay, and family/community care may each involve different responsibilities, standards, contracts, or complaint pathways. When in doubt, ask your AHS case manager, provider, or appropriate professional which rules apply to your situation.
Your Rights as a Care Recipient
These four documents set out important parts of Alberta's continuing care legal and standards framework. They are especially relevant to publicly funded home and community care that is provided by, or contracted through, the public health authority — generally Type 1 and Type 2 Home and Community Care. They include requirements related to care planning, safe care, participation in care decisions, and concerns or complaint processes. Whether and how each rule applies can depend on the care arrangement.
The main Alberta law that establishes the continuing care framework, including home and community care, continuing care homes, supportive living accommodations, agreements, complaints, enforcement, and oversight.
Note: under the Continuing Care Act, licensing applies to continuing care homes and supportive living accommodations. Home and community care providers are generally governed through agreements, applicable standards, and program rules rather than the same licensing scheme.
Province of Alberta · © Alberta King's Printer
The detailed regulation under the Continuing Care Act. It includes rules about assessments, provider agreements, care and service requirements, complaints, inspections, reporting, enforcement, and the incorporation of the Continuing Care Health Service Standards.
Province of Alberta · © Alberta King's Printer
This regulation sets out additional details about continuing care services, including prescribed health goods and services, prescribed other goods and services, types of home and community care, payment rules, and related service categories.
Province of Alberta · © Alberta King's Printer
The Continuing Care Health Service Standards set minimum health service requirements for operators providing publicly funded continuing care health services where the CCHSS applies.
For Home and Community Care, the CCHSS applies clearly to Type 1 and Type 2 care — generally care provided by the public health authority or by a provider contracted with that authority.
The CCHSS includes requirements related to standardized assessment, person-centred care planning, participation in care-plan development and review, access to care-plan information, reassessment, spiritual health care needs and goals, case management, continuity of health care, and concerns resolution.
Client-directed care arrangements, including CDHCI, Self-Managed Care, and privately paid care, may not be governed by the CCHSS in the same way. Families in those arrangements should ask the provider, case manager, or program contact how care plans, concerns, documentation, and escalation are handled.
Alberta Health · April 2024
An accessible Alberta Health guide explaining home and community care under the new continuing care legislation — what it is, who may qualify, and how assessment and care planning work. A good plain-language starting point before the Act and regulations above. (Published before the move to Assisted Living Alberta, so it still refers to the regional health authority / AHS.)
Alberta Health · Continuing Care · March 2024
A plain-language companion to the CCHSS that explains how the health service standards are meant to be understood and applied — helpful for making sense of the care-planning, assessment, participation, and concerns-resolution requirements in the standards above.
Alberta Health · Continuing Care
An accessible Alberta Health summary of the Continuing Care Regulation (AR 21/2024), explaining its key requirements — assessments, agreements, care and service rules, and complaints — in everyday language. A good companion to the full regulation above.
Alberta Health · Continuing Care · April 2024
An accessible Alberta Health summary of the Continuing Care (Ministerial) Regulation (AR 44/2024), explaining prescribed health goods and services, types of home and community care, and payment rules in everyday language.
Alberta Health · Continuing Care · April 2024
A one-page Alberta Health resource showing where to raise concerns about home and community care, with contact information for each step. Useful when a concern is not resolved with the provider and you want to know how to escalate. Connects to the concerns-resolution standard (CCHSS 19.0).
Alberta Health · Continuing Care
Your Privacy and Health Information Rights
These laws may apply depending on who holds the information and what kind of information it is. They help explain how personal information and health information may be collected, used, disclosed, protected, accessed, and corrected.
Alberta's private-sector privacy law. PIPA applies to many private organizations in Alberta, including many private home care agencies. It includes rights to request access to and correction of your own personal information, subject to exceptions.
Province of Alberta · © Alberta King's Printer
Alberta's health-information privacy law. HIA applies to custodians and affiliates who handle health information. It includes rights to request access to and correction or amendment of your own health information, subject to exceptions. In some systems, such as Alberta Netcare, you may also be able to request an access or audit log.
