Understanding Your College Fees

With renewal underway for another year, we know many of you wonder what your annual fees are being used for. The answer: a lot! 

As a self-regulated profession, the government has put significant trust in the hands of the profession while maintaining strong public accountability. To support this system, the College relies on registration and renewal fees for its funding. 

With the privilege of self-regulation comes the responsibility to serve the public interest by ensuring physiotherapists in Ontario provide safe, ethical, competent and equitable care to patients. Through our delivery of regulatory programs and services that support physiotherapists in their practice, we strive to uphold public trust and maintain this privilege in everything we do. We must balance our important work with fiscal responsibility. 

History of Fees 

The College has historically been fortunate in that we’ve been able to keep fees low compared to other self-regulated healthcare professions in Ontario. While we have implemented increases to fees as needed throughout the years, the last increase was just 2% (consistent with inflation) and we’ve been able to avoid increasing fees for 2025. 

The College monitors its financial health closely. Fees are reviewed annually by the Board to ensure that the College has enough funds to deliver its programs and services.  A reserve is required to ensure the College is prepared for any catastrophic event or significant revenue disruptions that could occur. Fee changes are only made when needed to maintain adequate resources for the College to fulfill its mandate, while balancing the desire to avoid imposing undue financial hardship on registrants. 

How Fees Are Used 

As the regulatory body, we have a mandate to serve Ontario patients to ensure they receive high-quality physiotherapy care. As a result, we are committed to supporting you directly. This means: 

• Developing tools and learning opportunities to reinforce the standards of the profession. 

• Providing a practice advice service that answers over 7,000 inquiries every year from physiotherapists, employers, patients and caregivers. 

• Supporting the path to licensure to practice as a physiotherapist in Ontario. 

• Supporting your knowledge of current standards and rules through activities like  Jurisprudence and the Professional Issues Self Assessment (PISA). 

• Engaging you in reflective practices through screening interviews and assessments as a part of the Quality Assurance program. 

• Providing opportunities via open consultations so you can share feedback on key College standards and decisions. 

In addition to supporting you in the delivery of care, we have other responsibilities as the regulator that ensure we can maintain the privilege of self-regulation. This includes: 

• Investigating concerns and complaints from the public about their physiotherapy care. 

• Discipline hearings and other professional conduct activities. 

• Helping patients make informed decisions about their care through the Public Register. 

• Maintaining a fund for therapy/counselling for patients who were sexually abused by a physiotherapist. 

As the profession continues to grow (there are over 12,000 physiotherapists in the province and counting), so does the volume and scope of our work. We look forward to more opportunities to work together to ensure quality of care for patients in Ontario.  

More detailed information about our work, and how your fees are being used, can be found by reading our Annual Reports.