Practice Advice Service

Overview

Third Quarter – December 1, 2024 – February 28, 2025

Total inquiries addressed: 508

• 83% related to psychology
• 17% related to applied behaviour analysis

The five most common topics queried, in descending order, were:

1. Supervision; supervision of non-regulated providers, maintaining supervision records, distinguishing between supervision and consultation;
2. Mobility; registrant practice in other jurisdictions;
3. Records; Health Information Custodian Successors, retention or destruction;
4. Fees and Billing; issuing receipts, insurance/third party payers and collecting fees;
5. Release of and Access to Information; consent, client right of access to information and consent related to services provided to children.

Queries

I am beginning to plan for retirement from my solo practice, are there guidelines or resources that would help me plan well?

Discontinuing Services

Registrants should give reasonable notice and make reasonable efforts for alternate services. The expectations are outlined in the Professional Misconduct Regulation of the Psychology and Behaviour Analysis Act, 2021 and in the Standards of Professional Conduct, 2024. The College does not provide a definition of ‘reasonable’ as this will depend on the specific circumstances with each respective client.

Professional Misconduct Regulation

8. Discontinuing professional services that are needed unless,

i. the client requests the discontinuation,

ii. the client withdraws from the service,

iii. reasonable efforts are made to arrange alternative services,

iv. the client is given a reasonable opportunity to arrange alternative services, or

v. continuing to provide the services would place the member at serious personal risk.

Standards of Professional Conduct, 2024

2.3 Continuity of Services

Unless there has been an agreement with the client at the outset of services that services are time-limited and the time limit has been reached, registrants are responsible for ensuring continuity of services that are needed by each recipient whose services they provide directly or supervise. Barring a client’s withdrawal or request to discontinue services which remain needed, services may only be discontinued if reasonable efforts are made to secure alternative services, the client is afforded a fair chance to arrange alternatives, or the continuation of services would pose a serious personal or professional risk to the registrant.

12.7 Priority of Service Recipient’s Interests

The interests of a recipient of services must be a registrant’s primary consideration. Interests of others, including insurers and other third-party funders must not take precedence over the interests of the person who is the subject of the service.

The emphasis is directed toward client needs and best interests. Registrants should provide options for ongoing services, whether that be referring to specific providers or providing them with ‘generic’ information such as links to our Member Search; the Ontario Psychological Association’s ‘Find a Psychologist’ referral service; the Ontario Association of Mental Health Professional’s (‘OAMHP’) referral service; the Ontario Autism Program (‘OAP’) provider list; and any other referral options that might be relevant.  

There is no requirement to notify former clients.

Records Retention and Destruction

Standards of Professional Conduct, 2024

9.4 Record Storage and Retention

a. Individual Client Service records must be retained for a minimum of 10 years after the service recipient reaches the age of 18 or after the last professional contact, whichever comes later;
b. Unless otherwise required by law, organizational service records must be maintained for at least ten years following the organizational client’s last contact. If the organizational client has been receiving service for more than ten years, information contained in the record that is more than ten years old may be destroyed if the information is not relevant to services currently being provided to the client;
c. Different components of a record can be stored across multiple locations. If so, each location must reference the other locations 

9.6 Maintenance of Client Records

Registrants who are HICs must arrange for the security and maintenance of client records in case of expected or unexpected incapacity or death, and inform the College of these arrangements prior to ceasing to provide services or at the earliest reasonable opportunity. In making such arrangements, where possible, the designate should be a registrant of the College.

Practical Application: If a registrant is unable to designate another registrant as custodian of the records, then the registrant must make best efforts to designate another regulated health professional and if unable to do that, then a person who is familiar with the requirements of the applicable legislation.

If records beyond the retention period are destroyed, registrants may wish to keep a list noting the disposal date, period of service, client name/birthday or other identifying information. This may be helpful for a health information custodian successor if they receive access to information requests from former clients.

Your health information custodian successor should be able to access your records. You may need to provide them with a list of passwords, keys, USB etc.

Information about your designate should be kept current on the College’s website. This information may be found in the “Members Area”, in the Practice Update Form, under the “Personal Information” section.

Liability Insurance

The College’s understanding of liability insurance is that it is ‘claims based’, meaning that registrants must be insured at the time that a complaint is filed.  When deciding whether to uphold liability insurance, it would be up to the registrant to assess how likely it is that a complaint might be filed, as this likelihood diminishes over time the longer one is retired. The College does not require retired registrants to maintain liability insurance as per our by-laws. Registrants may wish to seek formal legal advice when deciding whether to maintain liability insurance.  

This question was addressed in a previous Headlines article (July 28, 2020) – “Preparation for closing your Practice and Preparing a Professional Will”. The article references the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Board’s “Guidelines for Closing a Psychology Practice” published in 2020.

Provision of Services following Retirement

The Practice Advisory Service has an FAQ on this topic here.

Changes to your Registration Certificate

Information about moving to a retired certificate can be found here.

Questions or assistance with the process of changing your registration certificate can be directed to (cpbao@cpbao.ca). Further questions not addressed above should be directed to the Practice Advisory service (practiceadvice@cpbao.ca).