Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Medical Profession Act. The purpose of this bill is to allow for regulation of physicians providing virtual care to NWT residents. The use of virtual care has greatly increased, in large part due to the limit of inperson contact and medical travel during the COVID19 pandemic.
We engaged with physicians throughout the development of this bill and have committed to undertake a collaborative approach to physician regulation. We know that this work needs to be informed and supported by these professionals.
I appreciate the Standing Committee on Social Development's willingness to work with us to further amend the bill based on the feedback we received from the committee and medical professionals.
The major amendment in this bill exempts physicians in other provinces and territories from having to register to provide virtual care to NWT residents if they have a referral from an NWT doctor or nurse practitioner. Physicians in other provinces and territories within the NWT referral pathways do not have to be licensed in the NWT in addition to their home jurisdiction.
This exemption allows greater access to services for residents while reducing administrative burden for physicians. We've heard that too much paperwork to be licensed means physicians will withdraw their services from the NWT.
Second, the amendments also clarify that physicians must abide by professional standards of practice. The standards of practice set out the minimum expectations of care provided by physicians. Currently, this is an oversight not included in the Medical Profession Act.
An amendment to the bill adds a new regulationmaking power that allows for the standards of practice to be created or adopted.
We have a well-established relationship with the College of Physicians and Surgeons for Alberta. For many years, the complaints officer under the Medical Profession Act has been contracted through the college which gives advantages of economies of scale, expertise, and resources that are not available in the Northwest Territories.
With the Alberta College's full knowledge and support, work has been ongoing since 2019 to adopt standards of practice for NWT physicians that are similar to standards set by the Alberta College. The Alberta College's standards are consistent with the standards of practice for physicians in all other provinces.
This work was initiated by the complaints officer under the Medical Profession Act. The territorial medical director at the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority and the department have been working on adapting the Alberta standards of practice to align with the NWT legislation and is working collaboratively with the NWT physicians to finalize them. That concludes my opening remarks. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Would you like to bring witnesses in to the Chamber.
Please.
SergeantatArms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber.
Minister, please introduce your witnesses for the record.
Thank you, Madam Chair. On my left is Cherie Jarock, legislative counsel, and on my right is Kelly Mahoney, director of policy for the Department of Health and Social Services.
Thank you. I will now turn to the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Development, the committee that reviewed the bill for any opening comments on Bill 40. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, Bill 40, an Act to Amend the Medical Profession Act, received second reading in the Legislative Assembly on November 26th, 2021, and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Development for review on March 28th, 2022. Committee sought and received an extension to our review period.
On May 19th, 2022, the standing committee held a public hearing with the Minister of Health and Social Services and completed its clausebyclause review of the bill. Ten motions were carried by committee and concurred with by the Minister.
I thank the stakeholders who provided feedback, Members of the standing committee for their efforts in reviewing this legislation, and of course the Minister of Health and Social Services for her collaboration in improving this bill together.
Individual Members may have additional comments or questions. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Thank you. I will now open the floor to general comments on Bill 40. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I want to thank the committee and the Minister for the work on the bill. I was able to sit in on a lot of the committee proceedings and discussions, deliberations about this bill.
The one improvement that the Minister did not mention, that I think is worthy of highlighting here, is that the addition of section 24.1 which modifies the way in which the work on regulating the medical profession is going to change.
This new clause, which was proposed by the committee and accepted by the Minister, but it was proposed by the committee, requires that there be consultation with the Northwest Territories Medical Association that was that's not in the existing legislation. So I think this will create a higher level of comfort moving forward.
I think there were some miscommunications around how the profession is actually regulated in the North and perhaps some misunderstanding about how the medical profession is regulated in the Northwest Territories, but I think with the addition in particular of this clause, I think it has created a level of comfort that was not there before and some protection for the medical profession. So I want to thank the committee for their work on this. Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Are there any further general comments? Does the committee agree that there are no further general comments? Member for Great Slave.
Sorry about that, Madam Chair. Thank you. I just wanted to comment that I appreciate everybody that did input on this bill. As I'm still learning how the legislative process all works, I found it to be one that was informative and showed me how things could shift and change as we work through it, and I appreciate the adaptability of the department and such.
I guess one comment I just wanted to make was that I find it quite interesting the parallel to a profession like engineering, that I am more familiar with the regulation of, and then the doctors and the medical professionals.
So I guess I just have more of a comment that I we love to take from others, and I think that NAPEG and the engineers and other professional associations could probably help guide this work further if we were to move towards a selfregulating group. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Are there any further general comments? Does committee agree that there are no further general comments? Can we proceed to the clausebyclause review of Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Medical Profession Act?
Committee, a number of clauses were deleted during the Standing Committee on Social Development's clausebyclause review of Bill 40 on May 19th, 2022. The reprint before us today indicates where those clauses were deleted. As the clauses were deleted by standing committee with a concurrent of the Minister of Health and Social Services, they are not part of the bill before us today, and we will not be voting on them.
Committee, we will defer the bill number and title until after consideration of the clauses. Please turn to page 1 of the bill.
Clause 1, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 2, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed.
Clause 3 and 4 were deleted in Standing Committee on May 19, 2022.
Clause 5, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 6, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 7, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 8, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 9, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 10, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 11, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 12 through 19 were deleted in Standing Committee on May 19, 2022.
Clause 20, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 21, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 22, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 23, was deleted in Standing Committee on May 19, 2022.
Clause 24, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 24.1, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Clause 25, does committee agree?
Agreed.
Committee, to the bill as a whole, does committee agree that Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Medical Profession Act is now ready for third reading?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. Does the committee agree that this concludes our consideration of Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Medical Profession Act?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. We have concluded consideration of Bill 40, An Act to Amend the Medical Profession Act.
Thank you, Minister, and thank you to your witnesses. SergeantatArms, please escort the witnesses from the Chamber.
Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress. Mahsi.
There's a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and nondebatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion is carried.
Carried
I will now rise and report progress.
