Proposed changes to CMRITO fees

Hello! Somebody in the comments mentioned that X-ray techs earn only $90.000 per year. I have never earned more than $60- $65000. And much less in the past. CMIRTO gives me a license and alerts me about QA. I pay for the seminars and CPR myself. Just curious - does the college understand what is going on in the field of imaging? I have decided to retire soon as all this depresses me, unless the college gives us some benefits. It seems I have been wasting my time.

I am just starting out as a sonographer an there for do not have much money. if these fees increase, I will have to find a part time job on top of my full time sonography job to compensate. If I do need to get a part time job it will take away the energy and focus that I put in each day with my patients and I fear it would make me less of a sonographer and unable to do my job well.

this large of an increase at once is what causes resentment and anger ... propose justifications for the increase all you want if won't ease the anger that will result. if increases are necessary, take the hit over a period of time and propose minor increases over a predetermined timeline. otherwise members will feel taken advantage of and undervalued.

The current annual registration fees with CMRITO are excessive when compared to those charged by other professional associations, such as ARDMS and Sonography Canada. CMRITO members play a pivotal role in Ontario’s healthcare system; they deserve to be supported, not excessively charged.

It is impossible to keep up with those annual fees, living costs are already high and everyday rising more, but our salary doesn't rise on the same rate, is hard for companies and hospital to do such a salary rise since most of our patients are OHIP and the prices per study are outdated and they wont fix this, therefore we as a techs ending doing more patients in less time in order to keep our jobs: make the math. Your annual fees are already the most expensive we pay and yet still not enough. Maybe you should look into reduce personnel and increase tasks on each one of you, as we had to do in order to keep doing our jobs.

Having more members should lower our costs not increase them. Nurses have considerably lower fees and considerably more members. So with the addition of sonographers should we not be lower fees? Also, did we not just do this? Where we tried to increase the fees and overwhelmingly the feedback was no. It was walked back and now because we're increasing over a few years we should be okay with this increase? No. Cost of living is already insane, people can't afford this expense when our salaries don't increase accordingly.

Hello I am writing to express my profound disappointment regarding the proposed fee increase for the following reasons: 1. The support provided to constituents is already insufficient, especially considering the professional development opportunities available through Sonography Canada, many of which do not require additional payment beyond membership fees. 2. With the recent reduction in provincial trade barriers, I strongly believe there should be a single governing body or college for sonographers, rather than maintaining both Sonography Canada and CMRTO. 3. The lack of alignment and streamlining of professional development requirements between Sonography Canada and CMRTO is disheartening and adds unnecessary complexity for practitioners. Thank you for considering this feedback as you deliberate on this important decision. Sincerely,

I would like to see an itemized list of expenses shared with the MRTs/public. If there is no longer a monthly expense for rent where are the savings? You say the college is looking for efficiencies but what are they? What has changed to lean out your business? This needs to be made public. The professions you are comparing us to make double the hourly wage as MRTs. Psychotherapists, physiotherapists, and massage therapists charge $100+/hour. The risk of sexual assault is MUCH higher for those professions than an MRT working in a team setting with patients having ample opportunity within organizations to voice concerns. I do not agree with the increase of $75 + $70 + $28 + ????? when you aren't transparent with expenses. How do the other colleges with MUCH greater risk of infractions make it work with their members with the fees they charge? We will be exceeding them in 2 years...

I think it is completely disrespectful to the CMRITO members. It is a tough and very expensive time to live for health care workers and 35% plus over the course of three or four years is a lot of money. Most of the CMRITO employees work from home, so it makes no sense to have an office in downtown Toronto where the cost to own an office is so high. Also, for the meetings that cost thousands of dollars, whenever I see the meetings, everyone is at a different location on zoom, so why is it costing so much more. If there are more members, that means more people are paying the fees, therefore you should have more money for more staff. It is so disrespectful to be doing this to front line healthcare workers right now. The CMRITO should be ashamed that they are pushing this to their agenda.

