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Council Highlights

Council highlights for December 7th, 2023

The 440th meeting of the RCDSO Council was held via Zoom on Thursday, December  7th 2023. The meeting was also livestreamed; a video recording of the Council session will be available on the College’s YouTube channel.

RCDSO President Harinder Sandhu provided opening remarks. He began by acknowledging the re-appointment of public member Rod Stableforth. Dr. Sandhu highlighted several governance changes for Council including the plan for more frequent meetings in 2024 as well as Council guidance regularly included in the materials. These changes will allow for deeper, more thorough discussions of matters before Council.

Dr. Sandhu underlined the progress made on the divestment of the Professional Liability Program (PLP). He outlined a number of key principles that will continue to guide Council’s decision-making, including:

  • supporting the College's duty to act in the public interest;
  • incorporating what is most important to the dental profession;
  • considering the best interests of PLP staff; and
  • being financially prudent.

At a number of events since September, including ODA Council in November, Dr. Sandhu heard from many dentists across the province. He heard that there is understandably some concern about this change and its implications for the profession. But he also understood that there is an appreciation that the College is changing PLP responsibly. He regularly underlines that this is a long and careful process and that there will be lots of notice to the profession. Stability during this process will be important for the public and for dentists.

Given the continued progress on the Emergency Class of Registration, Dr. Sandhu thanked the working group again for their assistance in meeting the timelines from government while ensuring that the class is efficient for providers and safe for patients. Dr. Sandhu also congratulated the Governance Committee, under the leadership of Anne Coghlan, for its early list of accomplishments including an operational policy and improvements to the elections process.

Professional Liability Program (PLP) procurement

At the December 7th meeting, Council directed staff to proceed with exploring the transfer of the Professional Liability Program (including current liabilities and staff) to a third party, with the goal of allowing the program to continue to operate, under separate ownership.

Council asked staff to begin the procurement process under the guidance of a procurement review group, as established by the Executive Committee. There will be a report on progress to Council in March 2024.

Council deliberations are viewable here. (RCDSO YouTube)

Dentists should carry on as per usual. Stability for both patients and dentists will be maintained during the transition process. Please keep calling PLP and our staff will continue to assist you. New and existing PLP cases will be processed as they always have been.

Once a third party has been selected, additional information will be provided to registrants who have an active PLP case. There will be a minimum of 12 months’ notice to the profession.

Registrar & CEO Update

Registrar & CEO Dan Faulkner updated Council on several topics:

  • Updates concerning the regulatory landscape included:
    • The College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario (CDHO) has launched an external review of its governance processes, conducted by Harry Cayton and Deanna Williams.
    • The Office of the Fairness Commissioner (OFC) has released to all regulators its updated risk-informed compliance framework. It is designed to assist in the oversight role of regulators by assigning a risk rating to each regulator and being transparent with all ratings.
    • The Provincial government has introduced legislation designed to help internationally-trained newcomers work in their fields by banning the use of Canadian experience as a requirement in job postings.
    • Media reports are increasing about health care professionals using private and public social media to share messages with hatred, racist, discriminatory and/or unprofessional views that are related to ongoing global conflicts. The College will receive and review any unprofessional material provided to us that originates from a dentist.
  • All four oral health colleges have published a consistent education module on legislated mandatory reporting for oral health professionals. You can find the RCDSO module here.
  • The annual renewal cycle for dentists launched on October 12th and we have issued regular reminders before the December 15th
  • There have been a number of recent cyberattacks on health care organizations. As discussed at the September Council meeting, constant vigilance is a necessity both in our professional and personal digital lives. Ongoing cybersecurity training is provided routinely to staff and will be provided to Council and Committee members.
  • The College hosted RCDSO Connect on November 1, 2023 on the topic of Canada’s Non-Insured Health Benefits Program (NIHB). Over 200 dentists heard about how they can deliver greater access to oral health care for First Nations and Inuit peoples.

