Consultations

CPSO wants you to help us update our current Physician Behaviour in the Professional Environment policy. This policy sets out physicians’ responsibilities to patients, other health care professionals, and the medical profession.

As a companion to the policy, the Guidebook for Managing Disruptive Physician Behaviour – developed with the Ontario Hospital Association – aims to help clinicians foster medical professionalism and identify and effectively address disruptive behaviour.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on the proposed regulation change to Ontario Regulation 865/93 (Registration) under the Medicine Act, 1991, setting out a new Emergency Circumstances Practice class of registration. Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

We want you to help us update our current Practice Guide.

The Practice Guide is CPSO’s key resource on medical professionalism. It lays out the values at the core of the medical profession, outlines what the public can expect from physicians, and organizes CPSO policies within a principled framework. Unlike policies, the Practice Guide does not set out specific expectations but instead provides broad guidance to the profession by articulating how physicians can enact the values, principles, and duties of professionalism in their practice.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

We want you to help us refine the newly retitled draft Conflicts of Interest and Industry Relationships policy before it’s finalized.

The draft policy retains the core expectations of the current Physicians’ Relationships with Industry: Practice, Education and Research policy and includes a new section related to conflicts of interest under the Medicine Act, 1991, General regulation. The draft policy has been condensed and streamlined with the aim to enhance its overall readability and utility for physicians.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants your feedback to help refine our draft OHP Standards.

These new draft OHP Standards are ten separate documents which set out the expectations of OHPs and the physicians who work within them.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

We want you to help us refine the newly retitled draft Human Rights in the Provision of Health Services policy before it’s finalized.

The draft policy retains the majority of the core expectations in the existing Professional Obligations and Human Rights policy, but some important updates have been made to enhance clarity and better serve the public interest.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

We want you to help us refine our draft MAID policy before it’s finalized.

The draft policy has been redesigned and streamlined: the majority of the core professional expectations set out in the current MAID policy have been retained while the legal requirements have been moved to a new companion resource.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

We want you to help us refine the newly retitled draft Decision-Making for End-of-Life Care policy before it’s finalized.

The draft policy has been updated to be more concise and to focus solely on the most challenging end-of-life care decisions and the discussions that inform those decisions. Most notably, the draft policy sets out a new framework regarding withholding resuscitative measures and writing DNR orders. The aim of the draft policy is to strike a balance that both supports physician professional judgment and respects the diversity of patient wishes, values, and beliefs.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our current Blood Borne Viruses policy.

This policy sets out expectations in relation to blood borne viruses (BBV) for physicians performing or assisting in the performance of exposure prone procedures (EPPs). More specifically, in relation to testing, reporting, and managing positive infection statuses.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our current Mandatory and Permissive Reporting policy to help inform the development of an updated policy.

This policy outlines when physicians are required or permitted by law to report particular events or clinical conditions to government or regulatory agencies.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

We want you to help us refine our draft Dispensing Drugs policy before it’s finalized.

The draft policy expectations are based on the premise that physicians must meet the same standards as pharmacists when dispensing. The draft policy expectations are largely consistent with the current policy, with new expectations added related to patient counselling, patient choice on where to get drugs, and monitoring of recalled drugs.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants your feedback to help refine our draft Out-of-Hospital Premises (OHP) Standard: Image Guidance When Administering Nerve Blocks for Adult Chronic Pain. This new OHP Standard is being developed to require image guidance when administering certain nerve blocks for adult chronic pain in OHPs to enhance patient safety and clarify CPSO’s expectations.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our current Physicians’ Relationships with Industry: Practice, Education and Research policy to help inform the development of an updated policy.

This policy sets out expectations for physicians around professionalism and avoiding conflicts of interest in their interactions with commercial enterprises associated with health care (i.e., “industry”).

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our draft Virtual Care policy.

The draft policy sets out expectations for physicians on when and how to provide appropriate virtual care.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our current Dispensing Drugs policy.

This policy sets out expectations for physicians who dispense drugs, including those around the procurement, storage, record keeping, packing, labelling, and disposal of drugs.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our new draft Social Media policy. The draft policy sets out expectations for physicians using social media.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our current Medical Assistance in Dying policy.

The current policy helps physicians understand their legal obligations with respect to medical assistance in dying (MAID) and sets out professional expectations for issues not addressed in the legislation.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our current Professional Obligations and Human Rights policy.

The current policy sets out physicians’ legal and professional obligations under the Ontario Human Rights Code along with professional expectations that address instances where physicians limit the services they provide for reasons of clinical competence and conscience or religion.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our current Planning for and Providing Quality End-of-Life Care policy.

The current policy sets out expectations for physicians on a number of issues related to planning for and providing end-of-life care including advance care planning, palliative care, potentially life-saving and life-sustaining treatments, dying at home, and managing conflicts.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our new draft Complementary and Alternative Medicine policy.

The draft policy sets out expectations for physicians who practice complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and physicians who wish to form professional affiliations with CAM clinics, therapies, products, or devices.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our draft Delegation of Controlled Acts policy.

