Moving Online – Renewal of Registration, Credit Card Payment and Member Services
More Changes to Member Services
Strategic Plan
HPRAC Review: MRT Scope of Practice
Legal Ruling - Unauthorized Practice
Suspended Members
Moving Online – Renewal of Registration, Credit Card Payment and Member Services
The culmination of a multi-year project to increase the use of the web takes place this spring when we move a variety of register and member services online. This is an exciting project with the goals of meeting regulatory requirements (Health System Improvements Act), simplifying the member information update and providing members with more online services.
Throughout the development process, we took great care to ensure we had the right systems and software to protect the security of your information, which we recognize as critical when dealing with personal information and financial transactions. For example, all credit card transactions online will be protected by VeriSign, the leading online provider of identity and authentication technologies.
Here are the highlights of the changes that will take place over the next few months as our website becomes a central tool for registration renewal and public information:
- Beginning May 4, 2009, you will be able to renew your registration and make fee payments by credit card (Visa or MasterCard) online through the College website. To facilitate this, during the last week of April, you will be mailed an information letter with an initial password for access to the section of the website dealing with online member services. This password is being mailed to you (rather than being sent by email) so that we can be sure it is being sent to the person who is on record as a member of the College. With this password, you can go online and make up your own private password.
- Effective June 4, 2009, the information in the register which is available to the public (the public register) will also be available on the CMRTO website, as required by new legislation. The public register contains information on members including first and last name, registration class and specialist status, business address and business phone number, any terms, conditions and limitations that are in effect on a Certificate of Registration, and a notation of revocation or suspension of a Certificate of Registration. Using your personalized password, after May 4th you will be able to see the information about you which will be available to the public and to provide any updates to your information before the public register section of the website becomes active on June 4th.
More Changes to Member Services
At the same time as we are facilitating registration renewal and credit card payments online, we
are introducing a number of other changes to
member services:
- As of April 1, 2009 members can pay their annual registration fee by credit card (Visa or MasterCard only). A credit card payment form will be included in your renewal of registration package. Members who pay their annual registration fee by credit card will have their Certificate of Registration mailed to them once the payment is approved by the credit card company and the renewal is processed. (Note – there are no additional charges to members for this service.)
- Members may still pay their annual registration fee by cheque, however, the Certificate of Registration will be issued after a holding period of 21 days from the date the renewal is processed to allow for clearance of payment through the bank.
- Members who pay their annual registration fee by money order will have their Certificate of Registration mailed once their renewal is received and processed.
Strategic Plan
Last fall, College Council participated in a strategic planning session for 2009. During this session Council reviewed the existing strategic plan, considered external factors impacting the College and identified action items and key priorities to focus on in this calendar year. The College’s Strategic Plan comprises four areas - financial, customer, process and people.
Key priorities for 2009 include:
- responding to legislative changes (such as the Health System Improvements Act)
- implementing any changes resulting from HPRAC’s scope of practice review (see the article on this elsewhere in this issue of Insights)
- revising College publications to reflect legislative changes
- implementing the online public register and online member services (see the article on this elsewhere in this issue of Insights)
- continuing the development of a Quality Assurance practice assessment and remediation program
- working with other provincial regulatory bodies to facilitate MRT mobility as required by the Agreement on Internal Trade
HPRAC Review: MRT Scope of Practice
On February 2, 2009 the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care released the report “Critical Links: Transforming and Supporting Patient Care” prepared by the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council (HPRAC).
Under very tight time constraints the College had previously submitted a joint submission with the Ontario Association of Medical Radiation Technologists (OAMRT) to HPRAC, setting out recommendations on changing the scope of practice of MRTs to meet new workplace technologies and demands, and to facilitate interprofessional collaboration.
However, parts of HPRAC’s final report, in particular its recommended scope of practice statement for MRTs, caused the College a great deal of concern. If the government were to adopt HPRAC’s wording for the scope of practice statement, there would be serious restrictions on the practice of medical radiation technologists and radiation therapists in particular.
The College has written a strongly worded letter to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care explaining that the implementation recommendations presented by HPRAC in Chapter 6 of the report The Review of the Scope of Practice of Medical Radiation Technology could, if implemented unchanged, actually have the unintended consequence of restricting patient access to MRT services. The letter urges the Minister to consider the recommendations set out in the CMRTO/OAMRT joint submission which the College believes would further align the scope of practice for MRTs with the needs of the Ontario population. The College will be following up on this letter with the Minister’s office over the next few weeks.
Legal Ruling - Unauthorized Practice
The right to use the protected title “medical radiation technologist” is one of the most important rights granted to members of the College under the Medical Radiation Technology Act. It is the responsibility of the College to protect the public of Ontario from unqualified practitioners by making sure that only those qualified are allowed to practise as MRTs in the province. But we depend on members and the public to bring forward any cases in which someone appears to be holding him or herself out to be an MRT without being a member of the CMRTO.
Recently, after investigating a report of unauthorized practice, the College applied to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for an order under section 87 of the Health Professions Procedural Code (Schedule 2 of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991) to prevent a person from holding himself out as a medical radiation technologist.
On October 14, 2008, Justice Lederer of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued an order directing that Steven Roppel be restrained from holding himself out as a person who is qualified to practise as a medical radiation technologist in Ontario and directing that Mr. Roppel also be restrained from performing any acts which may only be performed by a person who is qualified in Ontario as a medical radiation technologist. The court ordered Mr. Roppel to pay a portion of the College’s costs fixed at $4,000.00.
Suspended Members
The following are the people whose certificates of registration were suspended between December 16, 2008 and March 27, 2009 for failure to pay their fees in accordance with section 24 of the Health Professions Procedural Code.
A person whose certificate of registration has been suspended is not a member of the College unless and until the suspension is removed.
| 01978 |
Deas, Ezekiel |
| 11909 |
Michaud, Michael |
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