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OPA Campaign Wins Awards 

July 17, 2025

OPA currently partners with SalesLoop, a marketing agency, on projects that elevate the profession and the Association and to increase our reach. Based on our strategic plan, OPA determines each year what strategies may require the investment of valuable membership dollars into our campaigns. 

Silver from Telly Awards (2025) 

In 2024, we launched a campaign “New Voices, New Ideas & New Opportunities” highlighting our change in leadership with our new CEO, Sarah Hutchison, and President, Courtney Bean and how we continue to evolve to meet the needs of the physiotherapy community. We also showcased our Board of Directors and the value we continue to bring to our members. 

SalesLoop entered our campaign into the Telly Awards competition, and we won a Silver Award! By winning a Silver, our project was recognized as an exclusive group of work that meets higher than average standards. Watch the award winning video below.

Campaign Also Wins 3 Gold Healthcare Digital Marketing Awards (2024) 

This same campaign, “New Voices, New Ideas & New Opportunities” also won three gold Healthcare Digital Marketing Awards for our campaign emails, microsite and video.  

Why Does This Matter? 

Winning awards not only feels great but demonstrates that we are investing your membership dollars into campaigns that are effective in meeting our goals and elevating the profession. We have partnered with SalesLoop since 2016 and they continue to go above and beyond. They ensure that our objectives are thoughtfully considered so that we can determine together the best and most cost-effective ways to meet our goals.

About the Telly Awards (2025) 

The Tellys honour excellence in video and television across all screens. The Telly Awards recognize work in Branded Content, Commercials & Marketing, Immersive & Mixed Reality, Non-Broadcast, Online and Television Series, Shows & Segments, Social Video, and Film & Shorts. 

The competition received over 13,000 entries globally from six continents and all 50 U.S. states. 

Entries were judged by a council of over 250 industry experts from organizations such as Netflix, Adobe, PlutoTV, Gymnasium, RunwayML, and more 

  1. Gold Telly Award is the highest honour, awarded exclusively to the top 3% of winning entries, representing the highest marker of excellence. 
  1. Silver Telly Award is awarded to entries that meet a high standard of creative distinction but do not reach the Gold level. 
  1. Bronze Telly Award recognizes commendable work that meets the entry criteria but scores lower than Silver and Gold. 
Learn more

About the Healthcare Digital Marketing Awards (2024) 

The Healthcare Digital Marketing Awards recognizes the best healthcare websites, digital content, electronic communications, mobile media and social media. 

This national competition began its efforts to recognize the field of healthcare marketing and advertising in the pioneering area of digital marketing. 

  1. OPA was won 3 of the 190 awards issued in 2024 
  1. Gold (102), Silver (48), Bronze (24), and Merit (16) 
  1. A total of 62 institutions were awarded 
Learn more

Advocacy at OPA’s Summer Primary Care Advisory Committee

July 16, 2025

OPA’s four clinical advisory committees meet quarterly, and in their recent June meetings, engaged in thoughtful and informative discussions around several advocacy items.

The Primary Care Advisory Committee met on June 23, 2025 and focused its advocacy discussions on:

  • promoting fair compensation for physiotherapists across sectors
  • supporting the integration of physiotherapy into primary care through new and repurposed roles
  • preparing to influence future funding opportunities.
  • The committee also emphasized the importance of musculoskeletal care as a key advocacy message, explored opportunities for private-primary care partnerships, and discussed strategies to align physiotherapy roles with the goals of the new Primary Care Act. 

Courtney Bean, OPA’s President Message, July 2025

July 9, 2025

OPA President Courtney Bean shares a summer message and key updates from the June Board discussions. He highlights the continued push for expanded scope of practice, OPA’s advocacy for physiotherapy in primary care, and efforts to support governance model reviews in light of ONCA. Courtney also touches on recent submissions regarding provisional practice, a new position statement supporting Jordan’s Principle, and advocacy for PT roles in integrated health centers.

Take Action and send a letter to Premier Doug Ford & Health Minister Sylvia Jones on completing the regulations for scope of practice. It takes only 1 minute to add your name and email.

Rehabilitation Services related to ICHSC Hip & Knee Procedures 

July 15, 2025

Background: What Are ICHSCs? 

Integrated Community Health Service Centres (ICHSCs) are a new model of community-based, publicly funded surgical and diagnostic care, initiated by the Ontario government in early 2023. These centres aim to increase access to timely, high-quality surgical procedures such as cataract surgeries, MRI/CT imaging, and orthopedic surgeries—including hip and knee replacements—by shifting select procedures out of hospitals and into independent community-based facilities. The goal is to reduce surgical backlogs, improve wait times, and enhance patient outcomes through integrated and coordinated care. 

