Winnipeg doctor suspended for unethical billings ‘crossed the line’

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This article was published 18/12/2024 (292 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg doctor suspended for six months has admitted to submitting “inappropriate and unethical” claims by billing for visits that didn’t occur and rigging prescription renewals to pad his bottom line.

Dr. Daljit Singh Gill, an internal medicine physician, billed Manitoba Health multiple times for communication with pharmacies based on a single request by changing the dates of the requests, an inquiry from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba has found.

Patients were often without their medication as a result of his actions.

“Dr. Gill’s misconduct and deficiencies are serious and concerning.”–Decision document

He also submitted claims for services in which a patient record was not created, for virtual visits that never happened and for family care conferences where a family member was not present.

“Dr. Gill unethically and inappropriately submitted claims, or caused claims to be submitted on his behalf, under (the Health Services Insurance Act), for his own benefit,” the written decision published online by the college reads.

“This places a significant inappropriate financial burden on the publicly funded health-care system and is a betrayal of the public trust.”

In October, the college announced his suspension after finding him guilty of professional misconduct. It posted a note on its website, but didn’t reveal details about its investigation.

The inquiry panel found him guilty of breaching college bylaws and standards, demonstrating a “lack of skill, knowledge, and judgment in the practice of medicine” and demonstrating an unfitness to practise medicine.

The panel ordered a six-month suspension of his licence, a fine, practice restrictions, requirements for remediation and costs. His suspension began Dec. 1.

Dr. Ainslie Mihalchuk, the college’s registrar and CEO, described the behaviour outlined in the decision as “egregious.”

“The behavior is not in keeping with what we find appropriate from the profession,” she said Wednesday. “It’s crossed the line, and that’s the end of that. We need to deal with it.”

Gill graduated from the University of Manitoba faculty of medicine in 2008 and completed post-graduate training in internal medicine in 2012. He has worked at four clinics since that time and at personal care homes.

He is not listed on the college physician directory, but in October, his profile on the college’s website listed his primary practice address as Medigroup Health Centre on Kenaston Boulevard.

The investigation began after a patient complaint about a delayed referral in 2017, and that investigation led to further questions, said Jeremy de Jong, who acts as legal counsel for the college.

“As part of investigating that issue, that complaint that was brought forward, individuals in the practice setting raised concerns about record-keeping issues and other issues, and that’s when an audit, or a series of audits, took place,” he said.

The investigation revealed that Gill had billed Manitoba Health $188,077.50 for communications with pharmacists in March 2022-23, while the “vast majority” of internal medicine physicians billed less than $10,000 in the same 12-month period.

The probe found he billed $91,640 in the same year for family care conferences. The second-highest billing that year from a single physician in Manitoba, comparatively, was $34,560.

Manitoba Health must make the decision as to whether criminal charges should be filed, the college said.

Despite being subject to audits and signing an undertaking to improve the management of his practice, Gill delayed reviewing diagnostic results, did not properly document patient care and acted unprofessionally. His actions resulted in multiple complaints from patients. On one occasion, he tried to mislead the college while a patient complaint was being investigated.

Gill was called out for an instance in which he roped in a patient into a dispute he had with the owner of a pharmacy where he had worked. He encouraged the patient to file a complaint about the owner.

Gill is required to pay restitution to Manitoba Health for the “improper billings,” although the amount is yet to be negotiated. He was fined $5,000 and must pay $36,126 to the college to cover the cost of the investigation, with further costs still to be calculated.

The Manitoba Health annual report for the 2023-24 fiscal year shows Gill’s was paid $1,286,146, while he was paid $1,176,619 one year earlier.

De Jong said the decision to limit punishment to a six-month suspension was based on multiple factors.

He didn’t have a prior record of misconduct and eventually admitted to the wrongdoing. He will be subject to a number of what he described as “fairly onerous” remediation requirements, including an ethics and professionalism course, bringing in a supervisor to look at his documentation, and monitoring by the college’s quality department.

“We try to be as remedial as possible and give physicians a chance to recognize the errors of their ways and improve. So, it’s not always the case that you’ll lose your licence when you engage in egregious professional misconduct. Every case has to be looked at differently,” he said.

“Dr. Gill’s misconduct was awful. The integrity issues were significant, but he’s relatively early in his career.”

A Doctors Manitoba spokesperson declined to comment on Gill’s case but said it is “extremely rare” for a physician to be suspended in Manitoba.

“There are clear rules and expectations set by Manitoba Health about physician billing and these are reinforced by Doctors Manitoba through resources and training,” he said in an email. “Billing claims are closely monitored and audited by the province.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Gill Daljit Singh Suspension documents