Health Professions and Occupations Act

About the HPOA

The Health Professions and Occupations Act (HPOA) came into force as the governing legislation for regulation of health professions in BC on April 1, 2026. For information about the HPOA, see the information below and on the right side of this page, read FAQs, watch the HPOA Licensee Webinar Series, and read the Health Professions and Occupations Act Q&A (April 2026) posted by the BC Government (Ministry of Health).

Changes resulting from the Health Professions and Occupations Act

The HPOA results in some key changes, including:

• New requirements for committing to cultural safety and humility, improved governance, strengthened oversight of health profession regulatory colleges (see Health Professions and Occupations Regulatory Oversight Office below), a safer complaints and adjudication process, and better information sharing;
• A set of guiding principles that health professions regulators will be required to adhere to;
• An expanded list of duties that regulated health professionals will be required to uphold;
• Changes in regulatory language, including referring to “licensees” instead of “registrants.”

CHCPBC bylaws under the HPOA

See the CHCPBC Bylaws under the HPOA.

CHCPBC drafted the new College Bylaws that reflect changes under the HPOA and conducted a public consultation on the Bylaws. Full parts of the draft bylaws, overviews, and feedback forms were posted for consultation June 24, 2025 to January 15, 2026.

Health professions regulations

The BC government has updated the regulations for health professions to align them with the HPOA. The regulations outline the name of the college that regulates each health profession, reserved titles, scope of practice statements, activities restricted to health professions, and limits or conditions on practice.

• Health and Care Professionals Regulation: This regulation applies to the professions regulated by the College of Health and Care Professionals of BC. It sets out scope of practice statements of each profession, the restricted activities of each profession (including limits and conditions, and those that require certification to perform), and exclusive titles that only regulated health professions may use.
• Regulated Health Practitioners Regulation: This regulation applies to all regulated health professions in BC. It includes a table of all restricted activities that can be performed by specific health professionals. To understand the scope of practice for the professions regulated by CHCPBC, it will need to be read alongside the Health and Care Professionals Regulation.
• Health Professions and Occupations Regulation

Effective April 1, 2026, the updated regulations are in force.

Health Professions and Occupations Regulatory Oversight Office

The HPOA establishes the independent Health Professions and Occupations Regulatory Oversight Office (HPOROO). The HPOROO, which is accountable to the HPOA, oversees BC health profession regulatory colleges and ensures they act within their mandate. The office:

• Houses a new independent Health Professions Discipline Tribunal that holds disciplinary hearings to determine disciplinary action after a complaint has been made against a regulated health professional and an investigation has been conducted;
• Makes recommendations to the BC Minister of Health on board appointments for the colleges;
• Conducts designation assessments into whether groups of health service providers should become regulated under the HPOA.

Sherri Young is the Superintendent appointed to lead the office. Benson Cowan is the Director of Discipline appointed to manage the Discipline Tribunal.

Regulation of Psychotherapists

On November 29, 2027, psychotherapists will be regulated by CHCPBC. This is in line with the Ministry of Health’s recommendations published in August 2020 to modernize the BC health regulatory framework.

The College will work collaboratively to integrate psychotherapists into our regulatory framework and advance public safety in more areas of BC’s healthcare system. We will share information on the process of regulating psychotherapists as it becomes available.

For more information about the updated regulations and regulation of psychotherapists, see the BC Government’s Health Professions and Occupations Act Q&A (April 2026) (see question 10).