Province of Alberta · © Alberta King's Printer
Canada's federal private-sector privacy law. PIPEDA may apply in some federal, interprovincial, international, or commercial contexts. Within Alberta, PIPA is generally the governing private-sector privacy law for personal information handled entirely within Alberta by organizations subject to PIPA.
Government of Canada · Department of Justice
Your Care and The Rules that May Apply
The Alberta Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in goods, services, accommodation, and facilities customarily available to the public, including where a care or service situation falls within the Act.
For Muslim families, this Act may be relevant where a concern involves discrimination or a failure to reasonably accommodate needs connected to protected grounds such as religious beliefs, gender, disability, ancestry, place of origin, race, colour, or other protected grounds. Not every care concern is a human rights complaint, and not every request is automatically guaranteed exactly as asked, but human rights protections may be relevant in some situations.
Prohibits discrimination in services, employment, accommodation, and other protected areas. Section 4 applies to goods, services, accommodation, and facilities customarily available to the public. In a care context, it may be relevant where discriminatory treatment is connected to protected grounds such as religious beliefs, gender, disability, ancestry, place of origin, race, colour, age, source of income, family status, or other protected grounds.
Province of Alberta · Alberta Human Rights Commission
Your Caregiver's Rights at Work
These documents help explain workplace safety and employment rules that may apply to home care workers and to families who hire caregivers directly.
If a caregiver is employed by a home care agency, Alberta occupational health and safety laws generally apply to the agency as the employer. If a family hires someone directly in a private dwelling, the rules are different: domestic workers have basic safety protections under Alberta's OHS Act and Regulation, but most of the OHS Code does not apply except specific sections. Employment Standards rules may also apply if the caregiver is the family's employee.
The main Alberta law for workplace health and safety. It sets out duties of employers, supervisors, and workers, and includes worker rights such as the right to know about hazards, participate in health and safety, refuse dangerous work where the legal test is met, and not be disciplined for exercising OHS rights.
Province of Alberta · © Alberta King's Printer
A shorter supporting regulation under the OHS Act. It includes interpretation and administrative provisions connected to Alberta's occupational health and safety system.
Province of Alberta · © Alberta King's Printer
The detailed technical workplace health and safety rules that apply where the OHS Code applies. For agency-employed home care workers, relevant topics may include hazard assessment, working alone, violence and harassment prevention, PPE, and other work-site safety requirements. Domestic workers in a private dwelling have limited OHS Code coverage, so the rules are not the same in every arrangement.
Province of Alberta · © Alberta King's Printer
Alberta's minimum employment standards law. If a family directly hires a caregiver as an employee in the home, domestic employee rules may apply, including minimum wage and rest-period rules, with special rules around overtime. If the caregiver is hired through an agency, different caregiver/home care employee rules may apply to that agency employment relationship.
Province of Alberta · © Alberta King's Printer
Replaces the cancelled CRA Guide RC4110. CRA guidance explains that employment status depends on the actual facts of the working relationship, not just what the agreement is called. This matters if a family privately hires a caregiver because the status may affect CPP, EI, payroll deductions, T4 requirements, and tax obligations.
Canada Revenue Agency · Government of Canada · Updated 2026
Home Care Programs and Funding — New Section
These programs and guidance documents may help eligible Albertans understand equipment, supplies, nutrition products, home care options, and private-hiring responsibilities. They do not all apply to every family. Eligibility, referral steps, cost-sharing, provider availability, and coverage limits can vary. Ask about relevant programs by name, because they may not come up automatically.
The official first step to access home and community care: call Health Link 811 to arrange an assessment. No referral is needed, and anyone can call on behalf of a loved one. 811 will direct you to the home care contact for your area.
Government of Alberta · Assisted Living & Social Services
Home care, continuing care, and assisted living in Alberta are moving from Alberta Health Services to a new provincial agency, Assisted Living Alberta. During the transition you may still deal with AHS and call 811. This is the agency now responsible for the home and community care system.
