Proposed changes to By-law No. 60 regarding annual registration fee

No, I don’t agree of the changes and increase the annual renewal fees

I am a sonographer-in-training at a school in Ontario. This fee increase is very disheartening to people wanting to enter the sonography field and practice in Ontario. There will be much more incentive for them to go elsewhere to other provinces!! Sonography is important and if there are such shortages of techs --- why is CMRITO just trying to make more money off of them? It turns people away. 30+% single increase in fees is ridiculous, plain and simple.

I don't agree to the proposed change to the annual renewal fees . Sorry for the inconveniences. Thank you

I believe this increase should not happen. Sonographers simply can not afford a 25% increase. With what we have to pay to keep our liability insurance it is too much money spent every year. My sister is an RPN and does pay even half of what I have to in order to keep my license.

The rate hike is excessive. The wording sounds like you are priding yourselves on not raising rates for years all to raise them 37% in one single year !! What exactly is going up 37%? Raises for the employees vs membership costs

The fees we pay are already expensive with having to be registered with CMRITO, Sonography Canada, and needing PLI. At least Sonography Canada provides ways to obtain CPD credits easily & record them. As well as offering PLI & discounts with Insurance companies & gyms. I believe there are likely ways to cut costs within administration, and possibly switching to remote work rather than having an office. However, I would actually support the fee increase if CMRITO advocated for better wages for technicians & we were able to strike for better wages (the same way nurses do). The only way to earn better wages is to jump employers, or to ask and hope your employer actually gives you a wage increase - which is unlikely to happen. The college of nurses at least advocate for wage increases and rights for their members. I have seen absolutely no benefit to being a member of the CMRITO (aside from being legally allowed to work). There are many techs in the industry that are not registered with the CMRITO. I have seen nothing done to ensure that these clinics have legally registered techs unless a complaint is filed. This causes an exploitable labour market for those that are registered vs those that aren't. Furthermore, I have witnessed numerous clinics that allow techs to do upwards of 15 echocardiograms a day, how is this safe for patients when each exam is supposed to take at least 30-45 minutes? How are these technicians actually completing comprehensive exams? Most clinics do not offer benefits, especially massage benefits, which contributes to burn out. Additionally a long border cities some technicians would like to work in the United States, however under the NAFTA agreement I believe we are unable to. I have not seen the provincial & federal bodies we pay fees to, actually advocate for us and make changes in terms of wages, performing regulatory duties to ensure clinics & hospitals are complying with regulatory practices & not taking advantage and overworking technicians, and advocating for changes to the NAFTA agreement.

Please do not raise the fees for its members. It would instill more confidence in the College to continue to find ways to eliminate costs internally. In addition, raising fees may dissuade new and existing members from renewing which would impact patient care. Please reconsider this decision.

I think the proposed increase is deplorable. How dare you steal from the hardworking healthcare workers of Ontario. What does the college even do for the members paying into it? What extra services do you plan on providing for us now that you are increasing our dues 36%? You are applying even more pressure than most of the employers and Hospitals convincing healthcare workers to leave their professions. If we don't pay and no one can work in Ontario as an MRT what will you do then? If you want to protect the public from us, get the public to pay for your service.

I am not in favour of increasing the annual fees for our membership

The proposed increase in CMRITO annual fees does not align with the benefits and services it provides to members. Please provide a breakdown of how the increased fees will be spent, how it will benefit members directly, and what additional support/services members can expect. The comparison of CMRITO fees to most of the other health care colleges is not relevant, because our members are not responsible for ordering treatment or examinations, we perform these short-term procedures on behalf of supervising physicians. Also, as a sonographer our annual fees used to be much lower and were increased drastically when required to merge with CMRITO. Sonographers should be paying annual dues less than radiography and radiation therapy technologists, due to the reduced liability and lack of exposure to ionizing radiation to our patients. This proposed increase in fees is ludicrous, especially for sonographers. I will leave the profession if I am expected to pay this next year. They pay $95 annually in the United States, I can get a job there.

