Members of COMPO

There are three classes of categories of registration – General, Inactive, Retired. Members holding a General (i.e., active) Certificate of Registration must comply with COMPO regulations, standards of practice, policies and guidelines, as well as all Quality Assurance (QA) programs.

COMPO views Quality Assurance as an important step in ensuring the public of Ontario receive competent and ethical osteopathic manual practice care.

Standards of Practice

Covering a variety of subjects, standards of practice guide members of the College of Osteopathic Manual Practitioners of Ontario in osteopathic care and ensure the quality of the manual osteopathic profession. They also promote continuing competence among members.

Policies

Policies aim to help members understand their professional responsibilities, clarify and interpret regulations, and state COMPO’s position on a variety of topics.

Guidelines

Guidelines provide advice, recommendations and guidance to members. Guidelines are easy to implement and to quicker to change because they only require approval by Council.

Quality Assurance

The Quality Assurance (QA) responsibility includes protection of the public, and developing programs to assist in establishing, maintaining and improving the base line standards of knowledge, skill and competency of COMPO members.

Objectives of the Quality Assurance Program

  • To assure the quality of the practice of the profession;
  • To promote continuing evaluation, competence and improvement in the quality of care provided by members
  • To develop, establish and maintain standards of practice.
  • To achieve improved patient outcomes.


Components of the Quality Assurance Program

  • Peer and Practice Assessment Program
  • Self Assessment and Continuing Education Program
  • Various QA standards of practice, policies and guidelines
  • Individual Member Remediation


Self Assessment

The self assessment is for members’ personal use. It has been designed to help members reflect their current professional proficiency, identify areas for improvement and develop a learning plan that will address those areas that need improvement. Members will be required to complete the self assessment once every two years.

Once members have completed the Self-Assessment Questionnaire and have identified areas that need improvement, members should transfer the information to the Plan of Action Summary Sheet, which then becomes part of the member’s professional portfolio. Members should use the information from the summary sheet to develop a learning plan that will guide their CE and professional development.

Professional Portfolio

The professional portfolio consists of the following components:

  • the Professional Portfolio, where members document their continuing education activities; and
  • the Self-Assessment Plan of Action Summary Sheet.


Participation is Mandatory

Every COMPO member holding a general certificate of registration is required to maintain a professional portfolio, which will be made available to the QA Committee upon request or to the peer assessor during a peer assessment.

Osteopathic manual practitioners who become General members mid-cycle (eg., new members, members transferring from the inactive or retired class) will not be required to comply with that current cycle’s requirements. They will be required to participate and report on self assessment and continuing education during the next cycle.

Members will be required to complete the Continuing Education and Professional Development Log as part of their registration renewal. In this document, members must demonstrate that they have completed their 40 hours of CE over a two-year cycle.

Continuing Education

Participating in continuing education activities and maintaining a log of these activities in a professional portfolio is an integral part of striving for excellence. The QA Committee developed the self assessment,

peer and practice assessment and professional portfolio programs to help guide members in their CE and professional development activities.

Members are required to participate in 40 hours of CE over a two-year period, as determined by COMPO. In accumulating the 40 hours. COMPO requires members to:

  • Participate in a minimum of 20 hours (out of the 40 hours) in structured CE activities;
  • Participate in a maximum of 20 hours (out of the 40 hours) in unstructured CE activities;
  • Record participation in CE activities in their professional portfolio; and
  • Maintain in their professional portfolio materials they have gathered while fulfilling their CE requirements (e.g., course outlines, brochures from conventions/conferences);


CE activities must reflect those areas identified as needing improvement in members’ completed self assessments, peer and practice assessments and other areas of interest. In addition, CE activities must relate to osteopathic manual practice, and should enhance members’ professional knowledge base so they can provide the best osteopathic manual practice care possible to the public of Ontario.

The Process

If you have been selected to participate in the Peer & Practice Assessment Program, please do the following:

  • Review the Peer & Practice Assessment Program Handbook that was sent to you
  • Mail the following items to COMPO within 15 days of receiving the assessment notification
  • pre-visit questionnaire
  • one current sterilized patient file (name/other identifying information removed)
  • blank sample of clinical charts/forms
  • list of abbreviations and short forms used (if any)


When COMPO receives your completed materials, the materials will be forwarded to your assessor, who will contact you (telephone or e-mail) to arrange a mutually convenient time to conduct the assessment.

The assessment may not occur right away and does not have to occur during office hours.

Privacy

There are two pieces of legislation that concern privacy issues – the federal Personal Information and Protection of Electronic Documents Act, 2000 (PIPEDA), and the provincial Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA).

PIPEDA sets out the rules for how the private sector may collect, use or disclose personal information in the course of commercial activities. PHIPA covers the non-profit sector and governs the collection, use and disclosure of personal health information by health care custodians in Ontario. PHIPA is enforced by Ontario’s Information & Privacy Commissioner (IPC).

For more information on PIPEDA:



For more information on PHIPA:



Reducing Abuse and Fraud in Health Care Services for Auto Insurance

The Financial Services Commission of Ontario has produced a brochure that addresses reducing abuse and fraud in health care services for auto insurance. Please consult this brochure to learn about the role of health professionals in this area. http://cco.on.ca/site_documents/FSCO_Auto_Fraud_Brochure-English.pdf
http://cco.on.ca/site_documents/FSCO_Auto_Fraud_Brochure-French.pdf