Fee Schedule Q&A

The 2025-2026 Fee Schedule, effective July 1, 2025, is now available on the CCOA website. To ensure regulated chiropractors have the most amount of information regarding these changes, CCOA has prepared a selection of anticipated questions below.

Why are some fees increasing in 2025-2026?

The top reasons yearly fees and the continuing competence/conduct levy are increasing are:

1. Complaint and discipline costs have been high for the last few years and continue to rise.
2. Not only is the College is seeing an increase in complaints, but the complexity of complaints and associated costs are increasing. CCOA has a high proportion of complaints that allege sexual abuse and sexual misconduct. Sexual abuse and sexual misconduct files are often complex and expensive.

What do fees pay for?

The college has a single source of revenue, and this is registrant dues, and any associated fees and penalties. Fees must ensure CCOA has the resources to serve its mandate to serve and protect the public, in the public interest. More than half of dues go directly towards sustaining regulation and supporting critical regulatory work that protects the public. The remainder supports CCOA’s regulatory functions through corporate services, professional sustainability, communications and more. There are many factors that determine a regulatory body’s fees. The major factors are:

• Number of regulated chiropractors. Generally, there is an economy of scale in regulatory work. With more regulated members, costs and expenses can be spread over more individuals. CCOA is a relatively small college with 1300+ regulated members.
• The overall compliance of the profession and cooperation with the regulator. The higher the overall, proactive compliance with regulatory requirements, the less programming needed from the regulator to ensure the public interest is protected. When there is moderate to low overall cooperation with the regulator, more programming and monitoring of the profession is needed to ensure protection of the public interest.
• The volume and complexity of complaints is a major driver of regulatory costs.
• Legal limitations on the College’s ability to recover costs of discipline from regulated chiropractors who are found guilty of professional misconduct.
• Whether regulatory programs include registration of professional corporations and equipment. CCOA must register professional corporations and equipment.
• The regulatory reserves must be maintained for professional standards and sexual abuse/misconduct.

What can I do as a chiropractor to help keep fees low?

Adhere to College deadlines. Dealing with late renewals or filings costs more than we recover, even after fees are applied.

Regularly examine your compliance with the Code of Ethics, Standards of Practice and other college rules and directives. Violations of standards are harmful to the public and it is expensive for the CCOA to manage complaints.

Cultivate your regulatory compliance mindset by:

• Reading all communications from CCOA.
• Taking your continuing competence seriously and engaging in self-reflective practice.
• Understanding and addressing your biases and risks in practice.
• Maintaining professional boundaries with patients at all times. Refreshing yourself on modern ethical standards in health care delivery.
• Expanding your perspectives by serving on a committee or council of CCOA or another regulatory college.
• Staying up to date with standards and always follow them.
• Orienting your practice to patient safety that includes adapting your awareness for social and cultural values regarding professional boundaries.
• Engaging in ethical, patient-centered care and evidence-based practice.

What is the conduct/competence levy used for?

The conduct/competence levy will be used at Council’s discretion to help fund CCOA’s professional conduct area, proactive regulatory initiatives, or the CCOA’s regulatory reserves.

CCOA has experienced an increasing volume and complexity of professional misconduct complaints, including a higher number of sexual abuse and sexual misconduct complaints, over the past few years. The conduct/competence levy is used to offset the increasing costs of the CCOA professional conduct area including extra staffing.

This levy may also help to offset the cost of CCOA’s proactive regulatory initiatives, such as the Practice Advisor, who assists chiropractors in understanding the standards and ethics required in practice in Alberta.

Will we be required to pay the professional conduct levy every year?

It depends. CCOA assesses the need for the levy annually. The decision (to keep, decrease or increase or eliminate the levy) is based on the activities of the past year, current and expected complaints and discipline cases and whether the CCOA regulatory reserve fund has reached its target amount.

Where are CCOA’s financial statements posted?

The College of Chiropractors of Alberta includes audited financial statements in its annual report to government. Independent, external auditors conduct a comprehensive audit of CCOA every year.

After CCOA files the report to government, it is tabled in the Legislature and then posted to the CCOA website for the public and regulated chiropractors to read.

Other health regulators also include their financial statements in their annual reports that are also posted publicly. For a listing of health regulatory colleges, visit the Government of Alberta’s Regulated health professions and colleges webpage.

Why don’t chiropractors have the opportunity to vote on whether to increase CCOA fees?

CCOA decisions, including fee schedule decisions, do not go to regulated chiropractors for voting. CCOA decisions are made in the public interest. Fee schedules are approved by CCOA Council which is made up of 50 per cent regulated chiropractors and 50 per cent public members.

Council is mandated to make decisions in the public interest. CCOA is transparent to regulated chiropractors and the public about its budget and publishes its audited financial statements every year on its website, in CCOA’s annual reports.