Webinar on the Standard for Advertising

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[00:02] Hello, everyone. Welcome to the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncture Webinar on the Standard for Advertising and What TCM Practitioners Need to Know. Thank you for taking time out and being here today. My name is Ann Zeng, and I'm the Registrar and CEO of the college. Over the past several months, members of the college have been working really hard to adapt to the new COVID realities. Our members have experienced impacts to every aspect of their work and personal life. I applaud all of you who have adapted so well to our current lifestyles, both personal and professional. And for those having difficulty, please know that we will continue to do our best to support you and remove unnecessary barriers while still fulfilling our mandate to regulate the profession in the public's interest.

[01:11] We thank all the members for your continued efforts and commitment to protecting your patients, staff, and the community. We strongly urge that you all continue to follow the Ministry and the Public Health Guidance for Risk Assessments, Screening, PPE, Infection Control, and Social Distancing.

[01:35] Today's webinar provides an opportunity for you to better understand the standard on advertising.

[01:46] We will be answering questions at the end of the presentation.

[01:57] We have enabled our Ask a Question feature, which is, sorry, Erin, maybe the last slide. I'm sorry, I apologize.

[02:08] The housekeeping page, yes. We have enabled our Ask a Question feature, which is located on the right-hand side of your screen. If you have any questions throughout the webinar, just type them into the box, and we will do our best to answer your questions. For the purpose of staying on topic, we will only be answering questions that are related to the standard of practice. You can send questions regarding other topics to the college by email later, and we will answer them as soon as possible. We will have a recording of this webinar available for you to access later. Today, I'm happy to be joined by several people. Anya Walsh, the Manager of Registration and Quality Assurance of the College. Hi, Anya. Sean Cassman, our Policy and Governance Analyst. Hi, Sean. Hello. And our special guest speaker, Rebecca Durcan, partner at one of Ontario's most recognized firms in the area of professional regulation.

[03:26] Not only does she act as General Counsel, Prosecution Counsel, and Independent Legal Counsel to several regulators across Ontario. Rebecca also regularly speaks about regulatory issues at Canadian Network of Agencies for Regulation and Counsel on Lesson Short Enforcement and Regulation.

[03:47] We are very glad to have you with us today, Rebecca. Thank you for joining us, and please go ahead. The stage is yours. Thank you, Ms. Zeng. And thank you again for joining this seminar today. We appreciate that it's a beautiful Friday in July, and the number of members that have signed up to learn about this topic really communicates the willingness and desire for this profession to learn about the standards of the college and to comply with the standards of the college.

[04:22] So thank you again for taking the time to learn about this important topic. And as you're aware, we're going to talk today about advertising. To be clear, the college in no way intends to interfere with the profession's ability to regulate their practice. That is not what the college is here to do.

[04:47] But in light of the fact that college is here to serve and protect the public interest, and in light of the fact that the college is mandated to regulate the profession, the college has turned its mind to provide you with members of the profession as to what will be needed to ensure compliance.

[05:11] Again, the college isn't going to necessarily dictate exact details of your advertising, and we'll talk a little more about that. But what today's is intended to do is to advise you as to where you can learn more as to why these rules are in place. And just to again provide you with the goalposts or the minimum expectations that the college sets so that you as a member of the profession can communicate your services in a professional way.

[05:46] And so that the public and your future patients do not become confused and are absolutely clear about what you are advertising.

[06:14] So the college considers advertising any message that communicates information about you, the member, your practice, your services, or your fees.

[06:29] So if you are communicating any of that information, that would be considered an advertisement by the college. It's important to note, especially for members that are employees of other organizations, that if your employer, or if your partner, or if some other party advertises information about you, your practice, your services, or your fees, you are responsible for that content.

[07:05] So it's very important for you to be mindful of what the rules are so that if someone does advertise on your behalf, you can correct them if need be because you will inevitably be responsible for any advertisement that speaks to you.

[07:22] It's important that you're also aware that advertisements can occur in a variety of ways. There could be advertisements on the radio. You could place advertisements on the TV or a website. You could disseminate pamphlets or put ads in a newspaper. You could advertise your services in the yellow pages or some form of phone directory. And of course, especially in today's day and age, you could advertise information about you, your practice, your services, or your fees through any forms of social media.