The draft policy sets out expectations for physicians about when and how they may delegate controlled acts appropriately. 

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our draft Professional Responsibilities in Medical Education policy.

The draft policy sets out expectations for all physicians involved in medical education and training (including Most Responsible Physicians, Supervisors, and Trainees). The draft policy is also relevant to/for medical students.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our draft Third Party Medical Reports policy.

The draft policy sets out expectations for all physicians (including medical experts) who participate in third party processes by: 

• Conducting independent medical examinations (IMEs); 
• Providing third party medical reports; and/or 
• Providing testimony. 

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

CPSO wants to hear your feedback on our current Telemedicine policy.

The current policy sets out expectations for physicians providing telemedicine, or virtual care as it’s more commonly referred to today.   

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

The College invites your feedback on its Social Media – Appropriate Use by Physicians statement. The statement does not set out new expectations as it is not a policy. Rather, it provides general guidance and recommendations based on existing professional and legal obligations and their application to social media usage, including: maintaining appropriate boundaries; protecting patient privacy and confidentiality; and using social media in a manner that upholds the reputation of the profession and of the individual physician.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

The College invites your feedback on a newly developed draft Advertising policy. The draft policy sets out expectations for physician advertising, including inappropriate and appropriate advertising content, the use of before and after photos or videos, association with products or services other than a physician’s own medical services, directing and targeting prospective patients, and how physicians can refer to themselves.

Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

We are inviting feedback on the College’s Third Party Reports and Medical Expert: Reports and Testimony polices. These policies set out expectations for physicians who complete or prepare third party reports, conduct independent medical examinations and provide medical expert reports and testimony. Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

We are inviting feedback on the College’s Professional Responsibilities in Undergraduate Medical Education and Professional Responsibilities in Postgraduate Medical Education policies which set out expectations for physicians who are:

• supervisors for medical students and/or postgraduate trainees,
• postgraduate trainees, and
• the most responsible physician in environments where there are medical students and/or postgraduate trainees.

Please see dedicated our consultation page for additional background and to provide your feedback.

We are inviting feedback on two new draft policies: Medical Records Stewardship and Medical Records Documentation and corresponding draft Advice to the Profession documents. Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

We are inviting feedback on the College’s draft Protecting Personal Health Information policy and corresponding draft Advice to the Profession document. This policy sets out expectations of physicians about protecting the confidentiality and privacy of patients’ personal health information. Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

We are inviting feedback on the College’s draft Boundary Violations policy and draft Advice to the Profession: Maintaining Appropriate Boundaries document. The draft policy helps physicians understand and comply with the legislative provisions of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 regarding sexual abuse. It also sets out the College’s expectations for physicians related to establishing and maintaining appropriate boundaries with patients, including both sexual and non-sexual boundaries.   Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

We are inviting feedback on the College’s draft Disclosure of Harm policy. This policy sets out expectations of physicians where a patient has experienced harm or potential harm in the course of medical treatment. Please visit the dedicated consultation page for additional information and to provide your feedback.

We are inviting feedback on the College’s draft Prescribing Drugs policy. This draft policy updates the College’s current Prescribing Drugs policy and sets out the College’s expectations for physicians when prescribing drugs or providing drug samples to patients. Please see our consultation page for additional background and to provide your feedback.

We are inviting feedback on the College’s Complementary/Alternative Medicine policy. This policy sets out expectations for physicians in the following roles: physicians who practise CAM; physicians who practise conventional medicine, but whose patients pursue CAM; and physicians who wish to form professional affiliations with CAM clinics, therapies, or devices.

Please see our consultation page for additional background and to provide your feedback.

We are inviting feedback on the College’s Delegation of Controlled Acts policy. This policy sets expectations for physicians about when and how they may delegate controlled acts, through either direct orders or medical directives.

Please see our consultation page for additional background and to provide your feedback.

The Continuity of Care draft policies set out expectations on topics including continuity of care, availability and coverage, managing tests, transitions in care, and walk-in clinics.

This consultation is now closed. We thank you for providing your feedback on the draft policies. Following careful consideration of the feedback received the draft policies will be revised and submitted to Council for consideration for final approval. If you would like further information, please visit the dedicated consultation page.

The Consultation is now closed. After careful review of the feedback received, Council decided to rescind Anabolic Steroids, Substances, and Methods Prohibited in Sport and, Fetal Ultrasound for Non-Medical Reasons and to retain Female Genital Cutting (Mutilation). See the consultation page for more information.

This consultation is now closed. The College is reviewing the feedback received, in accordance with our policy review process. Please see our consultation page for further information.

A draft of the Closing a Medical Practice policy has been approved by Council for external consultation. This draft policy is an update to the current Practice Management Considerations for Physicians Who Cease to Practise, Take an Extended Leave of Absence or Close Their Practice Due to Relocation policy and sets out expectations for physicians when permanently closing a medical practice.

