Regulation

The responsibility of a College of Massage Therapists is to:

• regulate the conduct of massage therapists through standards of practice and a code of ethics
• serve and protect the interest of the public by reducing risk of harm
• provide a public record of practitioners who violate the College's Code of Ethics
• maintain a public registry of all massage therapists in the College
• protect professional titles such as Registered Massage Therapist, RMT, and others
• investigate and address complaints from the public and patients
• act when one of their registrants is practicing  incompetently, unethically, or illegally
• determine registration requirements, including education, to ensure registrants are qualified and competent

The College does not provide practitioner liability insurance, membership benefits, or continuing education.

There will be a fee charged by the College for membership with them. The fee will vary between each province or territory, and it will depend on factors such as the number of members and the staff required to meet the workload of managing the College.

To get a sense of what the fees might be, you can visit the websites of existing Colleges to learn more about their fees.

No. Your insurance will be provided by your association like it is now. Insurance will be required by the College for you to be considered in good standing.

Once the College is operational, there will be an entry-to-practice exam, but our negotiation position is that all members in good standing with their association will transition into the College during the start up.

All associations have a disciplinary process, so it is viable that all members in good standing could transition.

For massage therapists who join the College after it is operational, the Massage Therapy Reference is a good study resource.

As the College of Massage Therapists forms in unregulated provinces, currently practising massage therapists may have their previous experience, education, and professional standing with their association evaluated for transitional entry into the College.

The practice of recognizing current competencies for membership in the College is called grandfathering. Historically, massage therapists in newly regulated provinces are grandfathered into the College if they are in good standing with a professional association when the College is formed.

Once the College takes over regulatory responsibilities, transitional entry will no longer be available. The College of Massage Therapists will determine the entry requirements that all practitioners must meet.

For this reason, it is important to keep your NHPC membership in good standing by providing safe and ethical treatment, completing your Continued Competency Program credits during your reporting period, and renewing your membership on time.

Disciplinary processes will be the responsibility of the College and not your professional association.

If you are not a member of the College, it will be required by law in your province/territory that you cannot use the designation of Registered Massage Therapist (RMT), or any other protected title stated in the legislation.

Once you are a member of the College, you will be bound by the rules of the College, as you have been by your association. The College will have the authority to restrict your license to practice or to deny it completely.

If you are a Registered Massage Therapist in a province where there is a College, you will be able to practice more easily in other provinces than if you move from a province that is not regulated to one that is.

We will continue to provide our members with the following after regulation takes place:

• medical malpractice, commercial general liability, and contents insurance at competitive rates
• Canada-wide membership and insurance coverage
• extended health benefits and other discounted products and services
• continuing education opportunities
• one-on-one advice on managing a practice and client relations
• relationship-building with other health professionals
• advocacy on members' behalf to the government, College, and insurance industry
• building public awareness of NHPC-recognized holistic health practices

The most important thing you can do is to stay engaged with your association and pay attention to email updates, like NHPC News. We encourage you to attend member meetings such as the Annual General Meeting or Connections Cafes to ask questions and hear the latest news.

Keep up to date on your insurance and other membership deadlines and requirements to remain in good standing with the NHPC.

Each College provides requirements for registration. Visit each regulatory college's website directly for information about registering in that province/territory:

If you are an NHPC member, your association membership includes professional liability insurance coverage wherever you work in Canada.

For example, the NHPC has members who are working in BC (a regulated province) performing massage and who are not registrants with the College of Massage Therapists of British Columbia (CMTBC). This is permissible under the legislation.

As an NHPC member, you can perform massage in BC, but you must not use any of the CMTBC reserved titles or describe yourself with any of the terms from the reserved titles list.

If the CMTBC learns that you are using any of these, they will request that you stop. If you do not, they can take legal action.

The reserved titles are:

• registered massage therapist
• massage therapist
• registered massage practitioner
• massage practitioner

Consult CMTBC directly to learn more about legislation and reserved titles in BC.

In provinces where massage therapy is regulated, insurance companies will usually only reimburse the receipts of Registered Massage Therapists (RMTs); for example, in BC, those who are registered with the CMTBC.

Based on our experience with health benefit insurers, only massage therapy services provided by RMTs are reimbursable in BC. Your clients would not be able to get reimbursed for your services if you are not registered with the CMTBC. This could limit your practice if your clients want to use health benefits for massage therapy.

If you have additional questions, please contact:

Paul Donovan
Government and Industry Relations Director
pdonovan@nhpcanada.org
780-484-2010 ext. 222