The College of Speech and Hearing Health Professionals of BC (CSHBC) will increase certain fees for applicants and registrants and introduce new fees for registrants with multiple registrations.
On September 9, 2022, the CSHBC Board approved the increased and new fees. On September 21, 2022, the BC Ministry of Health set December 7, 2022, as the effective date for the adjusted fees.
Increased fees
- Registrants: Registration and registration renewal fees (for new and existing registrants) for Full or Conditional registration (first registration*) – increases from $860 to $950
- Registered Hearing Instrument Practitioner (RHIP) applicants: CSHBC Hearing Instrument Dispensing (HID) Practical Examination fee – increases from $650 to $950
- Certified Practice certificate applicants and existing certificate holders: The application and renewal fee for a Certified Practice certificate remains $100 per certificate, however, there will no longer be a $200 maximum fee regardless of the number of certificates applied for or renewed. The fee for each certificate applied for or renewed will be $100, with no cap if multiple certificates are applied for or renewed
New fees
- Applicants for a second or third registration*: Application fee for each additional Full or Conditional registration (domestic and international applicants) – $100
- Applicants for temporary registration: Application fee for temporary registration or temporary (teaching) registration – $100
- Registrants with a second or third registration*: Registration and registration renewal fee for each additional Full or Conditional registration – $150
*For information about first, second, and third registrations, see the note at the bottom of the page.
Some existing fees not listed above will be eliminated due to changes in the registration and renewal process that CSHBC will communicate.
When the increased and new fees are effective
The increased fees and new fees are effective from December 7, 2022. An updated list of all CSHBC fees will be posted in Schedule A of the CSHBC Bylaws at that time. Most registrants will not be affected by the adjusted fees until the registration and certified practice certificate renewal period that will run from late January or early February 2023 (date to be announced) until the renewal deadline of March 31, 2023. However, registrants changing from Non-practising to Full registration status will need to pay the new Full registration fee starting December 7, 2022.
Why CSHBC is increasing certain fees and introducing new fees
The CSHBC Board, supported by recommendations from the Finance & Audit Committee (FAC), determined that fee increases and new fees are required to achieve stabilized revenue for 2023/2024 and beyond, eliminate deficits, and maintain contingency reserves. The College is a not-for-profit entity created under BC’s Health Professions Act and must operate on a cost-recovery basis to fulfill its multi-profession regulatory role. The Board approved the increased and new fees and the BC Ministry of Health authorized the changes and established their effective date.
The fee adjustments are part of a five-year period of significant organizational transformation that began in 2017 to eliminate gaps in capacity and enable CSHBC to properly regulate and maintain the public’s trust in the growing professions of audiology, hearing instrument dispensing, and speech-language pathology. During that transformation, CSHBC has incrementally and carefully evolved from being severely understaffed to having sufficient staff resources for managing registration and certification, quality assurance and professional practice, and complaints and investigations.
To support this change, registration and renewal fees were first increased in 2019 – the first increases since the College’s inception in 2009. When CSHBC announced fee increases in 2021, the College noted that one more similar fee adjustment may be required in the future to meet the College’s stabilized, long-term revenue target, not including smaller incremental changes to address cost of living increases and inflation over time. The fee increases and new fees being announced represent the additional fee adjustment that was anticipated.
CSHBC continues to have relatively fewer staff compared to national speech and hearing regulators, which typically regulate only one or two rather than three professions and no Ministry-mandated certification programs. But as a result of the organizational transformation, the College has vastly improved its regulatory capacity and attained a stabilized, long term revenue target. CSHBC does not anticipate more significant fee increases in the foreseeable future, aside from smaller incremental adjustments to address cost of living increases and inflation as required.
For more information
Please read the Questions & Answers about the increased and new fees for more information on the fee adjustments, including additional details on why CSHBC is making the adjustments, whether future amalgamation of health regulatory colleges has any bearing on fees, and other aspects.
Sending comments to the CSHBC Board
Any comments about the fee increases may be sent to the CSHBC Board of Directors by email, in care of the Registrar & CEO at [email protected], or in a letter, addressed to the College of Speech and Hearing Health Professionals of BC, Board of Directors, sent to the College’s mailing address. All emails and letters received from applicants and registrants regarding fee increases will be submitted to the Board.
*CSHBC registrants may apply and register for (when meeting the requirements) a “first”, “second”, and up to a “third” registration as a Registered Audiologist (RAUD), Registered Hearing Instrument Practitioner (RHIP), and/or Registered Speech-Language Pathologist (RSLP).