[08:05] And social media is a very broad basket. There are a variety of different modes of communication through social media. So all of that would be captured within the advertisement expectation. The college is also mindful due to the very diverse nature of this profession that your advertisement can occur in any language.

[08:34] The language in and of itself would be irrelevant, whether it is in English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Russian. If it speaks about you, your practice, your services, or your fees, it is going to be considered an advertisement. So it's very important to be mindful and aware of these different issues and what the college does in fact consider an advertisement.

[09:02] So I mentioned earlier that the college does not want to get into the nitty gritty or to dictate exactly and how you must communicate your services or advertise your services.

[09:21] But they are going to set certain standards, certain minimum expectations that you must follow. And I also said that the college is here, not just today, but in a variety of ways to help. And one of the ways in which the college wants to help its members advertise is that they provide a service where you can submit your proposed advertisement before it has been posted.

[09:46] You can submit it to the college for a review and the college can review your proposed advertisement and alert you to any possible concerns. And the college does this because it obviously is a service that will assist you, the members of its profession, but it also benefits the public. It's also important to the college that members of the public are aware of what is being advertised by members of this profession.

[10:19] It's the interest of the college for members of the public to have confidence that when they see an advertisement by a member of this profession that the member of the public can accept that as a credible advertisement,

[10:32] that it can be accepted as being truthful and that the person communicating the advertisement is being honest. So you can see why the college provides this service. Clearly it helps members avoid any complaints and avoid any investigations or any outreach by the college after the fact.

[10:53] But it also ensures that the public is served and protected. And remember that is the role of the college to serve and protect the public interest. The college wants to remind its members that how you communicate and what you communicate will have not only an impact on your reputation, but on the profession as a whole.

[11:17] And the college is committed to reassuring and instilling confidence in the public that this is a profession that is to be trusted, that the public and the patients can safely assume that they will receive competent, ethical and safe care from all members of this college.

[11:42] And advertisements play a big part of that. So the college would ask and does expect that when you as a member of the profession advertise your services, your fees, your practice, you keep in mind how this will be perceived by members of the public.

[12:00] Does it uphold the integrity and the reputation of the profession? We've listed on this slide certain pillars or certain minimum requirements for advertising. And this might seem like a long list, but to be honest, these are relatively straightforward and in the college's experience, very easy to achieve.

[12:28] So advertisements by members of this profession must be factual. They have to only contain facts. They have to avoid opinions. And the reason why the college doesn't want to see opinions and advertisements is because opinions cannot be verified.

[12:50] Opinions can be of one person and not necessarily be the opinion of another. So it's really important that only factual information be relayed in an advertisement.

[13:02] It's also quite obvious that any information in a member's advertisement is accurate. If you provide any faults or misleading information in an advertisement, it obviously creates confusion for the public.

[13:19] It will cause concern for the college because there is an expectation that at all times members of the profession are going to be accurate and upfront and honest.

[13:32] It's important and obviously all members of the profession are aware of this, that as a regulated health professional, you always need to ensure that you are putting the interests of your patient first.

[13:45] So if a member of the profession provides faults or misleading or inaccurate information in order to lure or confuse patients, that member is not putting the interest of the patient first. So that would be very concerning for the college.

[14:04] The next requirement that the college would ask and demands is that any information you decide to include in your advertisement be easily verifiable.

[14:15] And what that means is that if you do decide to include a statement or you do decide to include a fact, it has to be a statement or fact that can be proven, that can be backed up.

[14:27] Because again that will ensure that you will only be including information that can be justified, that can be defended. And if you restrict the contents of your advertisement to such information, you're ensuring that you're only relaying your services and advertising your services in a clear, defensible and straightforward manner.

[14:50] And that isn't the best interest of the patients and future patients who may come and see you. The last three requirements are somewhat variances on what we've discussed. Any advertisement needs to be independent of personal opinion. So although your opinion is clearly an important factor, but when it comes to advertisement, you need to take that out.

[15:16] You need to take your personal opinion out of any advertisements. And not just your personal opinion, but perhaps any of your patients' personal opinions. We call those testimonials and we're going to talk about those in a moment. So you'll need to ensure that again, any information you include is objective and does not get bogged down into personal opinion. It has to be understandable. It has to be relayed in such a way that the average person who speaks that language, whatever that language may be, can understand quite clearly what you are communicating.

