Communiqué

November 2023

Professional Liability Insurance Audit Results Summary

All CRPO registrants (other than those in the Inactive category of registration) are required to have and maintain professional liability insurance (PLI) coverage at all times, regardless of whether they are practising. CRPO regularly conducts PLI audits in which randomly selected registrants are required to provide documentary proof of their PLI coverage within 30 days. After 30 days, any registrant who has not successfully completed the audit is issued a notice of impending suspension and provided an additional 30 days to provide their proof of PLI.

College staff launched a PLI audit on August 25, 2023. As of the second and final deadline of October 25, 2023, 99% of participants provided adequate proof that their PLI coverage met requirements. 1% of selected registrants were found to have inadequate coverage.

Professional Liability Insurance Requirements for Registrants

Information about CRPO’s professional liability insurance (PLI) requirements is included on the PLI page of the website.

Registrants are required to have and maintain adequate PLI coverage at all times, regardless of whether they are practising psychotherapy. Many registrants are covered by their employer’s PLI policy; in this case, the registrant should ensure that their employer’s PLI policy meets CRPO’s requirements in the by-laws. However, CRPO strongly encourages registrants to obtain individual PLI coverage as an employer’s policy may not cover the registrant in all situations.

Registrants practising at multiple sites must also ensure that they have adequate coverage for each practice site.

CRPO does not provide insurance to its registrants and does not direct registrants to specific insurance providers. Registrants who are seeking individual PLI coverage may find it helpful to contact their professional association for PLI coverage.

Registrants are not required to provide documentary proof of their PLI coverage, unless specifically requested to do so by CRPO staff or selected to participate in a PLI audit. Documentary proof of PLI must include certain information confirming policy details. For more information about documentation requirements, please see here.

Registrants who do not have the coverage required must notify CRPO within two days of becoming aware of not having adequate PLI coverage. The Registrar may suspend a registrant’s certificate of registration if they do not have the coverage required.

Quality Assurance Program Updates

2023 PD Cycle

If you registered with CRPO in an odd year (i.e., 2015, 2017, 2019 or 2021), your PD reporting cycle ends on December 31, 2023. This means you will need to submit an attestation form declaring whether you completed the required PD activities during your reporting cycle.

We will notify registrants by email when the attestation becomes available. Please check your email and ensure that qa@crpo.ca and QAassessments@crpo.ca are added to your contact and safe sender lists.

The attestation is due by December 31, 2023. We recognize December is a busy time of year for many registrants. If you are planning down time at the end of the year, please complete the attestation beforehand.

Unsure of your initial registration date? Review your entry in CRPO’s public register.

Need more info? Please see the QA page and our professional development FAQ or email your questions to QA@crpo.ca.

2024 Spring CBA: April 26 to May 5, 2024

On November 15, 2023, approximately 1350 registrants were notified of their random selection to participate in a peer and practice review (PPR).

The first step of a PPR is to complete the case-based assessment (CBA).

When you are notified, you will receive an email from SurveyMonkey, asking you to complete a pre-questionnaire and confirmation form. Please check your email and ensure that qa@crpo.ca and QAassessments@crpo.ca are added to your contact and safe sender lists.

For more information about the CBA, please see our peer and practice review FAQ or email your questions to QAassessments@crpo.ca.

Advertising: Testimonials, Endorsements, and Community Voting Awards

CRPO’s Practice Advisory Service receives several inquiries from registrants and others about the use of testimonials, endorsements and community voting awards. While it may be reassuring to receive positive feedback from clients and others, it is inappropriate to use or link to such statements in advertising.

Read our Practice Matters article.

Mandatory Reporting

There are some circumstances where CRPO registrants are required by the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, to report information. For example, CRPO registrants are required to report certain information about themselves or their practice to CRPO. In other situations, registrants have a duty to report other regulated health professionals to their professional colleges or another authority. Read our Practice Matters article for information.

For CRPO registrants: Please do not unsubscribe. CRPO uses email to communicate with registrants about important College updates. If you choose to unsubscribe, it is then your responsibility to regularly check our website to keep yourself informed about your College obligations. It is the responsibility of each registrant to make sure CRPO has your current contact information, updated within 30 days of a change, and ensure that the organization you work for does not block CRPO emails. CRPO may collect information about whether a recipient has read a message. CRPO may use this information for communication planning and record-keeping.