Acupuncturist guilty of misconduct after billing MSP for $1.2 million

 

 

BY ELAINE O'CONNOR, THE PROVINCE SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

 

 

 

 

Mubai Qiu was claiming to see up to 400 patients a day.

Photograph by: Gerry Kahrmann , PROVINCE

A Richmond acupuncturist believed to have falsely submitted over a million dollars in claims is guilty of professional misconduct and the province is seeking repayment of more than $1.5 million.

The College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practicioners and Acupuncturists found Mubai Qiu guilty of “excessive mis-billing” last week. He claimed to see up to 400 patients a day.

“The patient load, it just didn’t make sense. You can’t see that many patients in a day,” said registrar Dr. Mary Watterson.

The college is considering penalties, which could include license revocation and/or a maximum $35,000 fine. The ruling is expected in the next few weeks.

The college began its investigation in May 2012, after being alerted by Medical Services Plan officials of Qiu’s high billings.

In July, the regulatory body ordered a suspension of Qiu’s registration after he breached a consent order.

In March 2013, a private investigator reported that on a day where Qiu said he saw 23 patients, he in fact spent 10 minutes in his office.

Witnesses reported visiting Qiu only once or twice but being asked to sign multiple treatment records.

Qiu did not participate in the hearing. He had been registered since June 2001 and practised out of an office on Odlin Crescent.

In an unrelated case, Qiu is also being sued by a former patient, Na Fan, for allegedly leaving the room during a “ba guan” treatment, causing treatment materials to catch fire and leaving her with severe burns. The case was filed in B.C. Supreme Court last month.

Qiu’s lawyer, Dean Crawford, declined to comment on Qiu’s legal proceedings.

Meanwhile, the province’s Medical Services Commission’s Billing Integrity Program is in the process of seeking more than $1.5 million, plus a 5 per cent surcharge and interest, from Qiu, Ministry of Health spokesman Stephen May confirmed.

The Ministry of Health’s Audit and Investigations branch first flagged Qiu’s billings in 2009, noting claims for over $250,000. An audit found errors in all records reviewed and noted some had “no record of patient complaints, history, inquiries, diagnosis, [or] treatment plan.”

More than $630,000 in billings was in dispute at the time. Qiu settled for $100,000.

A subsequent audit last year found his billings once again inflated. In 2010/2011, he billed for 22,000 services totalling over $500,000 and in 2011/12 he billed for 55,600 services totalling more than $1.2 million — a figure accounting for more than 20 per cent of all MSP billings for acupuncture in B.C. that year.

In April 2012, under the terms of his settlement agreement, Qiu was required to opt out of MSP and began billing patients directly.

Since 2004/05, MSP has been overbilled nearly $8.8 million by more than 105 practitioners. The government has reclaimed $7.7 million.

The college has 1,600 registrants, about half of them acupuncturists.