Frequently Asked Questions
With the exception of students, interns and registrants holding an Emergency Assignment (EA) certificate of registration, all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must complete the annual renewal process.
Your annual renewal is comprised of filing of information and payment. Both parts must be completed to successfully renew your license.
- Filing of Information: Confirm or update personal and workplace information and respond to a series of declarations, including if you have completed the mandatory Orientation for Minor Ailments Prescribing module.
- Payment: The College accepts credit card, cheque or money order.
Included in the 2023 annual renewal is a link to a survey containing four provider experience indicators that will help the College use an evidence-based, data-informed approach to understand the overall experience of regulated pharmacy professionals and, ultimately, the impact of that experience on the provision of quality and safe pharmacy services. All responses to the survey will be anonymous and cannot be traced to any individual respondent.
Registrants should set aside 10-15 minutes to complete their annual renewal. If there are changes to your personal and workplace information, you will be asked to update it. Registrants will also be asked to respond to a series of declarations. These should be read carefully before responding.
Included in the 2023 annual renewal is a link to the provider experience survey. The survey link will take registrants outside of the annual renewal to an external survey platform, where they can provide their responses anonymously. The survey is voluntary and will take around 5 minutes to complete.
Annual renewal must be completed by March 10. You are highly encouraged to complete the annual renewal process in advance of the March 10 deadline to avoid late fees. The College will communicate with registrants regularly leading up to the renewal deadline.
The College accepts credit card, cheque or money order. As of 2023, the OCP portal no longer supports Interac debit payment.
Registrants can complete the annual renewal process using a desktop or laptop computer. The annual renewal process is not compatible with mobile phones.
Ensure you are using the most up to date version of either Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Chrome or Firefox, and that you have installed Acrobat Reader on your computer. If you wish to print confirmation of completion, please ensure your printer can print from your web browser prior to starting your annual renewal process.
The provider experience survey contains four provider experience indicators that will help the College use an evidence-based, data-informed approach to understand the overall experience of pharmacy professionals and, ultimately, the impact of that experience on the provision of quality and safe pharmacy services. All responses to the survey will be anonymous and cannot be traced to any individual respondent.
FAQs on provider experience indicators can be found here: https://www.ocpinfo.com/about/key-initiatives/quality-indicators-for-pharmacy/provider-experience-indicators-faqs/.
To ensure pharmacists fully understand their ethical, legal, and professional obligations when prescribing for minor ailments, a scope of practice regulatory change effective as of January 1, 2023, the College has developed a mandatory Orientation for Minor Ailments Prescribing module.
Part A pharmacists must complete the module before prescribing for minor ailments. Part A pharmacists who choose not to prescribe for minor ailments as of January 1, 2023 must still complete the mandatory orientation module no later than December 31, 2023.
More information on the Orientation for Minor Ailments Prescribing module can be found on the College website.
The College has a legislated duty to regulate the profession and to serve and protect the public interest. Stable revenues are required to support the College’s ability to meet its fundamental regulatory duties and mandate to protect the public and put in place strategic priorities defined by the Board.
In March 2020, the Board passed by-law amendments that increase registrant fees each year by the percentage increase, if any, of the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) (Ontario, All Items) as published by Statistics Canada on September 30. For 2023, the fee increase was based on a CPI on September 30 of 6.7%.
Yes. The 6.7% increase applies to all registrant and pharmacy fees. You can access the 2023 Schedule of Fees here: https://www.ocpinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/schedule-of-fees.pdf
Dependable revenue streams allow the College to:
- Maintain oversight of the profession in line with our core regulatory duties and objectives defined and prescribed in legislation
- Manage higher volumes and complexity of complaints and investigations
- Develop strategies and guidance to promote safe, quality pharmacy practice, including appropriately supporting the profession as the role of pharmacy continues to evolve and expand
- Additional operational priorities designed to support our regulatory obligations, expressed in our 2023 operational plan, such as those to related to ensuring that we have an adequate and secure data and information infrastructure
Board meeting materials related to the College’s 2023 operating and capital budget can be found on the College website (see pages 197-208 ).
For any questions about the annual renewal process, please contact the Registrant Applications and Renewals team at registrantservices@ocpinfo.com or 416-962-4861 / 1-800-220-1921 ext. 3400.