New Regulatory College for Oral Health Professionals in British Columbia
On September 1, 2022, the College of Dental Hygienists of BC, the College of Dental Surgeons of BC, the College of Dental Technicians of BC, and the College of Denturists of BC amalgamated to become the BC College of Oral Health Professionals (the “BCCOHP”). Similar to the regulatory system in Ontario, in BC the regulatory colleges govern their respective health professions by setting and enforcing standards of practice, education, and training, and administering complaint and discipline processes.
The rationale for amalgamation provided by the BCCOHP is that having one regulator for oral health professionals will:
promote team-based care
provide one point of contact for patients, the public, and registrants
improve transparency and accountability
improve patient safety
promote better outcomes for patients
increase public confidence
The oral health professionals governed by the BCCOHP will have their registration or certification automatically transferred to the BCCOHP and a new certificate issued in the Fall of 2022. Similarly, all complaint, health, and monitoring files will be continued under the BCCOHP.
The move to amalgamate was led by the four colleges, however, it is an initiative which is informed by the Government of BC’s plan for modernizing the health regulatory system in the public interest. The modernization plan includes reducing the number of regulatory colleges from 20 to 6, and creating a central body to oversee the colleges and report publicly on their work. This plan was formed following the recommendations of the Cayton Report (“An Inquiry into the performance of the College of Dental Surgeons of British Columbia and the Health Professions Act”), which proposed several means of reforming the regulatory system for health professions in BC. These included reducing the number of colleges through amalgamation and the creation of a new oversight body for the regulatory framework.
There are many unknowns at this time but we anticipate more changes are on the way for BC regulators and we (and regulators across Canada) will be watching the progress of BC’s modernization efforts.
