Depending on the day, one might be forgiven for thinking that spring has been slow to arrive in Ontario. The warm weather has been reluctant at best. One of the infallible seasonal markers for CCO, however, is the new composition of our Executive and committees in late April, following elections and appointments.
It therefore gives me great pleasure to announce the make-up of CCO’s various committees for 2022-2023, arising from the April 21, 2022 Elections meeting. Please join me in offering a warm welcome to two new Council members, Mr. Scott Stewart and Dr. Michael Gauthier. I am particularly pleased to note the number of senior leadership positions held by public members (appointed by the provincial government), who now chair the following CCO committees: Patient Relations; Inquiries, Complaints & Reports; Discipline, and Registration. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Steven Lester for his years of service to CCO and committee work, most recently on the Executive Committee. I look forward to working with all Council and committee members in the upcoming year as we move toward what I hope is a greater sense of normalcy in CCO governance and operations.
Update on Governance Changes
In keeping with the standards articulated in the Ontario Ministry of Health’s College Performance Measurement Framework, CCO provides ongoing orientation, training and support for candidates, public appointees, and Council and committee members in several areas including governance, ethics, and effectiveness to build the requisite skills and competencies to perform their roles.
As I’ve shared in the past, the provincial government has signaled its intention to move away from strictly elected Council positions and toward recruitment based on specific skills and competencies, and also to establish smaller Boards – a move supported by several health regulatory colleges. CCO is preparing for this change should the government follow through on its intent. To that end, Council received a comprehensive update from CCO governance experts Richard Steineke and Rebecca Durcan on April 21, 2022.
Council was walked through a detailed history of the governance changes being explored by the province, including those relating to the potential creation of different oversight bodies for health regulatory colleges, non-overlapping membership on Council and Committees, 50/50 representation of public and professional members, among others.
In early March, CCO formally responded to requests for detailed comment on these proposed governance modernization initiatives, and recommended prudence. The College’s submission noted several instances where implementation could be problematic, and where further study and specific proposals would be helpful in anticipating unforeseen consequences. At this time, the government has moved forward only on a subset of the proposed initiatives, in the form of Bill 106.
Bill 106
On March 29, 2022, the province introduced Bill 106 — an omnibus piece of legislation that contains several schedules, including one that proposes changes to the Regulated Health Professions Act. Specifically, the Bill seeks to:
- Remove the requirement for Canadian work experience
- Streamline the requirements for demonstrating language proficiency
- Ensure an emergency class of registration
- Require timely registration decisions on applicants
Taken together, these measures are intended to increase overall human resources capacity in the health care system. No doubt, these measures can be viewed in the context of the human resources challenges experienced in parts of the health care system arising from the pandemic response. The legislation is expected to be proclaimed by the end of April, 2022. CCO will continue to monitor and update members on this Bill or any of the proposed governance modernization initiatives.
Continuation of Masking Requirement and COVID-19 Guidance for the Health Sector
Further to mitigating the impact of COVID-19, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health announced an extension of masking requirements in certain settings beyond April 27, 2022. (The order will remain in place until June 11, 2022 when it will be reviewed). These settings include clinics that provide health care services, including chiropractic and other regulated health professional offices, as well as public transit, hospitals, long-term care homes and other congregate care settings. The Chief Medical Officer of Health is also maintaining the COVID-19 directives and orders related to the health sector until June 11, 2022.
Members are required to continue to wear surgical/procedural masks, to require patients to continue to wear face coverings while in a chiropractic office and continue to practise in accordance with the COVID-19 guidance for the health sector. More information, including links to the Order, can be found here.
2021 College Performance Measurement Framework (CPMF) Report
On March 31, 2022 CCO submitted its second annual CPMF report to the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. The CPMF is a standardized reporting tool for use by health regulatory colleges to identify opportunities for regulatory improvement, and to benchmark progress against defined objectives.
A substantial number of CCO initiatives undertaken in 2021 arose from opportunities identified in last year’s inaugural CPMF report. Partial highlights include:
- Mandatory orientation sessions for CCO elections candidates
- Development of competencies for Council and Committee Members
- Development of Key Performance Indicators for core CCO functions
- Establishment of a contingency reserve fund (Internal Policy I-020)
- Clarification of publication policy for CCO Council minutes (Internal Policy I-017)
- Ongoing training for Council and Committee members
The College’s complete 2021 CPMF report is available on our website here.
CCO is committed to continuous improvement and the implementation of best practices in self-regulatory organizations. I am excited by these and the many other initiatives that are currently underway inspired by the CPMF, championed by Council, and brought to fruition by our very dedicated and capable CCO staff. A sincere thank you to all who contribute so much to the regulation of chiropractic in the public interest.
Sincerely,
Dr. Dennis Mizel
CCO President
Introducing CCO’s Newest Council Members
Dr. Michael Gauthier, Elected Member, District 3 Central East
Mr. Scott Stewart, Public Member, Cavan Monaghan
Ms Zoe Kariunas, Public Member, Toronto
CCO Staff Team – April 13, 2022