CCO President’s Message and Newsletter – February 26, 2025

President’s Message – February 26, 2025

CCO Strategic Plan

The College of Chiropractors of Ontario is pleased to share its new Strategic Plan for 2024-2029, a forward-thinking blueprint to guide our mission of regulating chiropractic care in the public interest. This plan, shaped by collaboration and insight, positions CCO to best meet the challenges and opportunities anticipated over the next five years. For decades the College has worked diligently to ensure chiropractors in Ontario provide safe, ethical, and high-quality care. The 2024-2029 Strategic Plan builds on this foundation, and reinforces our commitment to public protection and the highest professional standards.

The plan is driven by four key objectives:

  • Strengthen Governance and Leadership
  • Strengthen the understanding of CCO and the Profession’s Role in the Healthcare System
  • Demonstrate a Proactive Approach to Regulatory Change
  • Enhance Member Engagement and Communication

Each objective is reflective of one or more of CCO’s core values: Integrity, Respect, Collaboration, Innovation, Transparency and Responsiveness. Each objective is in turn broken down into an overarching goal, and discrete action steps for obtaining it.

The 2024-29 Strategic Plan marks the beginning of an exciting journey. CCO committees will review the plan to determine what additional actions they will take to help implement it. Going forward, committee reports to CCO Council will include applicable Key Performance Indicators, and evaluation against plan objectives. The plan as envisioned will enable the organization to play a critical role in any future regulatory changes, and enhance CCO’s effectiveness as a leading healthcare regulator in Ontario.

CCO Council Elections

CCO was very saddened at the passing of Council Member Dr. Dennis Mizel (District 5) on January 13, 2025. As noted in his obituary, Dr. Mizel was devoted to serving the public interest and the profession. His time as a Council Member, including terms as President and Vice President of CCO spanned two decades, during which time he brought positivity, commitment and passion to his work with the College. 

As a result of the vacancy left by his passing, a by-election will be held in District 5 in addition to the previously scheduled elections for Districts 2, 3, and 4. As of close of nominations on February 18, 2025, eligible members in District 3 will vote for one of two candidates for a three-year term. Eligible members in District 5 will vote for one of three candidates for a two-year term. Congratulations to returning Council member Dr. Kyle Grice (District 4) and new Council member Dr. Salima Ismail (District 2), both of whom have been acclaimed.

On March 7, 2025 the list of candidates and their bios will be posted on the CCO website and emailed to eligible voters in each district. Voting will open on March 14, 2025, with each eligible voter in District 3 and 5 receiving an electronic ballot by email. All votes must be received by CCO by 4 p.m. on March 31, 2025, and unofficial results will be announced that evening. 

Peer and Practice Assessment Workshop

On February 1, 2025 CCO held the annual Peer and Practice Assessment Workshop at CCO headquarters in Toronto. We are delighted by the continued interest and willingness of so many experienced Ontario chiropractors to participate in the program as peer assessors. CCO offers sincere thanks to all those who have reached their maximum years of service as peer assessors, and extends a warm welcome to those members who have just joined the program, and who will undergo mentorship in the practice of peer assessment.

CCO’s Quality Assurance (QA) Committee developed the College’s Peer and Practice Assessment Program to enhance members’ learning opportunities, and to ensure their knowledge of and compliance with CCO regulations, standards of practice, policies and guidelines. The program is designed to be educational and supportive of members’ growth in professional practice.

Sincerely,

Dr. Sarah Green

President

Welcome to CCO’s New Peer Assessors – January 31, 2025

CCO Peer Assessors and Quality Assurance Committee – February 1, 2025 Peer Assessor Training Day

Updates from the Quality Assurance Committee

Amendments to Standard of Practice S-002: Record Keeping

CCO Council approved changes to Standard of Practice S-002: Record Keeping on September 13, 2024 and November 28, 2024, which came into effect on November 28, 2024.