[15:54] You don't want to confuse patients on the issue of fees. You do not want to confuse patients on the issue of services you provide because that is not putting the interest of the patient first.

[16:05] And finally, any advertisement needs to be professionally appropriate. And this might sound somewhat vague, but it speaks to what I spoke of earlier on this slide, namely that any advertisement needs to be in a vein that reflects the integrity and the history of this profession.

[16:24] So it has to be at a certain level that would be considered by other members of the profession as appropriate, as professional. This will ensure that the reputation of the profession, which is one of being a profession of integrity, of competence, of ethics, that that is communicated through all forms of advertisements.

[16:52] So I said at the outset, I would explain to you why the college has these requirements and why these standards are created. And it's important for you to be mindful that you have a great deal of knowledge in traditional Chinese medicine. You are in a position of power and influence. Whereas the vast majority of your patients do not have that knowledge. They do not have that experience. They are not aware of the intricacies of this profession. So when you, as a member of a regulated health college in Ontario, communicate information through your advertisements, the vast majority of Ontarians are going to trust it because you are a member of this college, because you are a regulated health professional.

[17:44] So there's a great deal of weight in what you say. You also need to be mindful that when people come to see a regulated health professional, they are more likely and not in search of pain relief, of concerns about their health, of concerns perhaps about their children's or parents' health.

[18:05] They are in a state of vulnerability. These patients are going to be providing very personal information to you. They will be allowing you with consent to touch very sensitive parts of their body. So you can see that there is a power imbalance between members of this college and patients and members of the public. So being mindful of that power imbalance, being mindful of how knowledgeable you are and how lacking in knowledge most Ontarians are in this area,

[18:39] your advertisements really carry a great deal of weight and can sway a lot of Ontarians into how and why they would choose traditional Chinese medicine treatment.

[18:50] So this is why it's so important that this component of your practice, and there are many components of your practice, but with respect to the advertising component, this is why the college cares that all information be honest and all information be clear and understandable and all information be verifiable.

[19:11] You can see the rationale as to why the college cares, because again, remember that the college is here to serve and protect the public interest. So within the college's mandate to ensure that its members communicate and advertise in a way that puts the interest of the patient first.

[19:36] So the college has put together, again, the standard that we're talking about here today, the advertising standard. And at the end of the presentation, I'm going to remind you of some other resources. But what we're going to do now in the presentation is essentially go through the components of that standard. So right now, let's talk about general expectations and what the standard does in a very clear way is reminds you as members of the profession what the college generally expects.

[20:03] So we went through the variety of issues the college will expect to see in your advertisements. But these are additional suggestions. These are additional reminders for you so that you are aware of what the college expects when you decide to advertise. So one, do not guarantee a certain result. You need to be mindful and you probably are very aware that if a treatment worked for one patient, that does not automatically means it is going to work for another patient.

[20:34] And that is why not just this college, but all regulated health professions prohibit their members from guaranteeing a certain result because to be blunt, you are not in a position to guarantee anything.

[20:47] You do not have the ability to guarantee a result. So do not do so in your advertisements. As we spoke about earlier, be mindful of the power imbalance. You are very knowledgeable in this area and people are instantly and automatically going to trust you on the issue of traditional Chinese medicine because of your expertise and because you are a member of this college.

[21:12] Patients and the public want to trust you. They want to ensure that you are not scaring patients into coming and seeking treatment through false advertising. So you will not want to promise results. You do not want to promise enticements. You want to ensure that any information you relay in your advertisements are objective, that they are fair, and again, they are verifiable. You do not want to in any way imply or appear to be coercing or scaring patients into treatments.

[21:50] That is not putting the interest of the patient first. Again, you want to ensure and you will see that there's a somewhat of a similarity in what I'm saying here. You want to ensure that any advertisement that you put out in any form of medium is current and speaks to relevant information. You also want to ensure that, again, if it's going to be about you, your practice, your services or your fees, that's relevant information to communicate. And if it falls outside of that, you may be asking, is this relevant to including an advertisement? Is this necessary to alert not just my patients but the public of Ontario of what I can offer as a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner or acupuncturist?

[22:38] And again, just another reminder, you have to be mindful that you are responsible for any advertisement that advertises your services. So if you are an employee of a clinic, you need to ensure that your employer shows you any advertisement before it's posted so you can ensure that it complies with your college's requirements.

