Message from the Registrar
What would it look like if there was a unified regulatory approach across all nine professions CHCPBC regulates? How could this create equity across the professions, better serve patients, clients, and the public, and increase our organizational effectiveness?
These are the types of questions we ask ourselves as we move towards being a truly amalgamated regulator.
When CHCPBC was first formed about 18 months ago, we inherited the bylaws, standards, and technology solutions that each of the seven legacy colleges had put in place. Administering seven disparate regulatory programs impacted our regulatory effectiveness and our costs. But the good news is that over the past few months the College has introduced a series of initiatives to move us towards harmonized regulation where it makes sense to do so for all nine professions, including:
- A single renewal schedule, with all professions renewing their licenses by March 31 each year, beginning in 2026.
- A single licensure platform for all health professionals to manage their information and their annual license renewal. By the end of January, there will be one portal for all nine professions, offering a consistent experience to the more than 16,000 professionals we regulate – and to those applying to become licensed. This will also result in improvements to the licence verification tool on our website, which will be known as the public registry.
- Replacing multiple legacy quality assurance programs with a Professional & Quality Practice Program (PQPP) intended to improve patient outcomes and support health professionals’ learning and performance.
- A new set of ethics and practice standards, outlining the minimum expectations for all licensees. Profession-specific information will instead be captured within clinical standards, guidance documents or practice resources. This will also provide clarity to the public about they can expect in terms of safe and ethical health care.
And finally, you will see harmonization throughout the completely new set of CHCPBC Bylaws that were created in anticipation of the incoming Health Professions and Occupations Act. To use the licensure function as an example, the current bylaws are organized by profession, because they were “lifted and shifted” from the legacy colleges. They currently run 137 pages (with nine schedules).
In contrast, our new licensure bylaws are categorized according to the topic (not profession) and are simplified, which will make them easier to understand and easier for our staff team to administer. We anticipate the new bylaws will be closer to 54 pages (with six schedules).
Given the nature and magnitude of the projects listed above, we can expect a few bumps to arise along the way. At the same time, we are doing our best to mitigate them, and to plan and communicate in advance to make sure those impacted know what to expect as we move towards a unified regulatory approach.
Dianne Millette, Registrar and CEO
College of Health and Care Professionals of BC
