Annual licence renewal begins January 1, 2022. Here is what registrants need to know in order to be prepared.
Important dates
- January 1, 2022: Start of annual licence renewal process
- February 1, 2022: Deadline to complete the Annual Licence Renewal Form and payment of fees
- March 1, 2022: Penalties applied for late licence renewal or late payment of fees
- April 1, 2022: Suspension for non-renewal of licensure or non-payment of fees
Before annual licence renewal starts
To save time during the renewal process, registrants should sign into the new registrant portal before January to:
- Get familiar with the new portal. Extensive changes were made to the registrant portal to increase efficiency and enhance user experience with the launch of the new College website on July 26, 2021.
- Add security questions. Registrants who have not already set their security questions will be required to set them before they can access the rest of the portal.
- Review contact information and update if needed. Changes in contact information throughout the year must be made within 14 days of the effective date of the change.
Retiring or resigning before February 28, 2022
Registrants planning on retiring or resigning can submit a resignation form before February 28, 2022 to be exempt from the 2022 annual renewal process. Further details about retirement/resignation options can be found here.
New questions for 2022
- Notice to patients
As of January 1, 2022, section 7-5 of the College Bylaws made under the Health Professions Act will require all registrants practising in a private office to post signage in a visible public area, or provide written notice to patients, indicating that the physicians and surgeons practising in the clinic or facility are licensed and regulated by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC. To ensure compliance with section 7-5 of the Bylaws, the College is asking registrants whether they work in a private office and, if yes, to attest that they will download and display the signage in a visible area or provide written notice to patients. The signage will be available to download and print as part of the annual licence renewal process. - Personal gender pronouns
To aid communication with College staff, registrants will have the option to provide personal gender pronouns. This information will not be shared or displayed in the registrant directory and will be used for internal communication purposes only.
- Compliance with the College practice standard on leaving practice
To ensure compliance with the College’s Leaving Practice practice standard, the College is asking registrants to confirm whether they have a contingency plan in place in the event of sudden death or other circumstances where they are abruptly unavailable and if yes, to describe the plan in brief detail.
- Medical assistance in dying
To better understand scope of practice, the College is asking whether registrants provide medical assistance in dying (MAiD) services, and if yes, whether these are being provided in a health authority setting and/or a private setting.
- Professional medical corporations
Registrants with professional medical corporation(s) will be asked whether they are compliant with the provisions of Part 4 of the Health Professions Act (HPA) and Part 6 of the College Bylaws. This question does not apply to registrants who do not hold a medical corporation permit.
Prepare documents
- BC driver’s licence (for verifying a registrant’s identity for the criminal record check)
- Method of payment (credit or debit card)
- Continuing professional development (CPD) cycle date
- Note: This does not apply to podiatric surgeons
- Health authority letter of reappointment (for verifying hospital privileges)
- Certificate(s) of professional conduct
- If a registrant has worked in another jurisdiction in the past 12 months and does not have out of province status, or if a registrant has signed undertakings to waive the requirements in accordance with section 25.3 of the Health Professions Act, certificate(s) of professional conduct must be sent directly from the appropriate regulatory body(ies) to the College.
Schedule time to complete the form
It takes approximately 30 minutes to answer the entire form. As the information collected on the Annual Licence Renewal Form is personal and provides details of a registrant’s practice, registrants will be asked to attest that they have completed the form themselves. Medical office assistants or other staff, partners or colleagues are not permitted to complete the form on a registrant’s behalf.
Use a computer—the form cannot be completed on a tablet or mobile device
The licence renewal process is best experienced using a PC or Mac. Mobile devices, smart phones, tablets and iPads are not supported. See the College website for the full technical requirements.
Renewal fee
The 2022 renewal fee of C$1,725 can be paid in one of three ways online:
- by credit card
- by debit credit card
- by Interac® Online
More details on annual licence renewal can be found on the College website.