In accordance with Section 133(2) of the Health Professions Act of Alberta, the College of Physiotherapists of Alberta (CPTA) is providing the draft Documentation Standard of Practice and the draft Privacy and Record Retention Standard of Practice for review and comment.
At present, registrants of the CPTA are not designated as custodians under the Health Information Act.
The CPTA is circulating these draft Standards of Practice to seek feedback as part of preparation for potential amendments to the Health Information Act (HIA) and Health Information Regulation that could designate physiotherapists as custodians of health information.
These draft standards have been developed to align with the requirements of the Health Information Act and would come into force should legislative amendments proceed. If adopted, these standards would replace existing standards with the same titles which were last updated in January 2025.
Key Changes to the Standards
Draft Documentation Standard of Practice (2026) - limited revisions completed:
- Additional detail added regarding the nature of mandatory safeguards when using electronic medical records.
- Adjusted language and terms to be consistent with the terms and definitions in use in the HIA.
Draft Privacy and Record Retention Standard of Practice (2026) – significant revisions completed to align with requirements of the HIA:
- Added performance expectations related to an individual physiotherapist’s role and responsibilities when acting as custodian or affiliate within a practice setting.
- Altered wording of performance expectations related to Collection, Consent, Access and Amendment, and Use and Disclosure of health information.
- Added performance expectations and details related to completion of privacy impact assessments, privacy breach reporting, and safeguards to protect health information.
- Adjusted language and terms to be consistent with the terms and definitions in use in the HIA.
Draft Standards
For your convenience, clean and marked copies of each draft standard are available for review and comment.
View the draft Standard with tracked changes.
View the draft Standard.
View the draft Standard with tracked changes.
View the draft Standard.
Your Feedback Matters
The CPTA’s standards of practice impact day-to-day physiotherapy practice. Your feedback is important to us, as it helps us develop clear, reasonable expectations and helpful, applicable resources. We appreciate the time you take and the input you provide.
Albertans, CPTA registrants, partner organizations, and other healthcare professionals are invited to provide feedback from March 24, 2026 – April 24, 2026, 11:59pm.
Please submit your comments using this link.
Anonymized feedback will be considered by Council. Once amendments are finalized and approved by Council, registrants will be notified by email and the newsletter.
If you have any questions, please contact professionalpractice@cpta.ab.ca.
Thank you in advance for your participation.
Privacy
All feedback is subject to CPTA’s Privacy Policy.
