Legislating interprofessional collaboration: A policy analysis of health professions regulatory legislation in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Changes to Ontario’s health professions regulatory system were initiated through various legislative amendments. These amendments introduced a legislative obligation for health regulatory colleges to support interprofessional collaboration (IPC), collaborate where they share controlled acts, and incorporate IPC into their quality assurance programs. The purpose of this policy analysis was to identify activities, strategies, and collaborations taking place within health professions regulatory colleges pertaining to legislative changes related to IPC. A qualitative content analysis of (1) college documents pertaining to IPC (n = 355) and (2) interviews with representatives from 14 colleges. Three themes were identified: ideal versus reality; barriers to the ideal; and legislating IPC. Commitment to the ideal of IPC was evident in college documents and interviews. Colleges expressed concern about the lack of clarity regarding the intent of legislation. In addition, barriers stemming from long-standing issues in practice including scope of practice protection, conflicting legislation, and lack of knowledge about the roles of other health professionals impede IPC. Government legislation and health professional regulation have important roles in supporting IPC; however, broader collaboration may be required to achieve policy objectives.

• Health professions regulation
• interprofessional collaboration
• legislation
• mixed methods
• policy
• policy analysis

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Ontario health professions regulatory colleges for participating in the study. The authors would also like to acknowledge the contributions of Dr. Ivy Bourgeault and Dr. Arthur Sweetman for their work developing the conceptual framework for the policy analysis.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the writing and content of the paper.

This study was funded by a grant from the Ontario Health Human Resources Research Network.