Why It Matters to Physiotherapists and Communities 

This shift has important implications for physiotherapists and communities across Ontario as community based surgical centres open their doors to patients. As ICHSCs become operational, there will be a need for community-based physiotherapists to provide post operative rehabilitative care following surgery. This post-operative service model is different from the hospital-based model.   

For communities, particularly those facing long surgical wait times or lacking local hospital resources, ICHSCs offer an alternative opportunity for more rapid care, but it is critical to ensure that post-operative physiotherapy is appropriately integrated. Ensuring that physiotherapy is included and appropriately funded as a core component of care in these centres is vital for maintaining health system quality and equity across Ontario. 

OPA’s Work and Current Information 

For some time, the Ontario Physiotherapy Association (OPA) has been seeking clarity from the Ministry of Health regarding how post-hip and knee replacement rehabilitation will be funded in the forthcoming Integrated Community Health Service Centres (ICHSCs). ICHSCs will be responsible for providing post-surgical rehabilitation care to patients who clinically require it, and this care must be funded from within the bundled facility fee paid by the Ministry ($6,530 per hip replacement and $5,797 per knee replacement). 

As part of the application process, prospective licensees are required to demonstrate partnerships with rehabilitation providers. This may include out-of-hospital rehabilitation, in-house physiotherapy services, and home-based rehabilitation care. However, patients receiving care through an ICHSC are not eligible for one or more Episodes of Care under the Community Physiotherapy Clinic Program. 

There is currently no provision or requirement for applicants to offer funded pre-operative physiotherapy. However, licensees are required to “organize appropriate pre-operative planning and assessment.” 

Physiotherapists can expect to be approached in the coming days by applicants seeking to form agreements for the delivery of post-operative rehabilitation and potentially pre-operative planning and assessment for patients, contingent on the applicants’ success in securing a licence. 

OPA will continue to monitor developments and advocate for the role of physiotherapy in this evolving healthcare landscape. 

OPA Advocates for More Physiotherapists in Primary Care Teams

July 11, 2025

First contact roles for physiotherapists, who independently diagnose and manage musculoskeletal conditions, have demonstrated effectiveness in improving patient outcomes and reducing healthcare costs. Despite their effectiveness in primary care, many primary care teams in Ontario do not have physiotherapists on staff.  

  • Approximately 20-30% of primary care visits are for musculoskeletal conditions 
  • Based on clinical experience in physiotherapy in primary care settings and suggested attachment rates for physicians, OPA estimates that a physiotherapist on an interprofessional primary care team can increase attachment rates by approximately 250 active patients, or 425 total rostered patients (on average). 

Why This Matters 

Physiotherapists are critical members of interprofessional primary care teams, and increasing the number of primary care physiotherapists in Ontario is an essential step towards improving health system capacity and bringing comprehensive and convenient care to more people in Ontario.   

It also means that more physiotherapists will be able to work to their full scope of practice while spreading awareness among healthcare teams and communities about the role and value of physiotherapists. 

How OPA Advocates 

We are collaborating with primary care organizations and advocacy groups, which looks like:  

  • Supporting proposals to help make the case for PTs joining the team 
  • Supporting primary care organizations with recruitment and retention strategies 
  • Collaborating with  
  • the Primary Care Action Team 
  • Ontario Health Teams 
  • the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario 
  • the Alliance for Healthier Communities 

We are also: 

  • Engaging directly with the Ontario Medical Association and the Nurse Practitioners Association of Ontario 
  • Adding useful materials to the Alliance of Healthier Communities Toolkit: Interprofessional Primary Care Team Expansion 

Other supports from OPA at all points of development include: 

  • Consultation on applications to the Primary Care Action Team 
  • Resources and individualized support for recruitment and retention, including job descriptions, compensation reports, interview guides, and free job postings. 
Preparing PT’s for Team-based Primary Care

What is Going on Now 

In April, the Primary Care Action Team announced a call for proposals to fund expansion of existing primary care teams or new teams in needed geographical areas. The goal of this funding opportunity is to connect more people in Ontario to primary care teams, ultimately to have every person connected within 4 years. 

OPA’s support will continue through future cycles of funding, as having physiotherapists as part of the interprofessional primary care team is an essential step towards improving capacity and bringing connected and convenient care to more people in Ontario.   

Read OPA’s letter to PCAT

Happy National Physiotherapy Month 2025!

May 27, 2025

At Queens Park, MPP France Gélinas took time to wish the entire physiotherapy community a very happy National Physiotherapy Month, along with OPA CEO Sarah Hutchison.

CPO General Regulation Consultation – Removal of Provisional Practice Class 

June 10, 2025

The College of Physiotherapists of Ontario recently closed a consultation on proposed changes to the general regulation, including removal of the provisional practice certificate class.   