[23:04] I've listed here, provided here, a reminder, a relatively timely reminder of what can happen when regulated health professionals do not comply with regulatory requirements.

[23:21] In the past few months, Health Canada has been making repeated complaints to a variety of regulators in Ontario and across Canada, complaining that regulated health professionals have been promising false cures or false preventative treatments for COVID-19.

[23:41] Health Canada has taken this very seriously because of course there is no known cure as of yet for COVID-19. There is no known preventative vaccine so far for COVID-19.

[23:56] And what Health Canada determined is that a lot of regulated health professionals were falsely advertising cures or treatments. And it's important for you to be mindful that Health Canada did not just contact colleges and made complaints of these concerns. In certain cases, those members were actually prosecuted, that they were found to have violated Canadian law and that they were charged with such offenses. So I raised this to remind you of the expectations that your college has with respect to advertising and that if you in fact do breach these general and relatively minimal expectations for advertisements,

[24:39] it could not just result in regulatory action. It could in extreme cases involve more serious repercussions involving legal enforcement. So the college again wants to help you, its members, comply with the law and follow the standards. So please again, if there is any concern and if you are considering providing further advertisement,

[25:06] take the college up on its offer of providing your proposed advertisement in advance so that they can review it and provide you with its recommendations so that you're going to be in full compliance and not get into any trouble.

[25:34] And as I said at the outset, the college will in no way interfere with you advertising in any language. That is your right, that is your prerogative, and the college will not interfere in that.

[25:47] So please do not be concerned that you have to advertise in certain languages. That is not the case. You can advertise in any language.

[25:58] But irrespective of the language, you do need to follow certain rules. So when you do advertise and you want to advertise your practice, you want to advertise where you are, you need to be mindful that you have to advertise in the name that you registered with the college.

[26:18] So you will recall that when you first registered with the college and during your annual renewals, you are asked to provide your name and that name is posted on the college register.

[26:29] And the rationale why this is so important is that register is a beacon. It is a message for the public to look up and to see who you are, where you are located.

[26:42] And there needs to be confidence that the name you provide to the college is the name that you are in fact go by so that there is clarity. There is a link between the public wanting to know who you are and being able to find you.

[26:56] So it's very important that when you do decide to advertise, you ensure that you are using the name, your proper legal name that you registered with the college that provides a nexus. If you advertise in a name that you did not register with the college, that can cause great confusion for the public. And as I mentioned earlier, it can cause other issues with the college because the college will be concerned that you have not in fact registered your proper name. So ensure that you do in fact advertise in the name that you have provided to the college, relatively straightforward. But the college is aware that several of its members have both a legal name and perhaps a common name that they go by here in Ontario, which is completely permissible and understandable.

[27:44] But the college again from a clarity perspective requires any member that practices in a name other than their legal name to register that name with the college.

[27:56] And the rationale for this is patient interest so that the patients so that the public have absolute clarity who they are dealing with. When the patient calls you by their common name in your clinic, they should be able to go to the public register and see that name. You can understand the confusion that could occur if you practice in a common name, but you have registered in your legal name. There will be a gap, there will be a lacuna between your public persona, your publicly known name, and the name in which you registered. And that cannot occur from the college's perspective. So when you decide to advertise and you have in fact registered that common name, you are completely entitled of course to use that common name in your advertisements.

[28:48] But again, if you have not registered a common name with the college, you are then prevented from using any common name in your advertisements.

[28:59] So I would recommend that if you go by a name that is not your legal name, you ensure that you register that with the college. So the register can be updated and then of course you can then use that name in your advertisements. So just be mindful that it's very important from a patient perspective to have absolute certainty who they are dealing with.

[29:42] In many situations, those people will have a name tag and you need to know that the name on that name tag is legitimate. You assume that the name on that name tag is legitimate. Well, the same will apply for any advertisements that you put out into the public. That when you use a name on that advertisement, there has to be an assumption. There has to be a confidence that that name is in fact your name, that that name is in fact linked to your regulator. That instills confidence and that ensures you're putting the interests of the public and your patients first.

[30:27] The next topic that the standard speaks to is social media. And you'll recall that I mentioned at the outset that there are very many opportunities to advertise on social media. And this is a wonderful thing. And the college is very mindful of the opportunities for members of its college to advertise through social media, ideally in an inexpensive and very effective manner.

