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On November 3, 2025, Ontario enacted the Building a More Competitive Economy Act, 2025 ("Bill 56"), introducing significant updates to the province's health-regulatory framework. While the legislation spans multiple sectors, its healthcare amendments are particularly relevant to private equity sponsors, strategic acquirers, and operators active in Ontario's health services space.
Below is an overview of the health related reforms and why they matter for market participants.
Fast-Track Registration for Health Professionals
Bill 56 creates a new expedited pathway under the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, requiring regulators to issue certain registration decisions to out-of-province applicants within two business days where the statutory requirements are satisfied. Colleges are limited in their ability to require additional examinations, assessments, or training for such applicants. Public-protection safeguards remain in place through a mechanism allowing regulators to impose interim suspension orders where appropriate.
This new pathway should improve workforce mobility, enabling operators with national footprints to redeploy qualified practitioners into Ontario locations without prolonged licensing delays.
Ministerial Authority to Exempt Individuals from Health-Profession Title Restrictions
Schedule 10 of Bill 56 amends a number of Acts that regulate health professions, adding regulation-making authority for the Minister (with approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council) to exempt certain persons from existing title-protection provisions.
Through these amendments, the Minister is authorized to grant title-use exemptions in certain situations to maintain service continuity and safeguard patient access.
Amendments to the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act ("DPRA")
Bill 56 introduces targeted DPRA amendments to ensure consistency with the broader exemption and mobility framework.
Alignment with ministerial exemption powers:
The definitions of "pharmacist" and "pharmacy technician" now include "persons prescribed by the regulations." This aligns the DPRA with the Minister's authority under Schedule 10 of Bill 56 to authorize prescribed individuals to use protected titles under various health-profession statutes.
This ensures that individuals recognized through title-use exemptions can lawfully perform DPRA-governed activities where permitted, and helps to avoid definitional conflicts across Acts.
Expansion of Prescribing Authority for X-Ray Examinations
Schedule 4 of Bill 56 amends the Healing Arts Radiation Protection Act to expand the categories of individuals who may prescribe the irradiation of a human being under the Act. Under the amendments, prescribing authority now includes:
- Members of the College of Nurses of Ontario who hold an extended certificate of registration, and
- Any additional persons prescribed by regulation.
The amendments should improve patient access to imaging services by enabling a broader set of regulated professionals to prescribe X-ray examinations, which can reduce bottlenecks in obtaining clinically necessary diagnostic services.
Bill 56 signals that Ontario aims to position itself as one of Canada's most talent-accessible jurisdictions for healthcare service providers. For investors and acquirers, the reforms:
- enhance interprovincial portability of regulated health professionals under a clearer and more consistent licensing framework;
- facilitate the redeployment of out-of-province qualified practitioners into Ontario-based facilities for operators with multi-jurisdictional operations; and
- improve the practicality of national roll-up strategies, given simpler credential portability and clearer statutory alignments.
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