I as a member oppose the proposed increase in CMRITO registration and annual membership fee categorically. We are already paying a very heavy annual fee as compare to ARDMS 4 and a half time more plus sonography Canada, insurance , CPR and to complete 25 CME credit pay other sources and attend seminars. Keep in mind the radiation technologist market is very competitive with few jobs and low salaries. Private diagnostic clinics taking advantage of this market as there is no fixed pay scale set in regulation by the regulatory authorities. With current inflation , high interest rates and high prices of all the camodaties including housing market we are already struggling to survive. I think the CMRITO and other Regulatory authorities should make changes in rules to make it simple to maintain and renew the annual registration and cut down on internal expenses instead if putting burden on members. I thank CMRITO for giving me the opertunity to express my views and suggestions in order to shape the future of this industry.

This proposal is outrageous. The whole CMRITO council is just collecting money with no clear activity except some cozy meetings in downtown Toronto location . This "Regulated body" should not exist as they do not make the healthcare law nor the guidance of what exams and how it will be performed. All those laws and guidance are made by physicians who have the real authority. We should stop paying them all and see what the Ontario government will do? It will close all Diagnostic imaging departments in hospitals and clinics or get rid off the CMRITO ?

Is the audit performed by an independent committee? Could there be a large saving from moving headquarters from desirable downtown Toronto location to anywhere else in GTA? Any location is possible in this time of Zoom, Microsoft Teams etc. An explanation of why fees are going up so drastically with the addition of so much revenue from the absorption of Sonographers would be appreciated. Are CMRITO staff salaries public - if so where can we find them? if not, why not?

It is criminal and unbelievable that you're proposimg to raise the fee at all. It is already excessive and unaffordable especially in the current financial times. This proposal brings to light the ignorance of the college and confirms the already uselessness of your demands (including the ridiculous QA e portfolio). I feel I get absolutely nothing from the college other than a sour taste in my mouth every year I pay my fees. Rethink this (and the current outrageous fee).

A $643 annual fee is ridiculous. $470 + HST is already too much. I'm a sonographer, and from a technologist's point of view, CMRITO does very little to help us in any way. They simply mandate proof of 25 hours of CME and have us fill out lengthy and bureaucratic forms every year., i.e. Jurisprudence, etc. They don't even offer liability insurance. We have to get liability insurance through Sonography Canada, another organization for which we have to pay annual fees. It seems CMRITO is geared toward and benefits the general public more than the technologists. If that's the case, funding should come from taxpayers not from the technologists who are simply trying to make a living. In 2021, CMRITO took in $4,737,326 and operated at a loss. If CMRITO can't operate on nearly 5 million dollars in registration fee income they should seriously look at their expenditures instead of looking to take more money from their mandated registrants.

Unreal. I think this is greedy and uncalled for. I will be seriously considering another career path if this happens.

Enough is enough. It is clear the CMIRTO head office is out of current reality. I respectfully request ASAP a vote of all CMRITO members regarding ( the council can propose we have to decide as we are the ones paying): 1- Location of the head office of CMRITO and rent 2- number of council members and all auxiliary staff 3- remuneration (salary) of every head office employee 4- Budget and detail on what ( i.e. rent, computers, web/internet services, protocols expenses and so ….) 5- what are the investments of the CMRITO

I am totally against the annual fees increase.

Ultrasound technologists have not had this big of a wage increase in order to pay more fees. This is already a large sum of money and the cost of living continues to increase. The profession is struggling to find ultrasound technologists and we continuously work short staffed and increasing the annual fees will only make it worse. We will continue to lose people to other professions or to other provinces that pay more and do not have high yearly fees. I do not agree with this yearly increase.

I’m against the CMIRTO annual fee increase proposal! Most people are struggling financially due to way much higher living costs in this economy. None need further stress .