The College of Complementary Health Professionals of BC is preparing for new legislation that changes how B.C.’s health professionals are regulated.
The current Health Professions Act (HPA) is to be replaced by the new Health Professions and Occupations Act (HPOA) that received Royal Assent in 2022 and is expected to be brought into force in 2025. The changes brought by the HPOA seek to support the following goals across the healthcare regulatory landscape:
- Addressing racism and discrimination in health care, in particular anti-Indigenous racism and discrimination
- Greater transparency by health professional regulators in carrying out regulatory activities and processes
- Improved effectiveness, efficiency, and consistency of regulatory bodies by having fewer and better-resourced regulators (i.e., amalgamation) and the sharing of resources and support across regulators
In supporting those goals as outlined by the Ministry of Health, CCHPBC will be working to design and implement its work in accordance with the following objectives:
- A demonstrable commitment to cultural safety and humility, supported by new requirements for both regulators and health professionals
- Optimized and efficient governance, in the interest of public safety, including structural and process changes to governance and regulatory oversight
- Enhanced oversight and accountability, working together with a new oversight body: The Superintendent’s Office
- Safer complaints and adjudication process, including new structures, processes, and support structures for complaints and discipline and greater public facing transparency
- Better information sharing to improve patient safety and privacy rights, as well as public trust
The transition from the HPA to the HPOA will have implications for the health professionals we regulate. Among the most significant of these changes are the duties all professionals are required to uphold:
- Under the current Health Professions Act, regulated health professionals have a duty to report another registrant/licensee regarding danger to the public, hospitalization or sexual misconduct.
- Under the forthcoming Health Professions and Occupations Act, regulated health professionals will have duties with respect to reporting, compliance, fitness to practise, ethical practice, misconduct, delegation, cooperation, giving notice, and providing information.
These changes are intended to give all regulatory colleges more tools to regulate in the public interest.
Additionally, the HPOA will create a change in regulatory language, as upon the in-force date all regulated health professionals will be referred to as “licencees” rather than “registrants.”
We do not know the exact date when the government will bring the Health Professions and Occupations Act into force. Despite this uncertainty, we are working hard to make sure that both our operations and staff are prepared for when the in-force date arrives.
Internally, we are currently reviewing our processes and cataloguing all of the policies, procedures, forms, documents, and web content that will soon need to be updated to comply with the HPOA and its regulations and the new bylaws. We will be updating the suite of our organizational activities and processes to reflect the new requirements of the HPOA’s legal strictures.
In the interim, we will continue to work with the Ministry of Health and the other five health regulatory colleges in B.C. that will also be making this change to ensure compliance with the HPOA. In the weeks and months ahead, you can expect to hear more regarding the HPOA and what it will mean for both health professionals and the public.
