Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
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<strong>Health</strong> systems in transition <strong>Canada</strong> 51<br />
Ontario’s ministry of health has been among the most active governments<br />
in <strong>Canada</strong> in using regulation as a tool in human resource policy and<br />
planning (O’Reilly, 2000). This has included the introduction of a single law<br />
that provides a common regulatory framework <strong>for</strong> all the health professions<br />
and the establishment of a permanent <strong>Health</strong> Professions Regulatory Advisory<br />
Council (HPRAC) in the 1990s. The goals of the law include promoting<br />
higher quality care, treating professionals equitably by providing a single set<br />
of regulatory principles, improving the accountability of the professions to<br />
patients and providing more choice by ensuring access to a range of providers.<br />
In its 2006 report, HPRAC recommended a number of changes to the 21<br />
regulatory colleges governing 23 health professions under Ontario’s Regulated<br />
<strong>Health</strong> Professions Act to facilitate more effective human resource policy and<br />
planning. For example, HPRAC recommended that new stand-alone colleges<br />
with the powers of self-regulation be created <strong>for</strong> psychotherapists, kinesiologists,<br />
naturopaths and homeopaths, and that optometrists be granted authority to<br />
prescribe pharmaceutical therapies (HPRAC, 2006).<br />
2.8.4 Regulation and governance of pharmaceuticals and natural<br />
health products<br />
Only physicians are legally permitted to prescribe a full range of pharmaceutical<br />
therapies. However, in recent years, a number of provincial governments have<br />
changed their laws and regulations in order to permit some providers, including<br />
nurse practitioners, pharmacists and dentists, to have limited authority to<br />
prescribe pharmaceutical therapies within their respective scopes of practice.<br />
Through its Therapeutic Products Directorate and the Biologics and<br />
Genetics Therapies Directorate, <strong>Health</strong> <strong>Canada</strong> determines the initial approval<br />
and labelling of all prescription drugs. In 2004, the Natural <strong>Health</strong> Products<br />
Directorate was established, and <strong>Health</strong> <strong>Canada</strong> began to regulate traditional<br />
herbal medicines, vitamins and mineral supplements as well as homeopathic<br />
preparations in terms of initial approval and labelling. <strong>Health</strong> <strong>Canada</strong> also<br />
prohibits direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drug products,<br />
a prohibition that has been challenged as contrary to the Charter of Rights and<br />
Freedoms by one of <strong>Canada</strong>’s largest media chains (Flood, 2010). Despite the<br />
current prohibition, a large proportion of the Canadian public is influenced<br />
by DTCA through cable and satellite television networks that originate in the<br />
United States where DTCA is permitted. Advertising of prescription drugs to<br />
health professionals is subject to federal legislation as well as to advertising<br />
and ethical practices codes established by industry associations (Mintzes et al.,<br />
2002; Paris & Docteur, 2006).