{"id":20065,"date":"2025-09-17T15:57:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T19:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cpbao.ca\/?p=20065"},"modified":"2025-10-31T16:41:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T20:41:47","slug":"ministry-of-health-consultations-on-proposed-changes-to-certain-psychologists-scope-of-practice-to-advance-access-to-certain-mental-health-services-in-ontario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cpbao.ca\/fr\/ministry-of-health-consultations-on-proposed-changes-to-certain-psychologists-scope-of-practice-to-advance-access-to-certain-mental-health-services-in-ontario\/","title":{"rendered":"Ministry of Health Consultations on proposed changes to certain psychologists&rsquo; scope of practice to advance access to certain mental health services in Ontario"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The College is pleased to share the Ministry of Health\u2019s public consultation regarding the potential expansion of the scope of practice of psychology to include the prescription of specific medications and the ordering\/interpreting of specialized assessment measures (e.g. laboratory work; electrophysiology).&nbsp;The College does not have a timeline for if or when the Ministry will grant these changes and wish to stress that they are not currently in place. This consultation is an important step in the process. More information is available at the Ontario&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.regulatoryregistry.gov.on.ca\/proposal\/51713\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Regulatory Registry<\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As this is a Ministry of Health consultation,\u00a0<strong><em>please note responses are received by the Ministry rather than the College.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Summary of the proposal<\/strong><br>Ontario continues to explore opportunities to expand the scopes of practice for regulated health professionals to support several key government priorities, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ontario\u2019s Primary Care Action Plan commitment to ensure all of Ontario\u2019s highly qualified health care professionals can work to their full scope of practice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ontario\u2019s 2023 Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care which prioritizes making it easier for the people of Ontario to connect to the care they need, maximizes the expertise of the province\u2019s workforce, streamlines the patient pathway, and reduces delays in care.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, in 2020, the province introduced the Roadmap to Wellness which commits to building a comprehensive and connected mental health and addictions system that is sensitive to the needs of Ontario\u2019s diverse population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Ministry is consulting on the following scope of practice expansions for psychologists:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Authorizing psychologists with advanced education and who hold a postdoctoral Master of Science degree in clinical psychopharmacology (MSCP), to prescribe select psychotropic drugs for the management and\/or treatment of mental health conditions and addictions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Authorizing these same psychologists to order and interpret specific laboratory tests (e.g., bloodwork, urinalysis, mouth swabs) and\/or other tests (e.g., electrocardiograms (ECGs)) to support therapeutic drug monitoring.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enhancing collaboration between psychologists and primary care providers, such as physicians and nurse practitioners.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Relevant dates<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Posting date:&nbsp;<strong>Sep 17, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Comment due date:&nbsp;<strong>Nov 3, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Analysis of the regulatory impact<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ministry is not making any specific legislative or regulatory changes and is only consulting on the proposed scope of practice changes. If some or all of these scope of practice changes are implemented, there may be costs to the °µÍø½ûÇøapp and\/or other health system partners to invest in education and training, personnel and equipment to support these expansions. The consultation will help inform the ministry on the potential cost implications and resource needs that may be associated with these proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.regulatoryregistry.gov.on.ca\/proposal\/51713\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Provide feedback on this proposal<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The College is pleased to share the Ministry of Health\u2019s public consultation regarding the potential expansion of the scope of practice of psychology to include the prescription of specific medications and the ordering\/interpreting of specialized assessment measures (e.g. laboratory work; electrophysiology).&nbsp;The College does not have a timeline for if or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"headlines_issue":[],"class_list":["post-20065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpbao.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpbao.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpbao.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpbao.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpbao.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cpbao.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpbao.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpbao.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpbao.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20065"},{"taxonomy":"headlines_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpbao.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/headlines_issue?post=20065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}