Disability and Oral Health

Council heard from Ms. Joan Rush and Dr. Olaf Plotzke from the Canadian Society for Disability and Oral Health (CDSH). CSDH is a volunteer-driven, not-for-profit organization that advocates for equitable access to oral health care for people living with disabilities. Their members include dentists and dental specialists, dental hygienists, researchers, educators, students and disability advocates from all walks of life. According to CSDH, more than one in five (22%) Canadian residents aged 15 and older – about 8 million individuals – live with one or more disabilities. By age 75, that number grows to 47%.

Access to oral health care for persons living with disabilities relates to the RCDSO’s Strategic Plan as an area of focus under the professionalism pillar—and reflects our commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Ms. Rush and Dr. Plotzke encouraged the College to promote the education of dentists in best practices for treating people living with disabilities. Council members were strongly supportive of increasing awareness of the challenges to equitable access for all people to all health care practices. They also highlighted the experience of friends and family members living with disabilities in seeking health care generally.

Budget 2024

The College is in a healthy financial position. Each year, staff prepare a budget to fund the operations and business plan for the College. The Finance, Audit and Risk (FAR) Committee annually sets out the budget principles. For the 2024 Operating and Capital Budgets, the Committee requested that the budget:

  • be in surplus;
  • include adequate resources dedicated to the strategic plan and projects;
  • support the College’s decision to continue to operate in a hybrid model (remote and on-site);
  • accommodate PLP Task Force recommendations; and
  • support an adequate staff complement to maintain College targets.

Council discussed and approved the 2024 Operating and Capital Budgets, with planned surpluses for the next four years. The generation of these surpluses was intentional in order to fund the Operating Reserve and move away from six years of deficits, which was unsustainable.

Standard on Virtual Care

The growing use of technology to deliver dental care remotely has prompted questions regarding the legal, professional and ethical considerations of virtual care.  A new draft Standard of Practice on Virtual Care was developed by a working group and released for consultation from June to August of 2023.

A total of 57 responses were received recommending clarity on several items including the scope of the Standard, services to be provided virtually, potential for fraud, obtaining consent and recordings. The working group made a number of revisions to the Standard which Council considered and approved. These included (among others):

  • revisions to definitions (direct and indirect care);
  • recordings of virtual appointments;
  • expectations about cross-border care for Ontario dentists; and
  • expectations for out-of-province dentists.

The new standard and FAQs will be posted on the College website.

Governance Modernization

The new Governance Committee, formally established at the September Council meeting, made its first presentation to Council. Committee Chair Anne Coghlan presented several minor revisions to the Committee’s operational policy regarding committee appointments. The amendments clarify that the committee nominations function now rests with the Governance Committee and set out the vacancy appointment processes, in accordance with the bylaws.

Ms. Coghlan also presented Council with some bylaw amendment recommendations to improve the elections process for the next term. The first recommended change was to streamline elections processes and associated timelines to improve efficiency.

The second recommended change was to end the provision of mailing lists and labels to election candidates. Paper-based campaigns are not environmentally friendly. They are costly, resource-intensive, administratively cumbersome and present barriers to equitable campaigning. The College will explore other options for enabling candidates’ election campaigning.

The third recommended change aligns candidate and voter eligibility dates so registrants will always stand for election and vote in the same district. Registrants are still permitted to run in any district where they practise dentistry, but those who practise in multiple districts must select their electoral district earlier in the process. If they do not practise in Ontario, dentists are still permitted to seek election in the district where they live.

Finally, Council approved, in principle, a bylaw amendment to add the registrant’s electoral district to the public register, which will help dentists find their own districts for voting eligibility if it is not known and may be helpful to candidates in campaigning. This proposed change to the by-law has been posted for consultation and will be brought to Council for final approval in March 2024.

Next meeting

The next meeting of Council will be hybrid (in person and via Zoom) and is scheduled for Thursday, March 28th, 2024. The meeting will also be livestreamed.