[30:52] So the college takes no issue and is very mindful and aware that its members will in fact communicate through social media. But again, there will be expectations to ensure that the public is interested, served and protected when you do this. So let's say you decide to register a Twitter account to advertise your services. You need to ensure that that Twitter account includes your registered name. Or if you use a Facebook page for your clinic or your practice, you must ensure again, just like what we spoke about earlier, that your registered name, the name that you have registered with the college is associated with that account. So this is not to say that you can't have perhaps personal accounts that have nothing to do with your practice. I'll pause there. Even it does not have to do with your practice per se. The college will of course expect that in all social media communications you will be professional and respectful. But if you are going to advertise your services, your TCM services through social media, they have to have your name, the name that you've provided to the college on those accounts, because that ensures there is a clarity to the public as to who they are communicating with.

[32:18] The college also needs to remind its members that treating patients over social media, so whether it be by WhatsApp or Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn,

[32:34] those are modes to communicate, they are modes to advertise, they are not modes to treat patients. From a confidentiality perspective, from a propriety perspective, there is an expectation that by the college that you will not treat patients over social media.

[32:52] That would likely fall outside the advertisement ad bit anyway, but just a reminder, the college wants to help you help your patients. So we would remind you, you should not be treating your patients over social media. Again, as I said earlier, whether you're using a personal account or a professional social media account, you must be professional at all times. I can let you know that certain physicians in Ontario got into very big trouble with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, because they made unprofessional, rude and harassing comments over social media. And the regulator determined that even though they were not acting as physicians, even though they were not treating patients, that they were acting in such a way that was deemed to be unprofessional and did not reflect the integrity of the profession. And this college would see it the same way. There is always an expectation that regardless of what form of social media you're communicating on, you are always going to be professional. The college wants to remind you that you are under a duty to keep your patient information confidential. So you at no point in your advertisements should speak about your patients. That is not appropriate. First of all, it does breach, could breach your confidentiality obligations to your patients. But as we said earlier, you shouldn't be referring to other patients in your advertisements because what worked for one patient will not work for another. Finally, the college wants to assist you and remind you that you need to be very mindful when you communicate with anyone on social media, especially patients on social media. So whether again this be Facebook, on Twitter, that you have to be mindful that as a professional, as a regulated health professional, you need to maintain boundaries, professional boundaries. So that if you do communicate with patients on social media, which may occur, it is always professional. It is always in the sense that you are a regulated health professional and that is your patient. So be mindful of those boundaries that can sometimes be blurred and you always again want to put the interest of the patient first. So you need to ensure that they are aware at all times that if you do communicate through them on social media, which is a little more relaxed and a little less formal, that it's still in the professional way that the college expects all of its members to communicate.

[35:49] And the advertising standard speaks about this a little further. What they say is that you as a regulated health professional are not permitted to include testimonials in your advertisements.

[36:02] Testimonials are essentially compliments of patients. They are votes of confidence or endorsement in your services.

[36:13] They are usually very happy patients who want to tell others of what a wonderful practitioner you are, what a wonderful acupuncturist you are. So these messages are very affirming. They're very pleasant to receive as a regulated health professional as they should be because they do communicate that you are providing a very valued service.

[36:37] But they do not belong on advertisements. So you need to be mindful that you may have several very happy patients who want you to communicate their sense of well-being and their satisfaction with your services in your advertisements.

[36:57] They might consent. They say it is okay for you to include these comments that I'm providing to you. But you need to let your patients know that your regulator does not permit you to include those testimonials on your advertisements.

[37:14] And it's not just words. It's even pictures. So before and after cases. If you have treated patients with certain skin conditions and your treatments have helped alleviate those skin conditions and it's visible that they have really done well.

[37:30] You are not permitted to put those before and after pictures. And the rationale is that you'll recall what I said at the earlier slide that what works for one patient will not necessarily work for another patient.

[37:46] And as regulated health professionals you're aware of this, you're mindful of this. And there is a concern that if you put this information on your advertisements it may prey on certain vulnerable patients who are sometimes so desperate to seek help.

[38:02] They may look to your advertisements. They may see successful cases and they may instantly assume that they too will benefit. And again, the college is mindful that your services are probably well respected, well received that your services could in fact assist a wide variety of patients.

[38:23] But this is not the way to communicate your services. It can prey upon vulnerable people. It is not verifiable. So it's not appropriate.

