Scope of practice

Scope of practice sets what a practitioner may do, which in turn shapes which services a practice can offer. A buyer meets it when checking that the clinic’s services match the licences of the people who will deliver them.

How the statutes use it

Ontario’s Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 lists controlled acts. Section 27(1) says no person shall perform one in the course of providing health care services to an individual unless the person is a member authorized by a health profession Act to perform it, or it has been delegated to the person by such a member. Section 28 requires a delegation to follow any applicable regulations under the health profession Act governing the member’s profession, and section 27(3) and section 29 contain exemptions and exceptions. Alberta’s Health Professions Act frames the question differently: its Part 0.1 sets out restricted activities that, subject to exceptions, a person may perform on another only if authorized as that Part provides. Other provinces have their own statutes.

What to check or ask

• Which services each practitioner performs and whether each falls within that profession’s scope.
• Whether any act is delegated, and whether the delegation follows the applicable regulations.
• Whether new services the buyer plans fit the buyer’s own profession.

The guide to patient records, licensing and regulatory approval covers the wider transfer. Questions of scope can be put to the regulatory college.