Written by: NNPBC
April 1, 2026
Today, the Health Professions and Occupations Act (HPOA) is replacing the current Health Professions Act. We’ve rounded up some information and resources to help you stay informed about this shift and what it means for nurses and NPs:
Overview
The Ministry of Health has prepared an extensive FAQ (updated January 2026) that outlines what the HPOA is, why it was established and how it applies to health professions in BC.
As outlined in the FAQ, the HPOA introduces some scope of practice (SoP) changes for certain professions. Nurses and nurse practitioners are not impacted by scope of practice changes related to HPOA.
In their own outline of the HPOA, the BC College of Nurses and Midwives emphasizes that “Most of the changes impact regulatory colleges, as opposed to licensees. There is no change to day-to-day practice for nurses and midwives.”
“The scopes of practice outlined in the professional regulations may look and read differently for many regulated health professionals as they were written to align with the HPOA. However, most health professionals’ scopes of practice are not changing, and regulated health professionals will still be permitted under the HPOA to perform the same activities they were permitted to perform under the HPA. Visit [BCCNM’s] regulations page for more information.”
So what is changing for our profession?
Terminology
As outlined by BCCNM, the regulatory language used to describe nurses and NPs is shifting on a few fronts. The most notable one is that “registrants” will now be called “licensees”.
The HPOA does not provide for a non-practising class of registrant, ending this as a registration category with BCCNM. This group will now be referred to as former licensee, retired nurse or former nurse, according to BCCNM’s list of terminology changes.
Health Professions Discipline Tribunal
An important HPOA change to note for nurses and NPs is a new discipline process and the establishment of the independent Health Professions Discipline Tribunal (HPDT) for all regulated health professions in BC.
As described by the Ministry of Health, regulatory colleges will continue to receive complaints and conduct investigations involving health professionals. However, the HPOA establishes a new Discipline Tribunal that will conduct hearings and determine discipline in cases where a health professional has been investigated by their regulatory college following a complaint.
To learn more, join an orientation session on April 14 with Benson Cowan, Director of Discipline for the HPDT, who will explain the tribunal’s role in the new discipline process and opportunities for regulated health professionals to join the tribunal and participate in decisions.
Updates to nurse certified practice
New Certified Nurses practice standards have been created to align nursing certification with the Health Professions and Occupations Act (HPOA) and the Nurses and Midwives Regulation (NMR), according to BCCNM in their release.
In response to feedback from certified practice nurses, practice standards related to certified RN and RPN practice have been reorganized so that each certification program—Reproductive Health, Remote Practice, RN First Call, and Opioid Use Disorder—has its own dedicated practice standard. This change has not impacted the scope for certified practice nurses. The approach aims to improve clarity in communicating practice standards and to align with similar changes being made for midwifery certification.
Under BCCNM's draft HPOA bylaws, certified practice nurses will be known as “certified nurses” and may use the titles:
- Certified nurse
- Registered Nurse (Certified) / RN(C)
- Registered Psychiatric Nurse (Certified) / RPN(C)
Certified nurses may also choose to identify their specific certification program (for example, Opioid Use Disorder). These title provisions are included in the new practice standards.
Looking for more information?
Visit the BC College of Nurses and Midwives website for the latest information and resources related to the HPOA.
NNPBC will continue to share information as it becomes available to help keep our members informed about changes that may affect them. If you have questions, please reach out to our professional practice team at professionalpractice@nnpbc.com.