Transforming and Supporting Patient Care - Health Professions ...

35Chapter 2 – Excellence in Health Profession Regulation: Raising the Bar in Ontario• Embrace a strategic change management agenda that includes adeclaration of collective will to modernize the regulatory system tothe highest standards of regulatory excellence;• Move beyond an individual profession-focused paradigm to one thatencompasses an enabling framework (including commonly developedand enforceable standards of practice) to help achieve greatercollaboration between and among Colleges;• Encourage the development of best practices in self-regulation andcollaborate with each other to seize new opportunities to promoteand facilitate interprofessional collaboration and enhance regulatoryrigour and excellence, and• Enhance accountability through performance measurement andreporting to achieve greater consistency in how Colleges carry outtheir functions.The recommendations in this report lay the foundation for achievingHPRAC’s vision of a dynamic health profession regulatory system for the21 st century.Regulatory Reform: Raising the Bar in OntarioA Changing Context for the Minister’s QuestionThe success of many new program initiatives of the Ministry of Health andLong-Term Care depends, to a great extent, on the development of newshared models of care that are supported and not impeded by thelegislative and regulatory framework. Interprofessional collaboration at theregulatory level must be improved, not as an end in itself, but as amechanism to increase regulatory effectiveness in a health care system thatis and that will become more and more dependent upon interprofessionalpatient care.HPRAC finds that interprofessional collaboration among health colleges willnot always happen on its own. Moreover, in addition to enhancinginterprofessional collaboration at the regulatory level, it is imperative toimprove regulatory rigour and to strengthen the accountability ofregulators themselves. This direction includes:• Enhancing accountability for all health colleges to ensure that theygovern in the public interest;• Supporting and mentoring new health colleges;• Fostering a culture that encourages and values collaboration (whereit is helpful or necessary to effective protection of the publicinterest), trust, transparency and accountability to the public andother stakeholders;• Identifying and adopting best practices common functions for healthcolleges to effectively deal with common challenges or problems,particularly those of a recurring nature;HPRAC Critical Links January 2009