[38:34] And again, putting the interest of the patients first is always going to be a primary concern. So this is why you are not permitted to put testimonials in your advertisements.

[38:45] This is why you're going to have to kindly decline any offers by your patients to use their comments in your advertisements or their pictures because you're simply not permitted to do so.

[38:58] It's also important to be mindful that if you become aware that a patient perhaps has put a complimentary statement about you on another website, for example, perhaps Yelp or a Facebook page, you are going to have to make all efforts to actually have that testimonial come down.

[39:16] Again, you are mindful of your obligation as a regulated health professional. You are mindful that the testimonials are not permitted because of the reasons we've just discussed, so you're going to make efforts and ask for that testimonial to be removed.

[39:35] The standard also breaks down and explains the college's expectation on your terms, titles and designations.

[39:47] So at the outset, you're all aware that by becoming a member of this college, you are granted an exclusive right on certain titles. So only members of this college are permitted to call themselves traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. That is a protected title. So again, unless you are a member of this college and you have achieved and demonstrated the necessary competencies, you get to call yourself this title. No one else in Ontario can do so.

[40:18] No other regulated health professional can do so unless they're a member of this college. The same applies to traditional Chinese medicine acupuncturist or registered acupuncturist. That title is protected. The term even acupuncturist is a protected title and is only available to members of this college. Many of you are aware that several health professions in Ontario are permitted to perform acupuncture.

[40:47] That is not in debate. However, unless you are a member of this college, you cannot use that title. So you have been granted a privilege. You have been granted a right to use a protected title that very few people in Ontario can use. So there is an expectation, though, that you communicate your titles properly. And we provided on the slide there the full titles. We provided also the smaller acronyms or the designations, the RTCMP and the RAC. Those are the short forms of your full titles.

[41:28] There is an expectation that you list these properly. If you need any assistance or guidance, I would remind you that the Traditional Chinese Medicine Act and the Registration Regulation provides a chart, provides an overview of the exact titles that you are permitted to use.

[41:47] So if there is any confusion, you have the legislation which is located on the college website, or you can call a college for any assistance. And we also, again, need to remind you that if you go into the inactive class, if you move from the general to the inactive class, you are obligated by law to indicate that on your title.

[42:05] And again, what's the rationale for this? Public clarity, public interest. At all times when someone reads your advertisement and they read your title, they need to have confidence of what you're saying is accurate and verifiable.

[42:21] So it's important when you do just arrange or organize your advertising that you use the correct title. Okay. Another big question, and this is addressed specifically in the standard, is the doctor title. And the college is very mindful that several of its members were doctors in other countries.

[42:44] However, in Ontario, the law is that unless you are a member of a health profession, certain health professions, and there are only six permitted health professions in Ontario that are allowed to use the doctor title, you are not permitted to use the doctor title when offering or providing health care.

[43:04] So, irrespective if you were a doctor in another country, unless you are a member of one of those six health colleges, you are not allowed to use it here in Ontario within your TCM practice.

[43:16] This means, again, you can't use it on your business cards. You can't use it in your email address. You can't use it in your website name. You have to remove any reference to doctor because in Ontario, the Regulated Health Professions Act prohibits that. As you're aware, the college does have a working group looking to see how this college could perhaps obtain the doctor title.

[43:44] But that is not the law now. And the college is providing, reminding you this, the importance of complying with Ontario law and to not use that title until this college is granted that privilege.

[43:57] The college is also mindful that several of its members have qualifications, impressive qualifications from other locations. And the college is mindful that that can be communicated in your advertisements. But again, back to clarity, you have to ensure that the public is mindful and aware that that designation or that qualification is not valid in Canada, but might have been valid in another country.

[44:23] So we've given you an example there that you can indicate if you were a physician in China, you can say that MD, but you will also quite clearly say China so that the public knows that.

[44:34] Finally, it is important to note that this college does not have any recognized specialties. So you are as a member of the profession, not permitted to indicate you are an expert in a certain area.

[44:47] And the rationale here is not to be prohibitive or punitive. It is, again, public interest that back to that verification. There is no way to verify whether one patient whether, excuse me, whether one member is an expert and another is not.

[45:03] There have been no independent competencies yet set for specialties. If that does occur in the future, then people can apply to become a recognized specialist in a certain area.

