What’s New with Renewal 2025?
Updating your Profile information
When registrants login to renew their registration for 2025-2026, they might notice a few changes. ACOT recently refreshed their registrant platform software to align with the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)’s updated 2022 health human resource dataset. All occupational therapy (OT) regulators, including ACOT, share health workforce data with CIHI to support health workforce planning and policy development in Canada. ACOT collects this type of data from registrants when they apply to ACOT and when they renew their practice permit. ACOT shares some of this data with the Government of Alberta via the Provincial Provider Registry as required by legislation. ACOT also shares some of this data in aggregate with CIHI to support their health human workforce planning and policy initiatives.
When updating their profile information online during renewal, registrants will notice:
- More specific options to choose from when describing their employment information.
- Expanded dropdown lists will be noticeable for categories such as title/position, status, main area of practice, employment category, and employment status.
- New fields have been added to indicate their primary mode of care (e.g., in person, videoconference etc.,) as well as % of time providing virtual care.
Race-Based and Indigenous Identity data
With the 2025-2026 permit renewal, registrants will also notice that ACOT has started collecting data about registrants’ “Racial Background” and “Indigenous Identity”. Collection of this data is completely voluntary, and registrants can select “prefer not to answer” if they do not want to provide their data.
Why is ACOT collecting this data? CIHI added the race-based and Indigenous identity data to the 2022 health human resource data set for the purpose of using the data to inform actions and interventions to improve health equity among racialized groups. Specific to ACOT and their mandate to protect the public, collection of these data elements increases ACOT Council’s awareness of registrants’ race-based and Indigenous identities, enabling Council to make decisions that are more representative of the public and the communities served by ACOT registrants. ACOT’s voluntary collection of registrants’ race-based and Indigenous Identity data is supported by ACOT’s Acting Against Racism and Intolerance (ARRI) Committee, which is comprised of OTs with living experiences of racism and intolerance.
How is a registrant’s race-based and Indigenous identity data protected? Only staff that are responsible for processing the data will have access to registrants’ race-based and Indigenous identity data. As well, when sharing race-based and Indigenous identity data with CIHI, data will only be used in aggregate with other registrants’ data and not on an individual level.
Detailed information about ACOT’s collection of registrants’ race-based and Indigenous identity data is attached to this eNews. If you have questions or wish to discuss, please contact info@acot.ca by December 20, 2024.