Renewal FAQS

Complaint FAQs

Do I need to renew my membership with both the College and the Association?

To practice chiropractic in Alberta, chiropractors must renew yearly with the College of Chiropractors of Alberta (CCOA). CCOA has a legislated mandate to serve and protect the public through registration, renewal, competency, professional conduct and oversight of chiropractors to ensure safe, competent and ethical care is provided to Albertans.

Chiropractors do not need to belong to the Chiropractic Association of Alberta (CAA) to practice chiropractic in Alberta. However, there are many benefits of belonging to an association. Visit www.albertachiro.com for association-related information.

Why is an updated criminal record check required to keep my 2025-2026 practice permit in good standing

Regulators serve and protect the public interest. When professionals work with vulnerable people and are in positions of public trust, it is commonplace for updated criminal record checks to be required from time to time. Obtaining a criminal record check will cost a moderate fee and should not be time consuming.

While there is currently no plan to make annual criminal record checks mandatory for chiropractors in Alberta, it is likely that they will be required to completely them periodically.

Note: All chiropractors must immediately report to CCOA any changes in their criminal record or when charges are laid against them.

What if I already submitted a criminal record check as part of my renewal?

When CCOA communicated to regulated chiropractors about the requirement for a criminal record check in this renewal, we were clear about obtaining the CRC after July 1. This is because we did not want chiropractors to feel additionally burdened by this requirement while they were also completing/submitting their CC credits and renewal application. Some chiropractors may have missed that message and obtained their criminal record check a little early, and that is okay. CCOA will accept those. If you submitted a CRC early, it will be added to your profile in July.

What questions is CCOA asking in the renewal application and why?

Be prepared to answer questions regarding:

• Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA): CCOA will ask about the date you submitted your last PIA/revised PIA to the OIPC and the date the OIPC provided your PIA letter of acceptance.
  • CCOA asks this question to monitor compliance with PIA and regulatory rules. CCOA is hoping to see an improvement in compliance from last year’s results.
• Netcare: CCOA will ask whether you have or have not applied for Netcare Access.
  • This information is collected to better understand the professional integration with Netcare.
• Your practice: Answers to these questions will help CCOA as regulator to better understand whether there is a correlation between workload volume and regulatory compliance. These correlations have been shown in other professions.
  • Whether you are an owner or an associate at your clinic.
  • Number of full days (more than 4 hours) and half days (4 hours or less) that you provide clinical services of a chiropractor per week, on average.
  • Number of days you regularly work.
  • Number of patient visits (using a range scale) specific to chiropractic services you provided over the last 365 days.