What happened?
In the fall of 2011, a supervisor at ABC clinic reported to the College that she had fired a PT because she was unable to meet the standards of practice. When the employer made this report, she was meeting her mandatory reporting obligations under the law.
The supervisor said that the PT was fired for:
- Failing to record all of her physiotherapy treatments in the patient record even after being given several months to update the files
- Frequently omitting patients’ personal information, health history and a notation of informed consent from the records
- Taking patient charts home and losing them
- Allowing patients to use other’s names on their invoices so that they could make claims against someone else’s benefits plan
- “Friending” patients on Facebook
The Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee (ICRC) felt that the information from the employer raised sufficient concerns to warrant an investigation. During the investigation, the PT responded to all of the allegations and acknowledged gaps in her record keeping, but disputed everything else. The investigator interviewed patients, collected patient charts and billing records and obtained information from the insurance companies that had made payments based on the submitted invoices.
The Outcome
After reviewing the results of the investigation, the ICRC determined that there was enough evidence to demonstrate serious concerns about the PT’s practice. They considered whether to refer the case to the Discipline Committee for a full hearing and possible revocation of the PT’s certificate of practice.
However, since she had been a PT for over 10 years, with no prior incidents on record, and admitted some deficiencies in her practice, the panel decided that a referral to the Discipline Committee was not necessary.
Instead, the Committee ordered that she complete a Specified Continuing Education and Remediation Program (SCERP). It included ethics, record keeping and business practices courses, all of which had to be completed within a short time frame and at her own expense.
The ICRC also required that the PT undergo a practice assessment to ensure that she had changed her practices as she had indicated in her response to the complaint.
Finally, they required that she come to the College to meet with the Committee to be cautioned
in person as a reminder that her behaviour fell below College expectations.
Additional Resources
Learn more about Mandatory Reporting
Learn more about a PT's Professional Reporting Obligations
Contact the Practice Advisor should you have questions
Mandatory Report FAQs List
Read more: What does Professional Misconduct Mean to Me?