REPORTS FROM COUNCIL
Study Supports Effectiveness of
Alternative Registration Pathways Bill Consolidates Out of Hospital
Facilities and Services
Council was provided with an overview of
key findings from the College’s multi-year
evaluation of the Registration Pathways
Program.
Overall, the evaluation findings support the
effectiveness of the College’s alternative regis-
tration pathways and policies, based on three
performance measures – peer assessments, pri-
mary care quality indicators and multisource
feedback. The primary care quality indicators
were developed and analyzed by the Institute
for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.
The evaluation sought to determine if per-
formance differences exist between practising
physicians who were registered through alter-
native routes to registration (ARPs) and those
who were registered through the traditional
route (TRPs) (i.e., physicians fully trained in
Canadian residency and qualified in Cana-
dian examinations).
The findings suggest that there are few
performance differences between ARPs and
TRPs on most validated primary care quality
indicators and in multisource (360) feedback
assessments. There are some differences noted
on peer re-assessments ordered by the Quality
Assurance Committee, however the re-assess-
ments reflected record-keeping and/or minor
quality concerns that are not a risk to patient
safety.
We will have an article about the evalua-
tion’s findings in the next issue of Dialogue. Council received an update on a Bill that will
enhance and consolidate oversight for On-
tario’s out of hospital facilities and services,
better ensure patient safety, and take impor-
tant steps to increase transparency and public
reporting.
Bill 160 is a significant Bill containing ten
schedules. The focus of the College’s attention
is on Schedule 9, Oversight of Health Facilities
and Devices Act, 2017 as it creates a new legis-
lative framework for health facilities.
The OHFDA seeks to establish a single
legislative framework for:
• community health facilities (including
Independent Health Facilities (IHFs),
Out-of-Hospital Premises (OHPs), private
hospitals, and other facilities prescribed in
regulation, and
• energy applying and detecting medical
devices (e.g. conventional X-rays, CTs and
fluoroscopy, MRIs, ultrasounds, nuclear or
molecular imaging devices).
The OHFDA's focus on patient safety,
transparency, and public reporting are
vital changes to a new regulatory system of
oversight for community health facilities in
Ontario. Inspection bodies – of which the
College w ill be one - will be provided with
the tools to take action to protect the public
where quality and safety issues are identified.
Recently, the College made a submission to
the Standing Committee on General Govern-
ment regarding the College’s support for the
Bill and suggested amendments to Schedule
9 to ensure clarity and alignment with the
objectives of the legislation. The submission
can be found on our website.
MD
ISSUE 4, 2017 DIALOGUE
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