Nova Scotia therapy clinic regulations for private pediatric clinics

Nova Scotia therapy clinic regulations at a glance

This summary covers Nova Scotia only, and each cell links to the page it came from. The sections below give the detail and the exceptions. Where a regulator’s page was missing or blocked, the page says “not found on the official pages we read”, which is not the same as saying no rule exists.

Health privacy: PHIA custodians, breach notices and records

PHIA names a regulated health professional, or a person who operates a group practice of regulated health professionals, as a custodian [NS-1]. An agent includes an employee or volunteer who deals with personal health information on the custodian’s authority, and section 28 keeps the custodian responsible for the information in its custody or control. The Act does not say whether a lay owner is a person who operates a group practice, so a clinic with a non-clinician owner can put that question to the Department of Health and Wellness, which publishes a PHIA toolkit with templates for custodians [NS-5].

A breach has two tiers. The custodian notifies the individual at the first reasonable opportunity when it believes information was stolen, lost or accessed, used, disclosed, copied or modified without authority and there is potential for harm or embarrassment (s. 69). If the custodian decides on a reasonable basis that notice is not required, it must tell the Review Officer as soon as possible (s. 70(2)). The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) asks for one form per breach, sent as each breach occurs or bundled on the last day of the month [NS-3]. The guide is printed 24 January 2022 even though its file name carries a 2025 date, so check the office’s Tools page for the current form [NS-4].

Records and policies carry their own duties. A custodian needs a written retention schedule (s. 50) and must securely destroy information when the retention period ends (s. 49(2)). It designates a contact person (s. 67), publishes a written statement of its information practices (s. 68), and keeps a record of user activity for any electronic system, which the individual can request and receive within thirty days (s. 63). Access and correction requests are answered as soon as possible and no later than thirty days after receipt, with an extension of up to thirty more days on listed grounds (s. 84). The Act sets no number of years for retention; each regulator sets its own period (see the next section).

Fines for an offence run to $10,000 or six months for an individual and $50,000 for a corporation (s. 107). The Regulations, amended to N.S. Reg. 63/2026 effective 3 March 2026, cap the general access fee at $30.00 per request [NS-2]. On federal law, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada lists PHIA as substantially similar to PIPEDA [NS-6], while the Department’s toolkit chapter on PIPEDA is dated 1 June 2013 and says the Department intended to apply for that status [NS-7]. Treat the toolkit chapter as dated and ask counsel which law reaches a particular activity.

Professional regulators: four renamed under one Act in 2025

The Regulated Health Professions Act is the common framework for every health profession in the province, and professions move onto it through profession-specific regulations [NS-8]. For therapy clinics that happened between 31 March and 24 November 2025. Each regulation continued the earlier college or board under a new name, so older websites, standards and web addresses may still carry the former names. A registrant must follow the Act, regulations, bylaws, code of ethics and standards of practice, and must hold the liability insurance the board requires (RHPA s. 60(1)). An employer must make sure each person it employs in practice holds a current licence at hire and every year after (s. 160).

Read each clinician’s own regulator page, because the periods and wording differ by profession. The table lists what we read for each; the cells that say “not found” name the pages we checked.

Working with children: reporting, consent and police checks

The Children and Family Services Act puts a duty on every person who has information that a child is in need of protective services to report it forthwith to an agency, whether or not the information is confidential or privileged (s. 23). Failing to report is an offence with a fine of up to $2,000, six months in jail, or both. A second section covers people who perform professional or official duties with respect to a child, including health care professionals, psychologists, social workers, teachers and recreation workers: on reasonable grounds to suspect abuse, they must report forthwith, and the penalty for that failure is a fine of up to $5,000, one year in jail, or both (s. 24) [NS-10]. The psychology regulator’s counsel memo adds that the duty continues even when the professional believes the Department of Community Services may already know [NS-11]. A phone number or portal for making a report was not found on the official pages we read; the Act says to report to an agency.

On consent, PHIA lets any capable individual, regardless of age, consent or withdraw consent under that Act (s. 18). If the person lacks capacity, a substitute decision-maker is chosen from a listed order that includes a parent, and a parent-level substitute must meet the conditions in section 21 [NS-1]. The psychology regulator’s position statement says the age of majority is 19, that no legislation grants or denies minors a decision-making entitlement, and that psychologists judge a child’s capacity case by case under the mature-minor doctrine rather than by a fixed age [NS-12]. A Nova Scotia statute on consent to treatment was not found on the official pages we read.

No statute requiring police checks for staff of a private therapy clinic was found. The requirements we read attach to registrants. The speech-language pathology regulator asks for a criminal record check and a vulnerable sector check dated within six months, every five years [NS-14]. The occupational therapy regulator requires a vulnerable sector check from applicants and from registrants at renewal every five years [NS-13]. Rules for physiotherapy and psychology registrants were not found on the official pages we read. The RCMP says the hiring organization makes the request for a vulnerable sector check, that local police run it, and that no federal law requires an organization to conduct one [NS-15].

