PROFESSIONAL & QUALITY PRACTICE PROGRAM

With the April 1, 2026 implementation of the Health Professions and Occupations Act (HPOA), CHCPBC will develop a modernized and unified PQPP. The program will support quality practice of more than 16,000 health and care professionals in nine professions regulated by CHCPBC and be consistent with the HPOA. Additionally, we’ve heard from many health professionals who have expressed a need for greater consistency in how professions are regulated at CHCPBC. The PQPP is aligned with current evidence and best practices and is one example of CHCPBC’s harmonization of programs and processes across the nine professions. 

CHCPBC began exploring a new approach to the Quality Assurance Program (QAP) in February 2025. CHCPBC commissioned the Ideas and Design Report (PDF) to gather information and input about the state of QA programs across the nine professions and to provide recommendations for the design of a new evidence-based QA program that is consistent across the professions. Profession-specific input was critical to the development of the report, with licensees from all nine professions and members of the Quality Assurance Committee consulted to validate and provide feedback. The QAPs carried over from the legacy colleges served an important purpose as well, as insights gleaned from these programs helped to guide the development of a modernized and unified program. 

In June 2025, the CHCPBC Board approved in principle the report, which contains detailed evidence to inform the design, development, and implementation of the new PQPP.   

The PQPP will have three components: Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Annual Touchpoints (to be completed by all licensees), Practice Support and Resources (optional for licensees and available year-round), and Quality Assurance Assessments (for a selection of licensees only). 

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is important in ensuring that licensees’ knowledge, skills, and abilities remain current. However, quantifying continuing education by setting a number of hours or credits of what is required is not supported by the literature on QA. With the PQPP, licensees have the choice to select the type and number of learning activities that they view as supporting them to maintain and enhance their performance and patient care outcomes.

In late 2025 and early 2026, licensees were invited to participate in optional transition activities: reviewing the new Standards, and consulting on the Guided Self-Reports. Licensees are not required to complete any PQPP activities until they are officially launched, in fall 2026.

All licensees will be on an annual cycle. The CPD Annual Touchpoints will be available online in October and November each year, starting in 2026, to be completed by November 30.

Yes. CHCPBC acknowledges the importance of professional development undertaken by health professionals as one tool to maintain skills and support the delivery of safe care. Licensees are strongly encouraged to complete professional development that is focused on preventing patient/client harm and maintaining performance on an ongoing basis.

Yes, once testing of the new program has been completed, resources will be created and made available. 

The Standards Review will be available in your online PQPP portal starting in September each year, and licensees are encouraged to complete it prior to completing the Standards Quiz. 

No, the college will assign three to four specific standards for review each year, and they will be the focus for the Standards Quiz developed for that year.

The Standards Quiz should be completed after the Standards Review and will be available for completion in your online PQPP portal starting in October each year, and due for completion by the end of November. 

The Standards Quiz will be based on the same standards assigned for the Standards Review. Other than reviewing the standards, there is no other preparation needed for the Standards Quiz.

Through a series of guided self-reflection questions, you will be asked to think about your own professional, practice, and personal factors to identify if any have an impact on your performance as a health professional. This confidential inventory is for your own personal use and will help guide you to recognize and self-manage factors that could affect patient safety or professional performance.

Through a series of guided questions, you will be asked to consider the factors influencing your continuing professional development choices, and your desired outcomes. This inventory will help you monitor your self-directed professional development to gain insights into how your learning maintained or improved your performance to advance patient care. Specific reporting on past education activities will not be required. 

No, you will choose your own professional development activities. You are encouraged to focus on learning that will maintain your performance and support the delivery of safe care.

No, your chosen learning activities do not need to align with the standards in the Standards Review. The activities should be aligned with your own needs, interests, and practice context.

Your learning activities should reflect your practice needs, risk, and context to ensure competent, safe, and ethical practice. We recognize that this may mean different types of activities being completed for each professional as they evolve in their career. It is the responsibility of the professional to ensure practice readiness in the context of the role and services they deliver.

You will have a 2-month window (every October and November) in which to complete these steps, online and at your own pace. It is anticipated that most licensees will complete the requirements in 2-3 hours. This does not factor in the time required for self-identified learning activities throughout the year.

You do not need to complete the CPD Annual Touchpoints all in one sitting. The portal will support multiple visits during the October–November reporting period, if needed. 

No, this component is the same service that CHCPBC practice advisors for each of the nine professions provide on topics such as ethics and practice standards, bylaws, legislation, and regulations, throughout the year.  

No, accessing college resources to help you in your practice is optional for all licensees.  

If you need practice support, email practicesupport@chcpbc.org. Your email will be assigned to the appropriate practice advisor for your profession, for response and assistance. 

Development is still underway, but it is anticipated that those selected to do a QA assessment will participate in a semi-structured, virtual, conversational interview with a QA Assessor from the same profession. The interview would be focused on the standards that licensees would have reviewed during their most recent reporting period.  

The assessments are intended to be supportive and focused on the application of standards rather than an assessment of technical clinical skills. If gaps are identified, education and support are provided, not discipline. 

Development is still underway to determine how many licensees may be selected for a QA Assessment each year. 

Development is still underway to finalize selection criteria. 

It is expected that the interview would take less than one hour to complete.

Yes, if you are selected for an assessment, you will be able to schedule a time that is convenient for you. 

A licensee’s duty of informed consent is to provide patients with the information that a reasonable person in the patient’s position would need to make an informed decision. Courts have generally defined a “material risk” as one that could reasonably affect a patient’s decision, particularly where the risk is likely to occur or carries serious consequences. Very remote or speculative risks do not typically need to be disclosed.

In the case of quality assurance assessments, the likelihood of a particular client’s record being audited and leading to serious consequences becomes speculative. If a concern about material risk was raised in the context of a quality assurance assessment, the licensee could then reasonably inform the patient. If the patient has concerns and does not consent, the assessor would select a different record. 

The ability for the College to access patient records for the purpose of quality assurance is not new; this has been long-standing, under the Health Professions Act and now under the HPOA.