Government of Alberta · Assisted Living Alberta
An Alberta government tool to find and compare continuing care homes and supportive living accommodations by location, with maps, services, and contact details. Home and community care options are planned for a future phase — so for home care, calling 811 is still the way in.
Government of Alberta
AADL may help eligible Albertans with clinically assessed medical equipment and supplies. Examples may include incontinence supplies, homecare beds and accessories, patient lifters, walkers and walking aids, wheelchairs, and other approved benefits, depending on eligibility and assessment. Ask your AHS case manager, health professional, or AADL authorizer whether an AADL assessment or referral may be appropriate.
Alberta Health · AADL Program · Updated July 2025
A point-of-care guide summarizing funding options for special diets and nutrition products. Depending on age, diagnosis, benefit program, and eligibility, options may include Alberta Blue Cross benefit programs, Home Nutrition Support, AISH or Income Support-related benefits, Special Needs Assistance for Seniors, IFHP, NIHB, and other programs. Some programs require a prescription, regulated-provider recommendation, annual renewal, receipts, or other documents.
Alberta Health Services · Nutrition Services · Revised August 2025
A publicly funded, client-directed home care option for eligible clients. AHS or the appropriate public home care pathway determines eligibility and approved services/hours. The client then chooses from CDHCI providers serving their area, and AB Blue Cross handles the invoicing process up to the approved amount. Ask each provider about service area, availability, rates, minimum consecutive hours per visit, travel or mileage charges, statutory holiday charges, cancellation fees, and other limits before choosing.
Alberta Blue Cross · Government of Alberta
Financial assistance that may help eligible Alberta seniors with specific health-related expenses, including nutritional beverages and thickeners, subject to income thresholds, medical documentation, receipts, and annual funding maximums.
Government of Alberta · Seniors and Community Supports
A publicly funded home care option that may allow an eligible client or legal representative to directly pay for and manage approved personal care and home support services through a self-managed care agreement. This can provide more control, but it also brings major responsibilities such as hiring, scheduling, supervision, payroll, tax and employment obligations, and arranging backup. Ask your case manager whether you are eligible and what the responsibilities would be in your situation.
Alberta Health Services · Self-Managed Care Program
Limited, temporary federal health coverage for eligible refugee claimants, protected persons, resettled refugees, and certain other eligible groups. Depending on eligibility and coverage type, supplemental benefits may include home care, medical supplies and equipment, and assistive devices. Coverage rules, co-payments, and provider requirements can change, so verify directly with official IFHP/Medavie Blue Cross sources.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada · Government of Canada
Guidance for families who directly hire a caregiver as an employee in the home. Domestic employee rules may include minimum wage, rest periods, days of rest, and special overtime rules. If you are not sure whether the person is an employee or self-employed contractor, confirm the worker's status and your payroll/employment obligations before relying on the arrangement.
Government of Alberta · Employment Standards
Currency notice: The documents and links on this page were reviewed as of May 31, 2026. Legislation, regulations, standards, and program policies can be amended at any time. The Community Care Education Society of Alberta makes reasonable efforts to keep this page current, but cannot guarantee that every document reflects changes made after that date.
This page provides general educational information about publicly available legislation, standards, programs, and guidance. It is not legal, medical, tax, employment, privacy, or benefits advice. How a law, standard, program, or complaint pathway applies can depend on the care arrangement, provider type, eligibility criteria, funding stream, and facts of the situation. If you are using this information for a formal purpose, verify the current official source and seek appropriate professional advice where needed.
Alberta legislation is made available by Alberta King's Printer. If reproducing Alberta legislation or extracts, ensure accuracy is maintained and copyright is acknowledged as required by Alberta King's Printer. Federal legislation is available through the Department of Justice Canada. Program documents should be verified through the current official government, AHS, Alberta Blue Cross, or program source.
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