TORONTO – Ontario’s new Strengthening Quality and Accountability for Patients Act includes greater oversight of diagnostic medical sonographers, those who use ultrasound, as well as legislation that will cover the entirety of the medical radiation and imaging technology profession.

The act will require operators of community health facilities and medical radiation devices (such as X-ray machines, CT scanners, ultrasound machines and MRIs) to obtain a licence. As well, the new laws will enhance the enforcement tools available to inspectors to improve patient safety, the Ontario government said.

Other parts of the act include:

• Making Ontario the first province or territory in Canada to require the medical industry, including pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, to disclose payments made to healthcare professionals and organizations, as well as other recipients.
• Strengthening Ontario’s quality and safety inspection program for long-term care homes with new enforcement tools, including financial penalties and new provincial offences for non-compliance.
• Enabling paramedics to provide appropriate, safe and effective care for patients by providing timely on-scene care, and/or transportation to another facility that best meets their needs. This will allow patients to receive more appropriate care closer to home and in the community, improve ambulance service coverage and help address overcrowding in emergency departments.
• Prohibiting the creation of new private hospitals in Ontario and enabling existing private hospitals to be designated as community health facilities, or other facilities at a later date, so there is greater quality oversight through more detailed reporting and consistency in delivering quality care.
• Ensuring that no person, other than a regulated health professional, shall sell, offer for sale or provide eye tattooing or implantation of eye jewellery.
• Strengthening the protection of seniors in Retirement Homes, through increased oversight powers of the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority (RHRA), while increasing overall transparency, accountability and governance.