Innovation in Healthcare, Innovation in Law: Does the Law Support Interprofessional Collaboration in Canadian Health Systems?

Interprofessional collaboration in healthcare describes a model of practice where multiple health professionals work together in a team-based approach to patient care. A growing body of literature demonstrates that interprofessional collaboration advances healthcare quality and safety, improves patient outcomes and experiences of care, and promotes job satisfaction among health professionals. Governments and health organisations across Canada are working to advance interprofessional healthcare delivery. This paper examines the importance of law in supporting a shift to interprofessional collaboration in Canadian healthcare and discusses two key aspects of the legal context in which health practitioners work. First, the paper discusses trends in the legal regulation of health professions in Canada, including law reform initiatives aimed at promoting collaborative practice and expanding scopes of practice to break down the historically siloed approach to healthcare delivery. Second, the papers examines civil liability rules that courts apply when allegations of negligence are made against health care providers working in team-based situations. New legislative models that provide for expanded and overlapping scopes of practice, and which introduce new professional roles into the health workforce, may raise legal concerns regarding responsibility for patient care and outcomes. The paper illustrates how legal innovations, such as new models of health profession regulation, and legal adaptability, through judicial understanding of the modern context of health service delivery, are important to the advancement of interprofessional collaboration in Canadian healthcare.