Acknowledge a fee increase is necessary and long overdue. I do not agree with the seemingly perpetual allowance to yearly COLA without notification/review/consideration of registrants. I have been a MRIT for 30+ and in leadership for over 20 of them. I do not agree with the comparison chart provided as you either neglect or outright ignore the wage comparison of the HRPs you did post alongside our profession. That is just plain shady as many of those professions earn significantly more than our own. You should also benchmark across the country against those provinces who are regulated and draw comparison of wages, number of MRITs to calculate cost per registrant. Is the college in debt? Running a deficit? If so when did it start? And how much? Or is it a projected future value? Many of us also do not understand the decision to go 100% virtual while still paying rent in downtown Toronto. Going virtual would have costed money to do so. Assuming the options were costed, if virtual was cost effective, why are you not sharing that? Was that decision based on the assumption you could escape the lease and or rent to others? If so, that is relying on funding not guaranteed which is poor business. With the massive increase in registrants for ultrasound, you should also be transparent as to how many additional paid staff was hired and in what roles. Much of the committee work is done by volunteers whether public appointed members and or MRITs who have volunteered their time to participate. Why as well are you not willing to hear registrants openly? Town hall? Something interactive? Why are you unwilling to engage those that fund your existence? Hiding behind virtual meetings only held during daytime hours when most work does not add to your credibility but reduces it and encourages negative feelings towards our college and the people who lead it. You do not even offer to record and post them for viewing later. It is important to be regulated 100% and as much as your mandate is to protect the public, it also shouldn't be metaphorically atop a mountain fortress inaccessible to those who fund the effort. As for the stepped increases, I would suggest dividing them equally over the years with a potential year skipped to allow us a reprieve. Overall the total is the same which is really a tough hit for many whose wages have not appreciated at the same rate as your fees will increase. I do implore you to be more transparent and engaged with your registrants. In not doing so and with the fees increase, you will encourage an underground technologist economy especially in the private environment who will pay wages well below appropriate levels for unregistered technologists who cannot afford to absorb this increase alongside their own cost of living for everyday life. Be thoughtful. Be considerate. Be transparent. Despite your mandate, you do represent us. Be better and do right by us.

We are not able to afford as our cost of living is already increased but our pay remains same. It’s really hard to pay Cmrto and CME fee and liability insurance for us as the technologist. I totally disagree for the raise in cmrito fees.

We cannot afford any increase in CMRITO fee. I am already suffering with high cost of living and not enough income It is already very hard to afford the present fees annually which is higher than other Ultrasound regulatory bodies. We pay for all the CMES to maintain CMRITO membership, we pay for liability to keep ourselves safe. Joblessness of other family members in Canada is a factor too. It is hard to survive with the amount of money we get. I cannot afford any increase in annual fee and with due respect I completely negate the proposal of any increase in annual fee which is already too high and too hard to afford. Thanks

I refused to increase in the fees of CMRITO.

To whom it may concern, Your data states that because we have more members the cost of expenses increases. If that is true why did the college add ultrasound techs to the group? This should have been considered before that decision was made. Also you shouldn't be comparing our profession to other professions in Ontario but instead look at how much MRT members pay in other provinces. But if you want to compare professions, why do nurses have way more members and pay less? That makes sense but for some reason it's the opposite for our profession. Maybe you should look into how they run things. There's a trend happening in schools, less and less students are going into our program resulting in less graduates from the program leading to shortages in hospitals. These fee increases do nothing but harm our profession in terms of recruitment and retention. With inflation and other bills to pay, the current annual fee is already a big chunk of change to payout on someone's birthday. These increases will make it even harder for those that can barely afford it. This proposal should be re-considered and the college should find a different way to meet their financial goals or change their goals completely. You shouldn't be punishing it's members for the council's mistakes. If these increases do move forward, I will 100% be looking at my options in what I can do to leave this profession or relocate somewhere other than Ontario. I don't think I'm the only one that would consider this. Thank you

No to any fee hikes

This is an unfortunate part that during this inflation time CMRITO is giving extra burden on their members, while they are already struggling with high cost for basic living in Ontario . We as a member not receiving any benefits from CMRITO like liability insurance or any CMEs structure to run our educational needs to peruse our career rather we are paying extra for those credits, conferences and liability insurance. We are paying to the organization for the public to sue us and have extra mental stress for the time if there is any misfortune part happened, sometimes because of public have no informations about our work but they contact to the the college for complain rather resolving issue at their end they send the member to court to fight . I really appreciate if CMRITO executive members cut down their expenses and close their offices in expensive areas and run on small scale to reduce the cost. Regards

it is absolutely ridiculous to increase our fees. i’m honestly not sure what CMRITO does for us except collect our money? what could you possibly need that money for when everything is done electronically.

Considering the increase in the cost of living in almost every aspect, with no relative increases in salaries, we as employees often find it difficult to handle expenses. As such, I am opposed to increasing the annual registration fee (which is not optional and is required to MRTs to be registered in order to work in their field). If the CMRITO plans to proceed with the proposed increase, I propose for it to be $50 at the most, not $75.

The annual registration fee is too high, they only take money and no help at all

I do not wish to see fee increases as I feel that members already pay a large amount of money each year and must do so to continue to work in Ontario. With the increase in number of members, there would also be an increase in fees collected by CMRITO. I do not feel that members see or are fully aware what is done with the fees currently being paid each year. Perhaps some more information and transparency would be helpful.