A mural of healthcare workers outside Vancouver General Hospital.Jennifer Gauthier/The Globe and Mail
As British Columbia prepares to implement a sweeping overhaul of its health professional regulatory system, the province’s Health Minister says the new legislation may continue to evolve after it takes effect this week.
The minister, Josie Osborne, described the Health Professions and Occupations Act, which is the most significant restructuring of oversight of regulatory colleges in 30 years, as a “big change” with much to work through.
“As we learn, as always, we look at improving legislation and making changes that may need to be made in the future,” she told reporters Monday.
What is B.C.’s new health care law, Bill 36?
Law overhauling regulation of health professionals in B.C. set to take effect
The act, previously known as Bill 36, goes into effect on Wednesday, four years after it passed in the legislature. It spans 276 pages and more than 600 provisions.
The legislation, which has ignited a flurry of concerns from health care professionals across the province, replaces elected board members at the regulatory colleges with provincial appointees, amalgamates those colleges, eliminates an appeals process for complaints against professionals, and introduces an oversight superintendent, among other changes. It applies to all professionals regulated by a college, from doctors and dentists to chiropractors and dietitians.
Currently, colleges investigate complaints and can enforce disciplinary orders. Beginning Wednesday, colleges will continue to investigate but, upon completion, a new provincially appointed director of discipline will establish a three-person tribunal to determine disciplinary action.
Critics of the law include health care advocacy groups, legal experts and opposition politicians, who have voiced concerns over possible provincial overreach. Trevor Halford, interim leader of the BC Conservatives, has called on the ruling NDP to walk back the legislation. Meanwhile, Doctors of BC president Adam Thompson has said he is worried colleges will become a “vehicle to enact health care policy rather than protection of the public” and wants the legislation to be modified.
Providers, opposition criticize coming B.C. law that changes how health professionals are regulated
One amendment already under way involves traditional Chinese medicine. Practitioners protested in January over the removal of herbal prescribing from the category of activities that are restricted to licensed professionals. They had interpreted the change as deregulation of the profession, which would open the door to unlicensed practitioners.
However, Ms. Osborne said this is not the case. She said that after receiving this feedback, she directed the ministry to make changes to TCM regulations under the new act to clarify that such activities remain restricted and fall under the purview of licensed TCM practitioners, doctors of traditional Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese medicine herbalists.
Consultations on that issue continue, Ms. Osborne said Monday, noting that there are no other intended changes to date.
A recall campaign against Premier David Eby over the new legislation was initiated in 2023 but ultimately failed. Mr. Eby and his government have defended the legislation as a vehicle to better protect the public.
Ms. Osborne has also said safeguards are in place to ensure board appointments are not a “political process.”
“It is in the best interest of the public, in the best interest of professionals themselves, that the regulatory environment around them, the supervision and regulation of health care professionals, is done with the utmost professionalism. That really is what this new act is about,” she said in a previous interview.
“It’s about modernizing it to better protect the public and promote an accountable and transparent health system, ensuring that people are kept safe from harm and discrimination.”
Doctors and patients, how do you feel about B.C.’s regulation changes? Share your thoughts
André Picard: B.C.’s move away from self-regulation for health workers is imperfect, but overdue
The legislation will also usher in anti-racism standards, stronger penalties for breaches of professional standards, mandatory vaccination against some infectious diseases as a condition of licensing, and greater transparency around complaints. It will also make knowingly providing false or misleading information to patients a punishable offence.
Alberta has also implemented regulatory changes for health care providers. Last November, the province introduced a law to ban regulatory bodies from sanctioning professionals for personal expression outside of work, and to limit training imposed by colleges.
Premier Danielle Smith dubbed it the “Peterson bill,” referring to psychologist and author Jordan Peterson. He was sanctioned by the Ontario College of Psychologists in 2022 because of controversial social-media posts on issues such as gender identity and masculinity. Dr. Peterson was ordered to undergo social-media training.
With a report from Justine Hunter in Victoria
Doctors and patients, how do you feel about B.C.’s regulation changes?
This week, B.C.’s Bill 36 will take effect, marking the province’s biggest change to how healthcare professionals are regulated in decades. We want to hear from B.C. health professionals and their patients about how they feel about the changes. Do you think these regulations will make a difference? Has it affected your plans for your career? Patients, what have you heard from your providers? Share your story in the box below.