[45:15] But until that occurs, members of this profession must ensure that they do not communicate to members of the public that they are a specialist in any certain area, because this profession in Ontario does not have such specialties.

[45:28] So it would be misleading and confusing to the public to communicate that.

[45:43] It does not get into, again, that granular level of your business practice. The college trusts you to set the fees that you deem are appropriate. With that being said, the legislature granted the college the ability to prosecute members if fees are excessive. And that term is not defined.

[46:03] It's simply a message to members that fees can be whatever you choose, but they have to be reflective of your training. They have to be reflective of the costs that you've incurred. And if they are objectively seen as too much, or if they are objectively seen perhaps as preying on certain segments of the population, that may be deemed to be excessive.

[46:26] And that may incur some regulatory response by the college. So again, the college does not set a schedule of fees. It is mindful and trusts its members to trust, to set fair fees, not only for the patients, but of course for themselves so they can make a living.

[46:43] But you have to ensure that your fees are not deemed by the public or the college to be excessive. On the issue of fees, this is sometimes where a lot of complaints come to the college because patients were confused or were not clear about fees. So the college reminds its members to ensure that when you advertise your fees, whether in any form of media or even within your clinic, that they should be clearly understood.

[47:11] There should be no confusion about fees, that before any fee is charged, it must be discussed in advance and agreed to by the patient, that when you are providing your account or your invoice to your patients, any fees need to be itemized.

[47:28] You cannot simply lump everything together and indicate one huge quantum. It has to be itemized. The patient needs to be very clear as to what you charged and for what.

[47:40] And again, it's a reminder to the college that you do not have the ability to reduce your fees if your patient offers to pay in cash. The rationale behind this is that the college wants to ensure that you, as a regulated health professional, treat all patients fairly and equally and uniformly.

[47:59] And some patients, if they are more wealthy, might have more access to cash and the college wants to ensure that that is never a factor in how you set fees or how you treat your patients.

[48:14] So what I provided for you here is an advertising checklist. I won't go through it in detail. It is included in the standard, which is available on the college website.

[48:27] But it's a great tool that the college is going to provide you to help you craft an advertisement that will avoid any trouble, that will avoid any complaints or concerns.

[48:39] So again, I encourage you to look up the standard to access this checklist because that will assist you again in framing an effective advertisement that allows you to advertise your services.

[48:53] But in a way that upholds the expectations of the college and avoids any regulatory reaction.

[49:14] That's number one and that is located on the college website. But the college is also provided an advertising guideline and this is also located on the website. And this breaks down for you in an easily understood manner as to what the college expects, what you should do when crafting your advertising.

[49:35] So I would encourage you to review both the standard and the guideline before you craft any advertising because this will help you craft effective and permissible advertising.

[49:49] And the last bullet there, the professional misconduct regulation. I provide that for you and this is again located on the college website. I provide this to you just to remind you that there are certain acts of professional misconduct that are dedicated to advertising concerns. So you should review this. You should be mindful that unfortunately, if you do breach certain rules, if you do breach the standard, it can result in a complaint. It can result in the registrar commencing an investigation and it could result in you being referred to discipline. The college doesn't want that. The college doesn't want its members getting into trouble over advertisements. The college doesn't want patients in the public being confused about your advertising and filing complaints. So it's important you're mindful and you're aware and you're informed at all times. So the college provides these resources for you so you can learn and ensure that you are complying with your obligations.

[50:51] So I'm mindful of the time, but I'm going to go through some of the questions that the college regularly receives so that you can hopefully put together what we've spoken about today and perhaps apply them to scenarios that you have in your own life.

[51:07] So the first question the college regularly receives is if a member is obtained a PhD in traditional Chinese medicine and ask, can they use the doctor designation in front of their name when treating patients?

[51:20] And the answer that unfortunately is no. When you are treating patients, you are offering or providing health care in Ontario. And even though you are a doctor in a different jurisdiction or maybe even have your PhD, which does allow the doctor title to be used, you can't use that when you're offering or providing health care.

[51:41] So if you are at a cocktail party, you may want to introduce yourself as Dr. Zhang, PhD, but you need to be mindful that when you're in front of your patients, you can't use the doctor title because you are providing health care.

[51:55] So whenever you are providing health care, whenever you are advertising your services as a TCM practitioner or acupuncturist, even though you might have a PhD, even though you might be a doctor in a different jurisdiction, you are not permitted to use that doctor title.

