QuebecBill 498First Reading
Bill 498: An Act to remove obstacles to efficiency in the health system
Sponsor: Youri ChassinIntroduced February 17, 2026Checked September 4, 2026
Read the official text on assnat.qc.caOfficial version — National Assembly of Quebec
What this bill does
This Quebec bill removes various regulatory restrictions on how physicians can practice medicine, including abolishing requirements for territorial medical staffing plans, eliminating mandatory specific medical activities for physicians under public agreements, repealing the law that restricted doctors from opting out of the public health system, and removing bed and 24-hour hospitalization limits for specialized medical centres.
Plain-language summary by Legisail — not legal advice.
Business impact
EmploymentCompliance
This bill most directly affects physicians, dentists, and other regulated health professionals practicing in Quebec, whether in clinics, specialized medical centres (SMCs), or private practice. Doctors who previously had to comply with territorial staffing plans or perform specific medical activities to qualify for public billing agreements will no longer face those constraints. Private specialized medical centres — think surgical or diagnostic clinics operating outside the public hospital system — gain new flexibility: they can now operate as 'mixed' centres where both public-plan and private-practice physicians work side by side, and they are no longer capped on the number of beds or restricted to 24-hour stays. Physicians who want to work partly inside and partly outside the public plan can now do so as 'mixed-practice professionals' without needing special government authorization, opening up new business models for private health clinics in Quebec.
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Where this bill is
First ReadingFebruary 17, 2026
Next: Second Reading debate
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