We are now inviting feedback on the draft policy from all stakeholders, including members of the medical profession, the public, health system organizations, and other health professionals. Visit the dedicated consultation page to view further information and provide your feedback.

The College is currently reviewing the Prescribing Drugs policy in accordance with our regular policy review cycle. This policy sets out the College’s expectations for all physicians who prescribe drugs or provide drug samples to patients. The policy also includes guidelines for preventing medication errors and appropriately prescribing narcotics and controlled substances, including opioids.

We are reviewing the policy to determine how the policy can be improved in order to ensure it reflects current practice issues, embodies the values and duties of medical professionalism, and is consistent with the College’s mandate to protect the public. As part of the review, we are inviting feedback from the profession, the public and other stakeholders on the current policy. Visit the dedicated consultation page to view further information and provide your feedback.

The College is currently reviewing the Medical Records policy, in accordance with our regular policy review cycle. The policy explains how medical records must be kept and outlines general requirements regarding the collection, use, security, storage, and disclosure of patients’ personal health information with respect to both paper and electronic records. In addition, the policy sets out requirements regarding retention, access and transfer of records, along with the specific information that must be included in records and how it must be documented.  The policy contains specific requirements in regard to records for procedural medicine.

The purpose of the policy review is to ensure the policy reflects the medical records issues often encountered in medical practice, embodies the values and duties of medical professionalism, and is consistent with the College’s mandate to protect the public. As part of the review, we are inviting feedback from the profession, the public and other stakeholders on the current policy. Visit the dedicated consultation page to view further information and provide your feedback.

The College is currently reviewing the Maintaining Appropriate Boundaries and Preventing Sexual Abuse policy, in accordance with our regular policy review cycle. The policy helps physicians understand and comply with the legislative provisions of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 (RHPA) regarding sexual abuse. It sets out the College’s expectations of physicians to maintain appropriate boundaries and not become sexually involved with patients, former patients in certain circumstances, and persons closely associated with patients.

The purpose of the policy review is to ensure the policy reflects the boundaries and sexual abuse issues often encountered in medical practice, embodies the values and duties of medical professionalism, and is consistent with the College’s mandate to protect the public. As part of the review, we are inviting feedback from the profession, the public and other stakeholders on the current policy. Visit the dedicated consultation page to view further information and provide your feedback.

The College is seeking feedback on proposed amendments to the Independent Health Facilities - Clinical Practice Parameters and Facility Standards for Diagnostic Imaging guidelines. The document is being updated in accordance with the College’s regular review cycle.

The primary purpose of this document is to assist physicians in developing their own quality management program and act as a guide for assessing the quality of patient care provided in diagnostic imaging facilities.

We are now inviting feedback on the draft amendments from all stakeholders, including members of the medical profession, the public, health system organizations and other health professionals. Visit the dedicated consultation page to view further information and provide your feedback.

The College is currently reviewing the Confidentiality of Personal Health Informationpolicy, in accordance with our regular policy review cycle. The policy sets out physicians’ legal and professional obligation to protect the privacy and confidentiality of patients’ personal health information.  It also outlines the limited circumstances where the disclosure of personal health information without a patient’s consent is permitted or required by law.

The purpose of the policy review is to evaluate the current policy in light of recent changes made to the Personal Health Information Protection Act.  Further, our aim is to ensure the policy reflects confidentiality issues often encountered in medical practice, embodies the values and duties of medical professionalism, and is consistent with the College’s mandate to protect the public. As part of the review, we are inviting feedback from the profession, the public and other stakeholders on the current policy. Visit the dedicated consultation page to view further information and provide your feedback.

The College is proposing an amendment to sections of Ontario Regulation 114/94 which deals with the College’s Out-of-Hospital Premises Inspection Program (“the College’s Program”).  The amendment will provide the College with authority to enter and inspect premises where fertility services are performed, regardless of whether anesthesia or sedation is used.

This proposed regulation amendment was prompted by a request from the provincial government that the College implement a quality and inspections framework for the delivery of fertility services across the province. The College believes that bringing facilities that offer fertility services, regardless of anesthesia or sedation, under the College’s Program is an important step in ensuring patient safety is protected.

We are now inviting feedback on our proposed regulation amendment from all stakeholders, including members of the medical profession, the public, health system organizations and other health professionals. Visit the dedicated consultation page to view further information and provide your feedback.

In 2015, the government requested that the College establish a quality and inspections framework for out-of-hospital premises and hospitals offering fertility services. The CPSO Expert Panel on Fertility Services developed a draft document “Applying the Out-of- Hospital Premises Inspection Program (OHPIP) Standards in Fertility Services Premises” (a “Companion document” to the OHPIP Standards) to help fertility services practitioners plan for and participate in their inspection-assessments. The document is intended to be used in conjunction with the OHPIP Standards.

We are now inviting feedback on our draft Companion document from all stakeholders, including members of the medical profession, the public, health system organizations and other health professionals.

Visit the dedicated consultation page to view further information and provide your feedback.