  • Updates related to the use of abbreviations, acronyms and short forms (“abbreviations”) are found on page 2 of the standard of practice. A member that uses abbreviations must also have an up-to-date abbreviation legend/key that explains abbreviations used in the patient health record in a clear and consistent manner. This abbreviation legend/key must exist in a printed or electronic form, and accompany the patient health record upon request. It is important from a public interest perspective that anyone accessing a patient health record must be able to understand abbreviations used in the record through a legend/key. Whether that is a patient requesting a copy of their record, a third-party payor auditing a patient health record, or a locum chiropractor taking over the care of that patient, a legend/key must be available and accompany a record that uses abbreviations.
  • An update on the requirement to include a patient reference on every page of the record is found on page 3 of the standard of practice. As more records are becoming digital, the standard has been updated to reflect that identifying patient information must only be on every printed page of the record, and is not required on every page of a digital record. This may be accomplished through the use of a header/footer on a printed record.
  • Minor amendments related to the storing of patient financial information are found on page 6 of the standard. Although CCO strongly discourages the storing of patient credit card or banking information in an electronic record, if this is done, this information must be encrypted, secure from loss, tampering, interference unauthorized use or access and comply with any applicable financial regulations. If applicable, please consult with your electronic health record vendor.

Please review these amendments and make any applicable changes to your record keeping practices.

Approval of a New Standard of Practice and Guideline: Communication to the Public

CCO Council approved a new Standard of Practice S-016: Communication to the Public and a new Guideline G-016: Communication to the Public at the November 28, 2024 Council meeting, which came into effect on February 21, 2025. These new documents replace existing standards of practice and guidelines related to advertising, websites and social media, which have been revoked, namely: Standard of Practice S-016: Advertising, Standard of Practice S-023: Health Care Claims in Advertising, Websites and Social Media, Guideline G-012: Use of Social Media, Guideline G-016: Advertising, Guideline G-023: Health Care Claims in Advertising, Websites and Social Media.

The new standard of practice and guideline do not make substantive changes to provisions related to advertising, websites and social media. Rather, they consolidate multiple documents (five documents to two documents), reduce redundancies, remove sections addressed in other documents (e.g., scope of practice, business practices, public displays) and increase clarity with respect to communication to the public. Please review the new standard of practice and guideline for requirements, guidance and examples related to communication to the public.

Amendments to Standard of Practice S-013: Consent

CCO Council approved a minor amendment to Standard of Practice S-013: Consent, adding a reference to Guideline G-014: Delegation, Assignment and Referral of Care to clearly indicate that a member must obtain informed consent from a patient, which is a requirement that may not be assigned to another staff person. 

One Page Summary of Continuing Education and Professional Development Requirements

CCO is distributing a one page summary of the Continuing Education and Development (CE) Requirements. This summary reflects CCO’s CE requirements in Standard of Practice S-003: Professional Portfolio, including mandatory components to be completed once every three CE cycles (six years) that came into effect on July 1, 2022 and July 1, 2024. Please review the summary and Standard of Practice S-003: Professional Portfolio for more details about CE requirements.

Cyber Security Resources

Cyber security in electronic health records is critically important for the protection of patients’ personal health information. CCO Standard of Practice S-002: Record Keeping requires that members who use electronic record keeping systems have cyber security protections in place to ensure that patient personal health information is secure from loss, tampering, interference and unauthorized use or access.

CCO encourages members who use electronic health record systems to consult and apply best practices and to participate in ongoing education on cyber security (which may be used towards structured and unstructured CE hours). The following organizations, although having no affiliation with CCO, may be consulted for resources and educational modules on electronic health records and cyber security:

Updates from the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee

The Inquiries, Complaints and Reports (ICR) Committee has reviewed a number of complaints related to the refund of prepayment plans in incidences of bankruptcy. CCO would like to remind members who offer prepayment plans to review Guideline G-008: Business Practices. Specifically, there must be protections for the patient to receive a refund or continuity of care for any unused portion of the billing/financial arrangement or prepayment plan in case of the member’s bankruptcy, death, dissolution of practice and other incidents which may interrupt the course of care.

The ICR Committee has also addressed a number of complaints related to obtaining consent to examination. Members are reminded that in accordance with Standard of Practice S-013: Consent, a member must obtain consent for both examination and treatment/care. It is sufficient to obtain consent to examination verbally; however, this must still be noted in the patient health record. Furthermore, the process of obtaining consent may not be assigned to a staff member. It is the member’s responsibility to obtain and document consent in accordance with the standard of practice. CCO reminds members that patients may withdraw their consent at any time during the course of care. Members must document any variation or withdrawal of consent in the patient health record. Please review Standard of Practice S-013: Consent for further details.