If you are receiving physiotherapy services, the College of Physiotherapists of Alberta encourages you to verify your physiotherapist. But how can you verify that your health-care provider is a registered physiotherapist? The purpose of this article is to highlight how to verify your physiotherapist’s registration status and why it’s important to do so.
Physiotherapists are regulated health professionals under the Health Professions Act. Regulation adds a layer of protection to the public who access physiotherapy services. The benefit of seeing a regulated physiotherapist is that you know that your health-care provider has met requirements for education, competence, and registration with the College. Physiotherapists are required to adhere to a code of ethical conduct and Standards of Practice. You should also know that there is a process in place should you have a complaint or concern about your physiotherapist’s practice. If you wish to access more information on the role of the College you can start here.
Verify your Physiotherapist’s Registration
We are assuming that you may already have an appointment to see a physiotherapist but if you are currently searching for one you can access this article on being a savvy physiotherapist client for more information.
You can check your physiotherapist’s registration status at any time while receiving care; however, when possible, we encourage physiotherapy clients to do this before a first assessment or treatment.
Once you have found a physiotherapist, you can use the Verify a Physiotherapist tool on the College’s website to find out:
- Is your physiotherapist registered and do they have an active practice permit?
- Are there any conditions (i.e., rules they need to follow to provide physiotherapy care) on their practice permit?
- Have there been any notices of hearing or professional conduct decisions posted related to complaints about their physiotherapy practice?
Verify your physiotherapist’s identity
It is important to take steps to ensure that you are receiving care from a registered physiotherapist and not someone posing as a physiotherapist. Although rare, health profession regulators have encountered situations where people have impersonated health professionals.
It would be unlikely that you would encounter this issue in a hospital setting, as all hospital staff are required to have identification badges with their name, occupation, and a picture. This would also be less likely in an in-person clinic where most people access private physiotherapy services. In these settings you can easily search online to find the specific physiotherapist’s bio on the clinic’s webpage or through the clinic’s online booking portal. When you get your receipt, it must contain the physiotherapist’s registration number which should match what you found in the Verify a Physiotherapist register. There are enough layers in these processes to verify that the physiotherapist is who they say they are.
However, the risk may be higher in less formal settings, such as mobile physiotherapists who come to your home and virtual care physiotherapy services. You should be aware that misrepresentation can happen. We encourage you to protect yourself.
Virtual Care
As virtual care increases in popularity and its usage continues to increase, it is important to ensure the person on the other side of the screen is the registered physiotherapist you booked with. By this stage you have found a physiotherapist and used the Verify a Physiotherapist register on the College’s website. Now you are screen-to-screen with your physiotherapist for your assessment so are there any other steps to ensure the person on the screen is the physiotherapist you were scheduled to see?
As a person receiving health-care services you have a right to ask to see (and your physiotherapist should be prepared to show you) their practice permit. The physiotherapist’s practice permit is only accessible to the physiotherapist that it belongs to. The College encourages physiotherapists to display their practice permit at the start of the virtual visit so that you can verify that the person presenting themselves as a physiotherapist is indeed a physiotherapist. You can then compare the information on the practice permit, including the physiotherapist’s registration number, against the information in the Verify a Physiotherapist database to confirm the physiotherapist’s identity.
Mobile Physiotherapy Services
Sometimes your physiotherapist will need to visit your home to provide services. Staff who work for large organizations like Alberta Health Services should have their identification badge with them displaying their name, occupation, and a photo of themselves. With smaller organizations they may not have identification badges or your physiotherapists may not even be listed specifically on the organization’s website. As with virtual care, all physiotherapists should be able to show you their practice permit which you can then compare against the information on the Verify a Physiotherapist database.
To summarize
- Find a physiotherapist who can help you with your physiotherapy needs and goals.
- Check them out with the Verify a Physiotherapist register.
- You can ask the physiotherapist to verify their identity. You can do this many ways, such as asking to see their employee ID, checking the match between a receipt and the practice website, or by asking to see the physiotherapist’s practice permit.
- If you have concerns that an individual is misrepresenting themselves as a physiotherapist, please contact the College of Physiotherapists of Alberta.
