New requirements established by the Canada Life Assurance Company, effective April 1, 2021

 

Most recent update: April 20, 2021

 

Canada Life is now an amalgamation of Great-West, London Life and the Canada Life Assurance Company. The three companies merged at the beginning of 2020.

 

The new Canada Life measures, which raise the requirements for the reimbursement of massage therapy care in Quebec, came into effect on April 1, 2021. These measures apply only to this insurance company, and it’s worth mentioning that Canada Life covers less than 10% of the insured people in Quebec. Not all clients of massage therapists are insured by this company, therefore. Cited below are complete details on the updated requirements applied by the insurance company.

 

Massage therapists with 1,000 hours or more of training

Massage therapists who have more than 1,000 hours of training and are members of a recognized association will continue to be recognized by Canada Life.

 

Massage therapists with fewer than 1,000 hours of training

Massage therapists with fewer than 1,000 hours of training must be members of a recognized association and must meet at least one or two of the following conditions in order for their receipts to be accepted by the insurer:

 

• Must have submitted a receipt and received a reimbursement from Canada Life on or after April 1, 2017.

 

• Must have at least two years of full-time work experience as a massage therapist. Canada Life defines full-time work as “a minimum of 25 hours per week, including all activities related to the practice of massage therapy (e.g., care, follow-up, administration, advertising, maintenance, etc.).”

 

In our members section (profile section / change general profile), the profile for massage therapists with fewer than 1,000 hours of training now includes a check box attached to the declaration of full-time work. We invite you to check the box in the reserved section in order to formalize your status with Canada Life.

 

An all-new certification test now available

If you have not issued a receipt to a client insured by Canada Life since 2017 and do not have two years of full-time work experience, the FQM will offer a new certification test in the coming weeks to ensure that you receive recognition from this insurer. Developed in collaboration with the Département des fondements et pratiques en éducation at Université Laval (Department of principles and practices in education), this new test is FREE OF CHARGE and has been approved by Canada Life. It covers competencies acquired through case studies. The certification test will allow those who complete it to submit insurance receipts to Canada Life without any problem.

We invite you to contact Palmyra Di Tillio, member services advisor, at 514-597-0505 / 1-800-363-9609, extension 228 or palmyra.ditillio@fqm.qc.ca for further information on the test or to register for it. We will contact you as soon as the test is established.

 

Mandatory continuing professional training for all massage therapists

Whether you have more or fewer than 1,000 hours of training, and in all cases shown above, the new Canada Life requirements include mandatory continuing professional training for all massage therapists in Quebec. In order to meet this requirement, you must complete 25 hours of continuing professional training over a period of three years to retain your recognition with the insurer. The three-year period began on April 1, 2021, and it ends on March 31, 2024.

 

New massage therapy graduates

As of April 1, 2021, new massage therapy graduates must accumulate 1,000 hours of training in order to be recognized as health care providers by Canada Life. In addition, they must belong to a recognized association.

Massage therapy graduates who do not have 1,000 hours of training can still become members of the FQM by following our standard membership procedures or through our recognition of prior learning program.

New massage therapists who don’t have 1,000 hours of training can continue issuing insurance receipts to clients not insured by Canada Life.

 

How to acquire more training hours in your file?

There are various ways that you can reach 1,000 hours of training or meet these continuing professional training requirements:

• A complete and diversified selection of online training capsules available through the FQM members’ section.
• Trainings available through the network of accredited schools.
• Option to have up to 200 training hours recognized as “competencies acquired through professional experience”, including non-accredited training. 
• Possibility of recognition for up to 150 hours of complementary health training, including in nursing care, TRP, kinesiology, osteopathy, and acupuncture.