Professional Conduct report March 2021

General Practitioner found guilty of unprofessional conduct

Calgary General Practitioner Dr. Joanne Suk-Wah Tse was found guilty of unprofessional conduct after failing to comply with a Terms of Resolution Agreement (TORA) signed in 2017.

Background

In 2017, Dr. Tse signed a TORA which allowed the closure of a CPSA complaint identifying her failure to cooperate with an Alberta Health audit of her submission of billings to the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan. In the original complaint, Dr. Tse had failed to provide certain patient records to Alberta Health. She agreed to re-engage with Alberta Health and provide the requested charts after signing the 2017 TORA, but neither provided the information nor responded to Alberta Health until August 2019.

Commentary

In their decision, the hearing tribunal confirmed physicians have an obligation to fulfill their agreements with CPSA. Failing to do so undermines CPSA’s discipline process and the ability to regulate a physician’s conduct in order to protect Albertans.

The hearing tribunal will reconvene at a later date to determine Dr. Tse’s sanction.