The Health Professions and Occupations Act (HPOA) is the primary legislation that governs health professional regulatory colleges in British Columbia. Under the HPOA, one of the roles of the Health Professions and Occupations Regulatory Oversight Office (the Oversight Office) is to evaluate the performance or conduct of the province’s health professional regulatory colleges through audits, reviews and investigations called oversight processes.
We do this in the following ways:
General review
A review of a health professional regulatory college’s published policies, procedures, bylaws or rules and annual reports.
Audit
A structured review of how a health professional regulatory college is meeting the published performance standards (coming soon) established by the Oversight Office.
Complaint review
A review of a complaint made by any person about:
- The performance of a health professional regulatory college
- The HPOA or its regulations
Investigation
An investigation into the conduct of a health professional regulatory college.
Systemic review
A review that looks for broader patterns or recurring issues relevant to:
- Overall performance of one or more of B.C.’s health professional regulatory colleges
- Methods of practice used by a person providing health services that could put the public at risk of harm