OPA reviewed the proposed changes, collected feedback from the physiotherapy community, and submitted a response to the College. In our response, we highlighted risks and challenges with removing the provisional practice class, including health human resource implications, challenges for internationally educated physiotherapists, equity and accessibility of a single examination, and the need for emergency preparedness and response protocols.   

Read OPA’s response

Meeting with Premier Doug Ford & Minister of Health Sylvia Jones

May 8, 2025

On May 8, President Courtney Bean joined Isaac Taylor, Physiotherapist to meet with Premier Ford and Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones, advocating and engaging on issues that really matter to the profession. This meeting provided the opportunity to talk about how physiotherapists can make an impact on ER wait times, the role of first contact physiotherapists in expanding access to primary care, integrated community care and transitions between hospital and home, and of course of critical importance – expanding scope of practice for physiotherapists across Ontario.   

Minister Jones heard and understood the priority of the profession in advancing Scope of Practice in Ontario and we remain optimistic that this will progress to implementation over the course of the summer. We want to thank Minister Jones for acknowledging National Physiotherapy Month and thanking PTs for their contributions to the Ontario health system.   

At OPA, this opportunity is core to our mission and our commitment to influence and shape decisions that affect the profession and the patients you treat across the province. 

Jordan’s Principle – What Ontario Physiotherapists Need to Know

June 17, 2025

If you work with First Nations children, you may have experienced the frustration of months spent waiting for contract renewals, compensation delays, and approval processes that seem to change without notice; administrative backlogs preventing First Nations children from accessing the physiotherapy services they need. 

This goes against everything Jordan’s Principle was designed to address, and OPA has developed a position statement advocating for reform to the processes that create systemic barriers. 

Who Was Jordan? 

Jordan River Anderson “was a member of the Norway House Cree Nation. Born in Manitoba on October 22, 1999, he lived with a rare genetic disorder that required intensive medical care” (Canada’s Residential Schools: The Legacy, 2015). 

At age two, he was medically cleared to go home with support services. But the federal and provincial governments couldn’t agree on who should pay for his care. Jordan waited in the hospital for three more years, dying at age five without ever spending a day at home, not because he was too sick to leave, but because of a funding dispute. 

What Jordan’s Principle Means 

Jordan’s story led to the creation of Jordan’s Principle in 2007, a human rights principle “that guarantees timely access for status and non-status First Nations children to all public services without delay due to jurisdictional disputes, and comparable services to those provided to non-First Nations children.” (Canada’s Residential Schools: The Legacy, 2015)
 

The Current Reality 

Despite this principle, OPA continues to hear from rehabilitation providers who struggle with: 

  • Contract renewals dragging on for months 
  • Administrative backlogs preventing timely access to care 
  • Compensation delays 
  • Lack of clear communication about how issues will be resolved 

These challenges directly impact the First Nations children and families who depend on physiotherapy services. 

What OPA Is Doing 

Recognizing these challenges, OPA has developed a position statement advocating for improved Jordan’s Principle processes. 

With Indigenous Services Canada committed to reforming the administration, OPA is pushing for: 

  • Reduced systemic barriers that prevent access to physiotherapy services 
  • Culturally safe service delivery with collaborative community co-design 
  • Continuity of care through longer-term contracts with trusted partners 
  • Increased administrative capacity with transparency to address backlogs 
  • Recognition of physiotherapy as essential preventive and early intervention care 

Why This Matters 

Jordan’s Principle addresses barriers and biases that create gaps in service access for Indigenous children. When administrative obstacles prevent First Nations children from getting needed physiotherapy, we perpetuate health disparities rooted in historical policies and systemic biases. 

As physiotherapists, your expertise helps children overcome physical challenges and participate fully in their communities. Prompt access to physiotherapy prevents complications, reduces pain and dysfunction, and enables children to return to school, play, and home activities with improved function. 

Moving Forward 

Work to improve the implementation of Jordan’s Principle continues. First Nations children require timely access to the same quality of care available to other Canadian children. As physiotherapists, you play a crucial role in supporting improved access to care. 

OPA continues to support and advocate for physiotherapists working in this area, ensuring that systemic improvements benefit both practitioners and patients. Learn more about Jordan’s Principle 

Read OPA’s full Position Statement on Jordan’s Principle

Reference

Canada’s Residential Schools: The Legacy. (2015). The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Volume 5. McGill-Queen’s University Press. https://core.ac.uk/download/480182666.pdf

Courtney Bean, OPA’s President Message – March 2025

March 26, 2025

Watch Courtney Bean, Physiotherapist and OPA’s President share highlights from InterACTION 2025. InterACTION is OPA’s annual conference, bringing together physiotherapists, physiotherapy residents, physiotherapist assistants and students from across the province.