Double-billing Calgary doctor sanctioned again by CPSA

The College of Physicians and Surgeons has sanctioned Dr. Bruce Hoffman for double billing, alleging he billed insurance companies and patients privately.

A Calgary doctor has been penalized for unprofessional conduct after officials found he was charging insurance companies for procedures while also privately charging his patients for the same exams.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) found Dr. Bruce Hoffman guilty of two instances of “double-billing,” which occurred in 2016.

The CPSA also found Hoffman breached the confidentiality of the patient by delivering their medical chart via a courier, who left it unattended in an open mailbox at the patient’s home without notifying them about the delivery.

It also said a $1,000 charge for a missed/cancelled appointment in 2016 was unreasonable and he used a numbered company for the practice of medicine contrary to the Health Professions Act.

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The charges stem from allegations made by a woman who sought care from Hoffman in 2016.

She went to Hoffman, who operated Calgary’s Hoffman Centre clinic, because she had pain, fatigue and itchiness, but her doctors could not diagnose why, so the patient wanted to hear another perspective.

The patient said she paid out of pocket $750 for the initial appointment in May 2016, then $21,000 for various tests.

She said she didn’t know the clinic would bill Alberta Health Care Insurance as well.

Hoffman later said the woman’s illness was linked to either Lyme disease or mould.

At a follow-up appointment, which cost the patient $500, she said Hoffman checked her tongue and fingernails, then again suggested mould as a cause.

The patient stopped seeing him and refused her next appointment after learning her test results wouldn’t be ready, and Hoffman charged her the $1,000 fee.

The CPSA said she “relied on his professional expertise to provide her with the health care she needed.”

“Dr. Hoffman used (patient’s name redacted) and took advantage of that and her trust in him so that he could profit from her and upon his unilateral termination of the patient/physician relationship, he failed to demonstrate respect for her right to privacy.”

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The CPSA said Hoffman’s behaviour was “severe in both nature and gravity.”

“Dr. Hoffman’s billing practices undermined the public’s trust in a publicly funded health-care system and took advantage of a vulnerable patient who looked to Dr. Hoffman for guidance and support, enabling Dr. Hoffman to profit off their health concerns,” the CPSA said in its tribunal decision.

“The hearing tribunal is concerned that Dr. Hoffman continues to demonstrate a lack of insight into his actions.”

Doctor also double-billed terminal patient

Hoffman is the same physician who was ordered by the CPSA to pay more than $20,000 to the estate of a former patient who he provided care to in 2014.

The board said the patient was suffering from atypical Parkinsonism and Hoffman “double- billed” the province and the patient for treatment on 21 separate occasions, from 2014 to 2018.

The woman and her husband were also told by Hoffman that he could provide “alternative treatment” that would put her condition into “remission.”

The woman died in 2019.

While Hoffman has already retired from medicine and no longer holds an active practice permit, the CPSA issued him a reprimand, ordered him to complete a course on ethics and professionalism and fined him $7,000.

He was also instructed to pay half of the costs of the investigation and hearing, up to a maximum of $25,000.

Hoffman has appealed this sanction and that hearing is scheduled to take place on June 9.

With files from CTV Calgary’s Alesia Fieldberg