April News and Updates From the College

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The College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario

Newsletter | April 2024

In this issue…

Coming Soon: Annual Learning Plan
Update: Canada Disability Benefit
Public Awareness Radio Spot and Articles
Reminder: Annual Renewal
Coming Soon: Navigating Privacy Legislation Presentation
Case of the Month: Working with OTAs in a Private Community-Based Practice
Insights from Investigations: Responding to Investigations
New Board Executive
April Board Meeting Highlights
April Poll and March Results

Important News

Information and Updates

Annual Learning Plan

Launching next week

Watch your inbox next week! 📬 The Annual Learning Plan will be available soon.

To get ready for its release, please make sure you have set up your COTO account in our new COTO Portal system. The COTO Portal is the central location to access all your College activities, including your Quality Assurance requirements.

All registrants have been sent an email with instructions on how to set up their new COTO Portal account.

Canada Disability Benefit

Latest update from the Government of Canada

The Government of Canada’s Office for Disability Issues within the Department of Employment and Social Development released an update on the new Canada Disability Benefit (CDB).

The Canada Disability Benefit Act passed in 2023 and will come into force later this year. The Government of Canada will begin providing payments to eligible Canadians starting in 2025.

See the latest update on the Canada Disability Benefit

Public Awareness

Radio Spot and Articles

Share these resources with your friends, family, and colleagues

This spring, COTO released a radio spot and series of public awareness articles. These are part of a campaign to create understanding of what to expect when working with a licensed occupational therapist.

These articles are also available on our website. Please contact communications@coto.org with any questions.

Listen to the radio spot

Mark Your Calendar

Reminders and Dates to Remember

Reminder: Annual Renewal

Set up your COTO Portal account and complete your annual renewal by May 31, 2024

Annual renewal is now open. Follow these tips to get ready for renewal.

As of February 2024, the COTO Portal is the central location to access all your College activities, including:
Annual renewal
Tax receipts
Profile updates including contact information, employment, and insurance
Quality Assurance Program activities (coming soon)

To renew, if you have not already, you must first set up your COTO account in our new Portal system. All registrants have been sent an email with instructions on how to set up their new COTO Portal account.

You will need to create a new username and password to access the COTO Portal. Make sure your email address in your College profile is up-to-date prior to completing your annual renewal.

Save your newly created username and password for your COTO Portal account. This is the only username and password you need to access all COTO services.

If you have questions, we are happy to help.

Contact registration@coto.org or 1-800-890-6570 x230 for assistance or check the COTO Portal Frequently Asked Questions.

View the COTO Portal FAQs

Privacy Legislation Presentation

Coming soon

Next month our Practice team will be providing an overview of the Privacy Legislation and Occupational Therapy Practice guidance document. They will also be discussing common questions from OTs.

This pre-recorded video presentation will be on COTO's YouTube Channel. You can subscribe to our channel to get notified as soon as it's available! 🔔

Review our Privacy Legislation resource

You and Your Practice

Information and Resources

Case of the Month

Working with OTAs in a Private Community-Based Practice

Quinn is an occupational therapist and owner of a private practice. She receives referrals mainly from insurers and lawyers for clients after motor vehicle accident or personal injury. Quinn has several occupational therapists working for her as contractors, but as the demand for services grow, she is considering hiring an occupational therapy assistant (OTA).

Quinn is not as familiar with the use of OTAs in the private sector where the work is community-based. A call with the College Practice Resource service provided an opportunity to discuss her questions.

Read the case

Do you assign activities to an OTA?

Yes

Select

Insight from Investigations

Responding to Investigations

Receiving a letter or notice from the College about an investigation can be very stressful.

It is helpful to know that all investigations are driven by facts and defined processes.

As health care professionals, occupational therapists are accountable for their behaviour and expected to offer context and insight into the underlying situation.

Learn more about the process and the involvement of the occupational therapist.

Read the article

Looking for the Standards of Practice and other resources?

Resources are available here: Standards and Practice Resources

Tip: 📑 Bookmark the page for future reference!

College Governance

New Board Executive

The election of Board officers was conducted after the April 4, 2024 Board meeting.

Congratulations to our new Board Executive:

Neelam Bal (Chair)
Stacey Anderson (Vice-Chair)
Allan Freedman (Director)
Lucy Kloosterhuis (Director).

On behalf of the Board, College Registrar and Chief Executive Officer Elinor Larney thanked outgoing Chair of the Board Teri Shackleton for her leadership and contributions over the past year.

Learn more about the College Board

April Board Meeting Highlights

The College Board held a meeting on April 4, 2024. View the key decisions in the highlights from the meeting.

Want to learn more about decisions that affect the profession and the public we serve? The next meeting will be held on June 20, 2024.

Meetings are open to the public. Meeting dates and materials are posted online.

View the Board meeting highlights

Connect with Us

Take the latest poll

April Poll & March Results

How would you consider getting involved with the College?

Serving on a Committee

Select

Serving on the Board of Directors

Select

Becoming a Peer Assessor

Select

Participating in a working group or focus group

All of the above

None of the above

Not sure

There are many ways you can get involved with the College. If you'd like to learn more and share your ideas, visit our website to learn more about how you can get involved.

In March we asked you: What types of investigations would you like more information about?

We received 163 votes and here are the results:

19.0% voted Complaints from members of the public (usually clients or their families) (31 votes)
17.8% voted Reports from other sources (usually employers or other occupational therapists) (29 votes)
63.2% voted Both (103 votes)

Thank you for participating in our poll!

In case you missed it, we provided an overview of June–December 2023 concerns and outcomes. These concerns are connected to the relevant occupational therapy competency. Understanding the types of concerns the College receives and investigates is of interest to both registrants and the public.

Review the June-December data on concerns and outcomes

Do you know someone who would like to be added to our mailing list?

They can sign up here. Have additional comments or suggestions for the College email news? Send your thoughts to communications@coto.org.

Any changes to your profile information in the last 30 days? Make sure you update your profile.

UPDATE YOUR INFORMATION

DO NOT UNSUBSCRIBE IF YOU ARE A REGISTRANT OF THE COLLEGE.

If registrants unsubscribe, they will be contacted to re-subscribe. The College communicates to occupational therapists by email regarding changes to standards, mandatory registration requirements, public consultations and more. We strive to keep communication relevant and to a minimum.

View past issues of the College's enewsletter in our archive

20 Bay Street, Suite 900, Toronto, ON · 416-214-1177 · 1-800-890-6570 · coto.org · info@coto.org

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