Dr. Bruce Hoffman guilty of unprofessional conduct

After facing six charges of unprofessional conduct, Dr. Bruce Hoffman, a general practitioner from Calgary, was found guilty by a CPSA Hearing Tribunal of three of the charges.

It was alleged that between 2014 and 2019, Dr. Hoffman provided private testing at significant cost to a patient and on numerous occasions, billed the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan for the services provided while also charging the patient fees for the same visits.

Based on the evidence presented, the Tribunal agreed Dr. Hoffman engaged in unprofessional conduct, finding that his actions breached CPSA’s standards of practice on Sale of Products by Physicians and Charging for Uninsured Professional Services, as well as the Canadian Medical Association’s Code of Ethics and Professionalism and Alberta’s Health Professions Act. Additional charges against Dr. Hoffman relating to referral consultations and patient record content were found to have not been proven and were dismissed.

The Hearing Tribunal will reconvene at a later date to consider submissions on sanction.

Resources:
CPSA Hearing Tribunal decision
CPSA’s Standards of Practice