Running the clinic as a business and employer

A registrant who incorporates stays personally responsible for compliance with the Act, regulations and bylaws, and the incorporated entity can itself commit an offence (RHPA ss. 140-145). The OT regulator requires a corporation that provides occupational therapy to hold an NSOTR permit; permits expire every 31 December and the renewal window runs from 1 October to 30 November, and the regulator keeps a public registry of permit holders [NS-16]. Speech-language pathology registrants must carry at least $2 million of liability insurance [NS-14], and psychologists at least $1,000,000 per occurrence [NS-36]. For physiotherapists, a private-practice facility carries an annual permit renewal tied to the registrant [NS-37]. Corporate rules for speech-language pathology and psychology sit in bylaws we did not read. A licence for a non-registrant owner of a clinic was not found on the official pages we read.

Most Nova Scotia businesses must register with the Registry of Joint Stock Companies, with listed exemptions [NS-23], and renew the registration each year they operate [NS-39]. WCB Nova Scotia coverage is mandatory for a business in a mandatory industry with 3 or more workers at the same time, and registration is due within 10 days. Workers include active officers and directors and subcontractors in mandatory industries. The mandatory list comes from the Workers’ Compensation General Regulations, includes hospitals and nursing homes but does not name outpatient therapy clinics, and says it may not include everyone who must register, so only WCB can confirm a clinic’s status [NS-17].

The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires a written policy, reviewed at least annually, where five or more employees are regularly employed (s. 27), a written program and a joint committee at twenty or more (ss. 28-29), and a health and safety representative where five or more are employed and no committee is required (s. 33) [NS-18]. Every employer needs a workplace harassment prevention policy with the content set in Part 27 of the Workplace Health and Safety Regulations, staff training in it, and a review at least every three years (s. 27.2) [NS-19]. Whether a private therapy clinic is a “health services” business under the Violence in the Workplace Regulations is not stated in the text we read.

Under the Labour Standards Code, the general overtime rule is 1.5 times the regular wage after 48 hours in a week, and the minimum wage is $17.00 an hour from 1 October 2026 [NS-20]. Labour Standards covers employees and not independent contractors, and it weighs factors such as control, tools and compensation to decide which a worker is [NS-21]. Organizations must comply with the Built Environment Accessibility Standard Regulations from 1 April 2026, including a public maintenance plan for accessible parking and entrances where they apply [NS-22]. The Province says it is also developing standards for employment, goods and services and other areas, and the page we read gives no dates [NS-38].

Funding programs and insurers

Preschool autism services are delivered through the Provincial Preschool Autism Service, a partnership between IWK Health, Nova Scotia Health, Hearing and Speech Nova Scotia and Autism Nova Scotia, with one intake line at 1-833-200-7817 [NS-24]. The government pages describe service delivery through that partnership. A registration route for private providers, an approved-agency list and a family reimbursement program were not found on the official pages we read, so confirm any private-provider question with the program. Direct Family Support for Children and Enhanced Family Support for Children fund respite services for eligible families through the Department of Opportunities and Social Development; eligibility depends on the child’s disability and the family’s income [NS-25].

Two payers set rules for providers who treat injured people. The Automobile Accident Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols Regulations (N.S. Reg. 20/2013, effective 1 April 2013) set protocols for sprains, strains and whiplash injuries where Section B benefits are payable; they apply only if the patient wishes and the practitioner chooses to follow them, and they do not authorize treatment after 90 days from the accident, with listed exceptions [NS-26]. WCB Nova Scotia treats work-related musculoskeletal and psychological injuries through its Work-Connected Recovery network, whose onboarding and operations are managed by Lifemark; invoices for services on or after 1 January 2026 go to Lifemark on the ACMS platform and not through WCB Online [NS-27].

Nova Scotia dates to watch

Check each date against the linked page before you rely on it. The regulator moves matter most for older documents, because a policy that still names a former college may point at a page that now redirects.

Nova Scotia official sources directory

These deep links are easy to miss from the main government pages. Each opens a page or document the sections above rely on or point to.

How TherapyCRM fits

TherapyCRM is practice management software with a clinical record, for English-language clinics in Canada outside Quebec. It stores a date of birth on active client records and keeps an audit log of activity on practice records that staff with the audit-log permission can review. A clinic can use those facts when it works out which retention period applies to each child. They do not decide which period applies, and nothing in the software replaces the advice of the clinic’s regulators or counsel.

TherapyCRM’s funding tracking is built around the Ontario Autism Program; it does not support the Provincial Preschool Autism Service, Direct Family Support for Children, Enhanced Family Support for Children or the Work-Connected Recovery network named above. This page does not ask a clinic to buy anything. If you want to see how a practice workflow looks with fictional data, you can request a demo.

Frequently asked questions