April 2004

1. Ministry of Human Resources changes Policy for orthotics or bracing devices for people on income assistance
2. Moving Forward with Occupational Therapy Human Resource Planning in Canada
3. In February 2004 stakeholder group representatives from regulatory organizations, provincial professional organizations, academic programs, support personnel programs, Health Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information met for two days to develop a detailed strategy
4. New privacy legislation now in force: Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA)
5. New Practice Documents Published
6. The college recently published its first Practice Guideline on Assigning of Service Components to Unregulated Support Personnel
7. Reminder - Registration Renewal for 2004 - 2005
8. Opportunity for Registrant Feedback: Survey on Practice Guideline

Ministry of Human Resources changes Policy for orthotics or bracing devices for people on income assistance
On February 1, 2004, the policy for who is authorized to prescribe for medically necessary orthotic and bracing devices funded through the Ministry of Human Resources was changed. The new policy provisions state that "the Ministry will pay for orthotic or bracing devices purchased "off the shelf" if: the device is prescribed by a medical practitioner, occupational therapist, physical therapist or podiatrist". The provision for custom-made devices also names the occupational therapist as an authorized professional able to confirm the need for a custom-made device for funding under the Disability Assistance & Health Supplements - Orthotics & Bracing program. The College confirmed with the Ministry consultant that verification of an occupational therapist's registration with the College is available by contacting the College. The College received a number of calls last July 2003 when registrants were concerned about earlier changes to policies that limited an occupational therapists ability to access devices for their clients. The British Columbia Society for Occupational Therapists (BCSOT) also acted to express their concerns to the Ministry and worked with the Orthotics & Prosthetics Association and Physiotherapy Association to recommend changes. For more information, Click here to download the Ministry's FACTSHEET or go to http://www.mhr.gov.bc.ca/PUBLICAT/VOL1/Part14/14-8.htm

Moving Forward with Occupational Therapy Human Resource Planning in Canada
As a member of the Association of Canadian Occupational Therapy Regulatory Organizations (ACOTRO) the College participated in a recent CAOT project (funded by Health Canada) to move forward the development of a labour force planning and monitoring system for effective occupational therapy human resource planning in Canada. This project resulted from an earlier report commissioned by CAOT (2003) titled "Background Paper on Occupational Therapy Data: Sources, Utilization & Interpretive Capacity". http://www.caot.ca/pdfs/CAOTHRpaperMarch2003.pdf

In February 2004 stakeholder group representatives from regulatory organizations, provincial professional organizations, academic programs, support personnel programs, Health Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information met for two days to develop a detailed strategy. The strategy will now be reviewed by stakeholder groups and commitment to sustain the coordinated effort will likely follow. ACOTRO has responded and approved the strategy in principle and has committed to participating on the leadership/governance group to advance the project to the next phase. At our national regulatory meeting in June, ACOTRO members will be discussing the proposed strategy in more detail and ACOTRO's role and contribution to the work. The 2002 Romanow report titled "The Future of Health Care in Canada" revealed a need for health human resource planning for the rehabilitation professions. This is not likely new to occupational therapists - recruitment, retention and sustaining the professions contribution to the health of Canadians is an important focus and one that requires an integrated approach across stakeholders. For more information on the release of the recent report contact CAOT (Report is titled "Moving Forward with Next Steps in Occupational Therapy Human Resource Planning: Summary Report (March 2004)"

New privacy legislation now in force: Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA)
On January 1, 2004, new provincial privacy legislation, the Personal Information Protection Privacy Act (PIPA) came into force in British Columbia. PIPA applies to the entire BC private sector, both for-profit and not-for-profit. PIPA governs how organizations may collect, use and disclose the personal information of clients and employees. Registrants of COTBC already have a duty of protection of personal privacy (duty of confidentiality) and registrants will be familiar the principles of the new privacy legislation. However, this legislation will affect registrants working in private practice, working for not-for-profit organizations or other agencies not covered by public sector privacy legislation (FOIPPA). It sets out specific rules for the private sector. It is every registrant's responsibility to know and comply with legislation that applies to their practice. Registrants should visit the following websites for more details of your responsibilities under this new personal information privacy legislation or seek other advice to ensure your practice is in compliance. Tools and helpful resources have been developed to assist organizations becoming compliant with the new PIPA legislation and can be found on our COTBC website. CLICK here to go to our links on privacy information and resources.

New Resources: The BC Medical Association has a number of online information and helpful tools developed in conjunction with the College of Physicians and Surgeons and Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC and available at http://www.bcma.org/public/NewPrivacyLegislation_Public.htm or click here for full listing of links and resources.

NEW PRACTICE DOCUMENTS PUBLISHED
The revised Essential Competencies of Practice for Occupational Therapists in Canada - Second Edition (June 2003) and approved by the Board in October 2003 was recently published and sent to all registrants. This document replaces the current version in your registrant resources manual. The revised edition was an initiative of the Association of Canadian Occupational Therapy Regulatory Organizations (ACOTRO), funded by COTBC in partnership with four other provincial occupational therapy regulatory organizations (Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec). All ten provincial regulatory organizations in Canada participated with in-kind resources including validation sessions by occupational therapists in every province. The result is a nationally validated, professionally sound document. This second edition expands on the performance indicators for each competency statement. This document continues to serve as a platform for future practice guidelines, advisory statements and programs such as Registration, Continuing Competency, Re-entry to Practice, and other quality assurance activities. A French version is available online.

The college recently published its first Practice Guideline on Assigning of Service Components to Unregulated Support Personnel. COTBC practice guidelines are published to assist occupational therapists in meeting the Essential Competencies of Practice. They are designed to increase registrants' knowledge of their responsibilities; describe expectations for practice; define safe, ethical competent practice; and guide critical thinking for every day practice. Watch for the survey on the guideline for registrants to provide feedback to the College. It will be provided to registrants with the registration renewal mailing and will also be available online. The Standards Committee is responsible for developing practice guidelines and a guideline on "Documentation & Management of Client Records" (a working title) is currently underway".

REMINDER - REGISTRATION RENEWAL FOR 2004/2005
Registration renewal forms will be sent to registrants in mid-May. Registrants are reminded that renewal of registration is due July 1, 2004. Pursuant to the College Bylaws, registrants who fail to renew their registration by July 31, 2004 must be cancelled from the register until registration is reinstated by the Board. This requires a special meeting of the Board. In circumstances where a person has been cancelled from the register, the Registrar contacts the registrant and his/her employer to notify that the registrant is not legally practising and is not able to work until reinstated to the register. It is an offence under the Health Professions Act to practice while not registered. To avoid late fee penalties and cancellation from the register, please be sure to return a complete application and other required documentation by the due date. Please note that the College accepts complete renewal applications submitted with a cheque post-dated for July 1, 2004.

Opportunity for Registrant Feedback: Survey on Practice Guideline
The College is requesting feedback from registrants on the recently published practice guideline on, "Assigning of Service Components to Unregulated Support Personnel". It was sent to all registrants in April. Your feedback by way of this survey will help the standards committee in a number of ways; identify any areas for further evaluation, refining the guideline or recommending development of other supports to assist in its use in everyday practice.

For more information and to download a copy of the survey, click here:
Practice Guideline Survey (PDF)

To complete the survey online, click here:
Practice Guideline - Online Survey