Medical Matters: why you’ll be seeing more Standards of Practice consultations

Read time: 4 minutes

By Dr. Dawn Hartfield, CPSA Deputy Registrar

Over the coming months, you can expect to hear from CPSA more frequently than usual. Along with important annual activities such as CPSA Council elections and annual renewal, we will be seeking your feedback on several proposed CPSA Standards of Practice (SoPs).

These consultations are a vital part of profession-led regulation, ensuring the standards that guide medical practice in Alberta are informed by the expertise and experience of the physicians and physician assistants who apply them every day. We recognize that reviewing consultation materials takes time, and we appreciate the thoughtful input regulated members provide. Your feedback helps ensure our standards are practical, clear and reflective of clinical practice.

Why now?

Alberta’s healthcare system continues to evolve through legislative and policy changes introduced by the Government of Alberta. Recent examples include:

• Dual practice;
• Patient-ordered diagnostic testing;
• Updates to the legislative framework for medical assistance in dying (MAID);
• Gender-affirming care legislation; and
• The Regulated Professions Neutrality Act (RPNA).

These changes are made through legislation, regulations, Ministerial Orders and government policy. CPSA does not determine these policy directions. Our responsibility is to implement the legislative requirements that apply to physician and physician assistant regulation and to ensure regulated members understand their professional obligations.

CPSA’s role

As Alberta’s medical regulator, CPSA’s role is to translate legislative requirements into clear professional expectations.

We do this by:

• Developing new SoPs where legislation creates new regulatory requirements;
• Updating existing SoPs to ensure they remain consistent with new legislation and with one another;
• Developing Advice to the Profession (AtP) companion documents that provide practical guidance on applying the standards in day-to-day practice as well as Advice to Albertan documents to help Albertans understand their rights and expectations as patients; and
• Communicating these changes to physicians and physician assistants so they understand what is expected of them.

SoPs are legislative instruments made under the Health Professions Act. They establish the minimum expectations for professional practice. AtP documents accompany many standards to provide practical interpretation, examples and implementation guidance.

Your role

Consultation with the profession is a legislated requirement and an important part of the standards development process.

When a proposed SoP is released for consultation, we are seeking your expertise. Your feedback helps identify areas requiring clarification, highlights potential implementation challenges and ensures the standards are practical across Alberta’s diverse practice settings.

Every submission is reviewed and considered before standards are finalized and submitted for approval.

Why so many consultations?

There are two primary reasons you will see an increase in consultations.

1. Reviewing all CPSA Standards of Practice for alignment with the Regulated Professions Neutrality Act (RPNA)

The RPNA requires all regulated professions in Alberta, including health regulators, to review their regulatory instruments to ensure they align with the new legislative requirements.

For CPSA, we anticipate relatively few substantive changes because our standards have historically been drafted using neutral language. Nevertheless, each SoP must be reviewed and updated where necessary to confirm legislative alignment. Standards must then be sent for consultation to ensure compliance with the HPA.

2. Developing new standards to support legislative and policy changes

Government policy changes sometimes introduce entirely new regulatory requirements that must be reflected in professional standards.

Dual practice is a good example. Physicians practising in publicly funded, privately funded or blended practice settings are expected to meet the same professional standards, regardless of how healthcare services are funded or how they are compensated.

A dedicated Dual Practice standard is being developed, not because the expected standard of care changes, but because the legislation establishes additional obligations that apply specifically to this practice environment. For example, government-established requirements related to sharing health information through Netcare to support continuity of patient care, as well as other reporting obligations.

The new standard addresses these unique legislative requirements while reinforcing that the same professional expectations apply to all patient care.

Patient-ordered testing is another example. New legislation and the Government of Alberta’s Preventative Health Testing Service Guidance enable patients to request diagnostic imaging services at private, accredited diagnostic imaging facilities. The regulated member responsible for the service must assess the patient, determine whether the request meets the legislated criteria and, where appropriate, approve the testing. The legislation also establishes detailed documentation, reporting, follow-up and information-sharing requirements.

CPSA is developing a new Patient-Ordered Testing standard to support this activity. The standard will clarify the professional responsibilities that apply when providing these services, including patient assessment, informed decision-making, communication of results, follow-up of abnormal findings and compliance with applicable reporting requirements. As with Dual Practice, the standard will support a new legislative framework while reinforcing the regulated member’s existing professional obligations and responsibility to provide safe, appropriate care.

Making consultations easier to review

To make the consultation process as straightforward as possible, consultation packages will include existing standards and a summary identifying the proposed changes. This will help focus your review on the amendments being proposed rather than requiring you to compare multiple documents independently.

Looking ahead

You can expect to see a series of SoP consultations over the coming months—keep an eye on your inbox for more details.

We appreciate the time you take to review these materials and provide feedback. Your perspectives help ensure Alberta’s regulatory framework remains clear, practical and focused on supporting safe, high-quality patient care while implementing the legislative changes established by government.

If you have any questions about our standards or the consultation process, please contact standardsofpractice@cpsa.ab.ca.