News
New Canada Life requirements effective April 1, 2021
Canada Life is an amalgamation of Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life, which merged at the beginning of 2020.
On April 1, 2021, the new Canada Life measures came into force, with stricter requirements pertaining to reimbursements for massage therapy services in Québec. This initiative concerns only the Canada Life insurance company, and it bears mentioning that Canada Life covers less than 10% of insured people in Québec as a whole. Not all massage therapy clients are covered by Canada Life, therefore. Cited below are the different case scenarios, along with complete details on the new requirements rolled out by the insurance company.
Massage therapists with 1,000 or more training hours
Massage therapists who have more than 1,000 training hours and are members of a recognized association will continue to be recognized by Canada Life.
Massage therapists with less than 1,000 training hours
Massage therapists who have less than 1,000 training hours must be members of a recognized association and must meet at one of the following two conditions for their receipts to be accepted by the insurer:
- Must have issued a receipt, for which a reimbursement from Canada Life was received, on or after April 1, 2017.
- 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 your activities related to the practice of massage therapy (e.g., care, follow-up, administration, advertising, maintenance, etc.)”.
Please note that a check box concerning the declaration of full-time work has been added to the profile of massage therapists with less than 1,000 training hours in the members section (profile section / change the general profile) of the FQM website. We invite you to complete this short declaration in the members section to formalize your status with Canada Life.
A new certification test available soon
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 in the coming weeks will offer a new certification test to ensure that you are recognized by the insurer. Developed in collaboration with the Université Laval’s education department (Département des fondements et pratiques en éducation), this new test is FREE OF CHARGE and has been approved by Canada Life. It will cover the competencies to master in massage therapy through case studies. This certification test will make it possible, without difficulty, to issue receipts for insurance purposes, which will be accepted by Canada Life.
We invite you to contact our member services at 1-800-363-9609, extension 228 or write to us at support@fqm.qc.ca for further information and to register to take the test. We will contact you as soon as the test is available.
All massage therapists required to complete continuing professional training
Whether you have more or less than 1,000 training hours, and for each of the cases shown above, Canada Life’s new requirements include mandatory continuing professional training for all massage therapists in Québec. In order to meet this requirement, you must complete 25 hours of continuing professional training over a period of three years to ensure ongoing recognition from the insurer. The three-year period began on April 1, 2021 and ends on March 31, 2024.
A visual designed to help members understand the new requirements
New massage therapy graduates
Effective April 1, 2021, a new massage therapy graduate must complete 1,000 training hours to be recognized as a care provider by Canada Life. They must also belong to a recognized association.
Massage therapy graduates who do not have 1,000 training hours can still become FQM members through our standard membership procedures or our prior learning assessment program.
New massage therapists who do not have 1,000 training hours can also issue insurance receipts to clients who are not insured by Canada Life.
How to add training hours to your file
Various options are available, whether you want to complete the 1,000 training hours or meet the continuing professional training requirements:
- A complete and diversified offer of online training capsules accessible through the members section of the FQM website
- Training activities available through the network of accredited schools
- Up to 200 training hours recognized as “competencies acquired through professional experience”, including non-accredited training
- Up to 150 hours recognized in complementary health training, including nursing care, TPR, kinesiology, osteopathy, acupuncture, etc.
Please do not hesitate to contact us
For further information or details concerning your situation in regards to Canada Life, please contact our member services at 1-800-363-9609, extension 228 or write to support@fqm.qc.ca
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