Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council - The Future of Health Professions Regulation

By: Brian Hanulik

In February 2005, the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, the Honourable George Smitherman, requested the advice and recommendations of the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council (HPRAC) on a number of issues.

In particular, the Minister has requested HPRAC’s advice on whether members of certain professions should be regulated under the Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA). This would include recommendations regarding their scope of practice, what controlled acts, if any, they should be authorized to perform, and any protected titles that may be required. The Minister has also asked HPRAC to consider whether it is appropriate that these professions be regulated under an existing profession specific act (for example, in the case of pharmacy technicians/assistants, under the Pharmacy Act, 1991).

HPRAC has recently completed a consultation phase regarding the regulation of pharmacy technicians/assistants, homeopaths, and kinesiologists - the deadline for submissions was June 17, 2005. Should HPRAC recommend that any or all of these professions be regulated under the RHPA, it will undoubtedly have an enormous impact, not only on these particular professionals, but also on other professions and the existing Colleges should HPRAC also recommend that the regulation of these new professions occur under an existing profession specific act.

HPRAC will also consider whether psychotherapists and personal support workers should be regulated under the RHPA. Consultations with respect to these professions are expected to commence later this year.

HPRAC is currently reviewing a number of additional issues, including:

• Whether psychotherapy should be an additional controlled act under the RHPA, and if so, what regulated professions should have psychotherapy in their scopes of practice;
• Whether the determination of a need for a hearing aid or the specifications of a hearing aid should be controlled acts, and whether hearing testing and dispensing of hearing aids should be controlled by the RHPA;
• Whether dispensing eye wear is an activity that needs to controlled under the RHPA, and whether refractometry is within the scope of practice of opticianry;
  Formal consultations will apparently also begin in August or September 2005 on a number of issues that the Minister has raised with respect to the legislative framework, including:
• The currency of, and any additions to, recommendations made by the Council as part of the “5 year review” of the RHPA, contained in its report Adjusting the Balance;
• The currency of, and any additions to, the Council’s recommendations in relation to the Colleges’ quality assurance programs and patient relations programs;
• The currency of, and any additions to, the Council’s recommendations in relation to the Colleges’ complaints and discipline procedures;
• Whether there are any impediments in the RHPA or the profession specific acts to a shared services business model for new professions for whom the financial demands of regulation are onerous, but where the public interest would be served by regulation.

The Minister has requested the HPRAC provide its Advice Memorandum, containing its recommendations on all of these issues, to him by March 31, 2006.
As this process obviously has implications on any number of regulated health professionals in Ontario, we will continue to monitor the ongoing consultation process and will continue to update our clients as developments at HPRAC unfold.