Annual Meeting 2022 and OANDCon22

Many thanks to all who joined us for our annual meeting and OANDCon22. It was wonderful to be together again, and to be able to connect with so many of our members.

CEO Recruitment

The Board continues to work with our recruitment firm to hire a new, permanent CEO. With input from our Interim CEO, OAND staff, and key stakeholders, we have put together a solid candidate brief that is forward looking, focuses on improving stakeholder relationships, communication, strategic planning, and operational integrity. We are on track to review a long list of candidates and begin interviews later this month. The job ad, a brief intro to the role, can be seen here: https://www.odgersberndtson.com/en-ca/opportunities

Board Development – Transparency, Governance training, and Board Recruitment

One of the board’s commitments is to greater communication and transparency with members. By-laws, with revisions approved at our annual meeting last month, can be found here, along with current board policies and the board skills matrix used to assess board composition and representation.

Board governance training and policy review are long overdue, with both scheduled for the new year. A relaunched board recruitment process will happen simultaneously. We are especially seeking applicants with relevant board governance and policy experience, as well as finance.

Government Relations and Advocacy

As some of you may already know, we learned of a disappointing decision by the Ministry of Health. Out of the proposed amendments to the General Regulation that included requests for additional substances, the Ministry have decided to move forward with some of the substances and not others.

The Ministry is prepared to add the following to the General Regulation tables:

  • IV alpha lipoic acid up to 600 mg racemic or 300 mg R
  • IM B complex, subQ B6
  • Topical hydrocortisone acetate up to 1% (we note this does not require a prescription and is already available over the counter)
  • IV L-tyrosine in combination with other amino acids
  • Oral vitamin D updated to reflect the Health Canada update to the Prescription Drug List that lists vitamin D over 2,500 IU qd as a prescription

Unfortunately, the Ministry has indicated they are not proceeding with recommendations to remove the limitations on estrogen, or to add oral micronized progesterone, levothyroxine, liothyronine, cortisol, IM iron dextran, or IV phosphatidylcholine to the regulation at this time. In communicating their rationale for these decisions, they cited that the scope of naturopathic doctors was not intended to include drugs/substances that are not natural health products, and that those substances have a high risk profile, would require physician co-management, and/or require monitoring not available to NDs. They have also advised that testosterone and DHEA cannot be added as they are covered by the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act under federal jurisdiction.

The board supports the addition of the substances the Ministry is willing to approve now, while advocating for future additional substances such as oral micronized progesterone and levothyroxine that are evidence-informed and will better ensure patient safety. We are working with our strategic partners like CONO, as well as our government relations consultant, on both short and long term advocacy efforts.

Building our reputation as skilled, knowledgeable, allied health providers that can help to lighten the strain on health human resources is a foundational building block of this work. It is difficult to emphasize how important it is for our professional reputation to be stellar – for the substances issue as well as for our government relations in general. Members who attended the annual meeting in November heard that our profession’s reputation with elected officials and with bureaucrats has negatively affected our ability to be successful with our government relations efforts. We are actively working on a government relations and communications strategy to present to you in the coming months and we will be asking for your input and help. Your support and active participation will be critical.

Annual Meeting for 2023 – Save the Date!

As promised, we are pleased to announce the return of the annual meeting to a spring date. Please save the date: Saturday April 29, at 10:00AM. More information to follow in the new year. Warm wishes to all our members taking time off or celebrating this month. We hope you all have a peaceful and joyous winter solstice, Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s. With thanks, OAND Board