[52:11] Second question, I'm a registered acupuncturist with the college. I have learned that I cannot advertise prescribing, excuse me, prescribing herbs as it falls outside my scope of practice. Why is this the case? So when you became a member of the college, there was an ability to become a registered acupuncturist or an ability to become a registered traditional Chinese medicine practitioner.

[52:39] The registered traditional Chinese medicine practitioner has the full scope of the profession, namely both acupuncture and herbs, whereas the registered acupuncturist designation focuses on the acupuncture, the traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture scope of the practice.

[52:59] And the registration regulation of which you are all subject to reminds members that they have a term condition limitation on their certificate that restricts their practice to their scope.

[53:12] So the short answer is the legislation, the registration regulation has imposed term condition and limitation on registered acupuncturists' certificates that mandate they practice in acupuncture only and cannot practice in herbs.

[53:28] So this would be important to be mindful when you are advertising, be mindful of your designation, ensure that you're only communicating services that you are legally entitled to perform.

[53:39] And again, if you have any questions, please research the college. Third question, I'm a member of the college. I recently noticed that a member of another regulated health profession to which acupuncture is permitted under the scope of practice is including the designation of licensed medical acupuncturist in their business card.

[53:57] Is this permitted? The answer is no. Unless that member is also a member of your college and there are certain regulated health professionals that are members of two or more colleges. Unless that person is a member of this college, they are not entitled to use the title acupuncturist on their business card or in any form of advertising.

[54:21] And this is because the term entitled acupuncturist is restricted to members of this college only. And again, it demonstrates the importance of using titles that you are only entitled to use. So in this situation, technically the college, your college could enforce and go after that other regulated health professional for improperly using a title that is only permitted to this profession.

[54:48] Fourth question, when I am advertising, I know that I cannot say this herbal formula prevents a certain illness. But am I allowed to say that traditional Chinese medicine was used to treat symptoms of this illness? And my answer would be if that is a factual statement, if that can be verified, if you have authorities to demonstrate that yes, that statement is accurate, then yes, it would be permissible.

[55:15] You would be able to say that a certain medicine was used to treat symptoms if you can demonstrate it is a factual and verifiable statement. Whereas the statement that states herbal formula prevents a certain illness. Again, it would be unless you were able to provide an authority, a verifiable accepted authority stating that is the case, that would not be able to be included because that would be more of an opinion.

[55:49] And opinions as we know cannot be included. Final question, I am a member of the public. I recently saw a piece of advertising indicating that acupuncture could be used to treat animals. Is that something members of your college can do? And the short answer is no. Members of this profession are permitted to perform acupuncture and communicate a TCM diagnosis on humans. They are not permitted to do those acts on animals. That would be restricted to veterinarians. So some veterinarians and the College of Veterinarians of Ontario would be the regulator for that profession. They would be able to perhaps direct you as to how animals could receive acupuncture. But the short answer is members of this profession are not permitted or authorized to treat animals, humans only. So we've gone over the standard. We've spoken about the resources that the college has for you members of the profession to ensure compliance. We've reviewed some questions or a variety of questions that the college receives on this topic.

[57:08] If you have any questions about what we've discussed today, I believe Sean will read them out. And if we have time, we can get to them. And if we don't have time, as Anne Mizang indicated at the outset, the college will make all efforts to answer those questions at a later date. Thank you very much for listening. Okay. Thank you so much, Rebecca. I know that we could talk for a great deal of time longer, but it's already six past two. So thank you again for your time. Thank you for joining us today. It's an excellent presentation. And of course it's always wonderful to have opportunity to talk about these standards of practice with our members. So thank you for sharing your knowledge with us today. Just a reminder to our members. Today's webinar session comes towards your professional development hours. A digital certificate will be emailed to those who attended the live presentation. Due to the limited amount of time we have today, any questions that were not answered will be addressed later and posted as an FAQ on the college website along with the recorded webinar.

[58:29] Please feel free to visit our website at for additional resources as well as college updates.

[58:42] I hope you have enjoyed today's session and thank you again to those who were able to join us. I wish you and your loved ones a safe, healthy, and happy summer. Take care, everyone. I hope to be speaking to you again very soon. Bye for now. Bye, Rebecca. Thank you, everyone. Thank you to the staff. Bye for now.