Frequently Asked Questions - Change of Practice Ownership and Retiring

Log into your member portal, click on your name in the top right-hand corner, then click on ‘Submit Resignation Notice’.

First, read the important information regarding resignation. Next, select your reason for resignation and type your name in the signature field. Finally, click ‘Submit’ at the bottom of the page.

All resignations received between October 15 and December 31 become effective on December 31 of that same year.

Under Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), the selling dentist is responsible for the transfer of patient records to another health care custodian.

Read general information about the requirements of PHIPA, including the transfer of records to a successor.

The Information Privacy Commissioner (IPC) has produced the following documents to assist Ontario dentists to comply with the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA):

• How to Avoid Abandoned Records: Guidelines on the Treatment of Personal Health Information, in the Event of a Change in Practice
• Checklist for Health Information Custodians in the Event of a Planned or Unforeseen Change in Practice

You must make patients aware of how and where they can obtain copies of their records. Send a notification letter to patients, post a notice in the office prior to practice closure and/or arrange with the landlord to post a notice at the practice location for a period of time after closure.

Patients must provide consent if their records are stored on premises not controlled by you.

Disputes between practitioners or contractual arrangements should not affect the future treatment of patients, restrict patients' rights to choose the dentist of their choice, or limit the access of patients to their dental charts or records.

PHIPA allows a Health Information Custodian (HIC) to disclose personal health information to a potential purchaser for the purpose of assessing and evaluating the operations of the HIC’s practice. In order to do so, the custodian must first have the potential purchaser enter into a confidentiality agreement.

The selling dentist must notify the patients of the practice in writing about the change in ownership.

The estate trustees can act for the deceased dentist for an interim period during the sale of a practice. Contact Practice Advisory for more information.

The purchasing dentist must remove any reference to the previous owner on signs or stationery within one year of the change in ownership.

Yes. The new practice name must be approved by the College.

Under certain circumstances, the existing practice name, as opposed to the corporation name, may be used by the purchasing dentist.

The purchase and sale agreement typically contains provisions that transfer the responsibility to retain the records to the purchaser and gives the vendor the right of access to the records if required for the defence of a complaint or a claim against the dentist.

The continuity of patient care must always be a top priority. Develop a plan to resolve potential problems that may arise during and after the transfer of practice ownership.

• Prior to the sale, review the ongoing treatment needs of individual patients and identify those who are part-way through treatment.
• Establish a plan of completion for these patients, with financial arrangements that do not cause them unnecessary hardship.
• The purchasing dentist may have a more limited scope of practice or different areas of expertise than the selling dentist. If the completion of treatment will require a referral to a general dentist or dental specialist outside the practice, consider who will make the referral, and the effects on financial arrangements.
• Make a plan for retreatment of failed treatment. Include the plan as part of the agreement of purchase and sale.
• Consider a transition period in which both dentists work at the practice, and patients have the opportunity to get to know the new dentist. Ideally, the selling dentist will complete treatment and take care of retreatment.
• Identify patients with special financial arrangements with the selling dentist (e.g. a payment plan or assignment of dental benefits). The purchasing dentist could either agree to continue those arrangements, or notify patients in advance of any change in office financial policy that will affect them.

The purchasing dentist should discuss in advance with the patient the rationale for performing a comprehensive new patient examination, as well as the related cost. Patients charged a much higher fee than they are accustomed to for their first examination must be informed of the difference between this exam and their usual recall examination.

You should inform the patient of the treatment required. The purchasing dentist should consult with the selling dentist about the treatment provided. If the selling dentist is no longer working in the practice, any release of personal health information will require the patient’s consent.

All dentists, regardless of their expertise, will have outcomes from time to time that were not anticipated and the purchasing dentist may not be aware of circumstances that may have contributed to the failure of the patient’s treatment.

Consider ways to smoothly introduce any change in dental treatment philosophy. Discussing changes in treatment plans with patients will help avoid misunderstandings. Both parties may wish to discuss their respective treatment philosophies at an early stage in the sale negotiations to determine whether the practice is a good fit.

Dentists will continue to be protected indefinitely under the Professional Liability Program for claims arising out of professional services provided to a patient in Ontario while they were a member of the College.