News
New requirements of the Canada Life insurance company in force since April 1, 2021
Last update: September 19, 2024
Canada Life is an amalgamation of Great-West, London Life and the Canada Life Insurance Company, which merged in early 2020.
Effective April 1, 2021, new Canada Life measures came into force with the aim of raising the reimbursement requirements for massage therapy care in Québec. This initiative applies only to this insurance company, and it should be noted that Canada Life covers about 10% of insured people in Québec, meaning that not all massage therapy clients are insured by this company. Shown below are different the case scenarios, along with complete details on the new requirements set out by the insurance company.
Massage therapists with 1,000 or more training hours
Canada Life recognizes massage therapists who have more than 1,000 training hours and who are members of a recognized association.
Massage therapists who graduated after April 1, 2021
If you received your diploma after April 1, 2021, you are required to complete 1,000 hours of training in order to be recognized by Canada Life.
Please refer to the links below to find out the number of hours that could be added to your file:
This Canada Life requirement concerns all massage therapy associations and not only the FQM.
For further information, we invite you to contact our member services at 1-800-363-9609, extension 228, or at support@fqm.qc.ca
Massage therapists with fewer than 1,000 training hours who graduated before 2021
Massage therapists with fewer than 1,000 training hours must be members of a recognized association and must meet at least one of the two following conditions for their receipts to be accepted by the insurer:
- Must have issued a receipt for reimbursement by Canada Life after April 1, 2017.
To find out if you issued a receipt during this period, please contact Canada Life at 1-800-565-4066.
- Must have worked full-time as a massage therapist for at least two years. 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.)”.
Please note that in our Members portal (profile section / change the general profile) for massage therapists with fewer than 1,000 training hours, a check box has been added to your profile concerning the declaration of full-time work. We invite you to complete this short declaration in the section for that purpose in order to regularize your status with Canada Life.
A certification exam is available (applies solely to members who received their diplomas before April 1, 2021).
If you have not issued a receipt to a client insured by Canada Life since 2017 and/or you do not have two years of full-time work experience, the FQM offers a certification exam to ensure that you are recognized by the insurer. Developed in collaboration with Université Laval’s Département des fondements et pratiques en éducation (Department for bases and practices in education), this exam, which is FREE OF CHARGE and has been approved by Canada Life, will cover the massage therapy competencies to master through case studies. Once the certification exam is successfully completed, you will be able to issue insurance receipts without difficulty, and your receipts will be accepted by Canada Life.
This written exam, in the form of multiple-choice questions, relates to the subject matter covered during your basic training in massage therapy.
This exam will be sent to you by email on request, and you will be required to return the completed exam within seven days.
Continuing professional training required for all massage therapists
Whether you have more or fewer than 1,000 training hours, and for all the case scenarios mentioned above, the new Canada Life requirements include mandatory continuing professional training for all massage therapists in Québec. Thus, to meet this requirement, you must complete 25 hours of continuing professional training over a period of three years in order to ensure continued recognition from the insurer. The current three-year period began on April 1, 2024 and ends on March 31, 2027.
A visual designed to better understand the new requirements
How to add training hours to your file
Various options are available as regards completing the 1,000 training hours or meeting the continuing professional training requirements:
- A complete and diversified offer of online training capsules accessible through the Members portal.
- Training activities available through the network of accredited schools.
- Option to have up to 300 training hours recognized for competencies acquired through professional experience, including non-accredited training activities.
- Option to have up to 400 hours recognized in complementary training in health and treatment, including in nursing care, helping relationships, physiotherapy, kinesiology, osteopathy, acupuncture, etc.
Please do not hesitate to contact us
For further information or for details concerning your personal situation with Canada Life, please contact our member services at 1-800-363-9609, extension 228, or at support@fqm.qc.ca
