As per ACSLPA Policy, the following was published on December 13, 2024 and will remain on the website for a period of five (5) years after the regulated member completes all outstanding requirements arising from the Hearing Decision.
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ALBERTA COLLEGE OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS AND AUDIOLOGISTS
IN THE MATTER OF THE HEALTH PROFESSIONS ACT
AND IN THE MATTER OF A HEARING REGARDING THE CONDUCT OF
CRAIG ROBINSON
Summary of the DECISION OF THE HEARING TRIBUNAL & SANCTIONS
Click here for the Full Decision of the Hearing Tribunal & Sanctions
ALLEGATIONS
An Amended Notice to Attend a Hearing, dated October 10, 2024, was marked as Exhibit 1. The allegations in the Amended Notice to Attend a Hearing were as follows:
1) Between January 2019 and May 2019, with respect to Patient 1, failed to maintain appropriate and required documentation, including one or more of the following:
a. Little to no evidence of documentation of:
i. Family concerns/priorities
ii. Assessment findings/observations
iii. Plan
iv. Goal setting
v. Intervention options
vi. Progress
b. Chart notes were missing or not completed for known client visits.
2) Between January 2022 and September 2022, with respect to Patient 2, failed to maintain appropriate and required documentation, including one or more of the following:
a. Little to no evidence of documentation of:
i. Informed consent
ii. Family concerns/priorities
iii. Assessment findings/observations
iv. Plan
v. Goal setting
vi Intervention options
vii. Progress
b. Chart notes were missing or not completed for known client visits.
3) Between June 2023 and August 2023, with respect to Patient 3, failed to maintain appropriate and required documentation, including one or more of the following:
a. Little to no evidence of documentation of:
i. Informed consent
ii. Family concerns/priorities
iii. Assessment findings/observations
iv. Plan
v. Goal setting
vi Intervention options
vii. Progress
b. Charts contained informal notes or transcriptions that did not contain your professional designation, sufficient information nor adequate information to write a formal chart note at a later date.
4) Between December 2021 and August 2022, with respect to Patient 4, failed to maintain appropriate and required documentation, including one or more of the following:
a. Little to no evidence of documentation of:
i. Patient identifiers on papers within chart
ii. Family concerns/priorities
iii. Assessment findings/observations
iv. Plan
v. Goal setting
vi Intervention options
vii. Progress
b. Charts contained informal notes or transcriptions that did not contain your professional designation, sufficient information nor adequate information to write a formal chart note at a later date.
IT IS FURTHER ALLEGED that your conduct:
2) Breached your statutory and regulatory obligations to the Alberta College of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (“ACSLPA”) as a speech-language pathologist.
3) Failed to fulfill professional and ethical obligations expected and required of a speech-language pathologist.
IT IS FURTHER ALLEGED that your conduct outlined in this notice breached the following laws and standards of practice that applied to the profession:
1) The HPA,
2) “ACSLPA Standard of Practice 4.3: Documentation and Information Management”, Effective September 2015;
3) “ACSLPA Standard of Practice 4.3: Documentation and Information Management”, Effective June 2021;
4) “ACSLPA Standard of Practice 4.3: Documentation and Information Management”, Effective September 2015 and June 2021 (Revised June 2022);
5) “ACSLPA Standard of Practice 3.2: Informed Consent”, Effective September 2015;
6) “ACSLPA Standard of Practice 2.3: Informed Consent”, Effective September 2015 (Revised June 2022);
7) ACSLPA guideline on Clinical Documentation and Record Keeping, Effective 2011 (Revised September 2018);
8) ACSLPA guideline on Clinical Documentation and Record Keeping, Effective 2011 (Revised June 2020); and
9) ACSLPA guideline on Clinical Documentation and Record Keeping, Effective 2011 (Revised June 2021).
and that your conduct set out in this notice and the breach of some or all of these laws and standards of practice constitutes unprofessional conduct pursuant to subsections 1(1)(pp)(i) and 1(1)(pp)(ii) of the HPA.
(referred to altogether as the “Allegations”)
FINDINGS
After hearing from both parties and upon reviewing the evidence before it, the Hearing Tribunal finds that the Allegations in the Notice to Attend a Hearing are proven.
The Hearing Tribunal accepts Mr. Robinson’s acknowledgement of unprofessional conduct and agrees that the proven conduct constitutes unprofessional conduct under sections 1(1)(pp)(i) and 1(1)(pp)(ii) of the HPA.
CONCLUSION
The Hearing Tribunal accepts the Agreed Statement of Facts and Acknowledgment of Unprofessional Conduct and finds that the Allegations have been proven and constitute unprofessional conduct.
Having accepted the Joint Submission on Penalty for the reasons outlined above [in the Decision of The Hearing Tribunal], the Hearing Tribunal makes the orders on the terms and conditions proposed by the parties:
1) Mr. Robinson will receive a reprimand and the Hearing Tribunal’s decision (the “Decision”) shall serve as the reprimand.
2) Within 90 days of receiving the Decision, Mr. Robinson will complete the following remedial education, at his own cost, and shall provide proof of completion to the Complaints Director:
a. Education on documentation: Ethical Documentation and Billing for SLPs (Speechpathology.com) (https://www.speechpathology.com/slp-ceus/course/ethical-documentation-and-billing-for-10747).
b. Education on time/stress management: Stress Management (NAIT) (https://www.nait.ca/nait/continuing-education/courses/citc802-stress-management).
If any of the required education becomes unavailable, Mr. Robinson shall make a written request to the Complaints Director to be assigned alternative education. Upon receiving Mr. Robinson’s written request, the Complaints Director, in her sole discretion, may assign alternative education in which case, Mr. Robinson will be notified in writing of the new education requirements.
3) Within 90 days of receiving the Decision, Mr. Robinson shall submit a written reflective essay (the “Essay”) to the Complaints Director on the following terms and conditions:
a. The Essay must be titled “The Importance of Documentation: What it Means to my Practice and Profession as an SLP”;
b. The Essay must be at least 1200 words;
c. Mr. Robinson must review the following documents prior to writing the Essay:
i. ACSLPA’s Standards of Practice (https://www.acslpa.ca/members/standards-of-practice/);
ii. ACSLPA’s Guideline on Clinical Documentation and Record Keeping (June 2021) (https://www.acslpa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Clinical-Doc-and-Rec-Keeping-Guideline-Jan2023.pdf); and,
iii. ACSLPA’s Resources on What Constitutes Timely Documentation (June 2020) (https://www.acslpa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/What-Constitutes-Timely-Documentation-Jun2020.pdf).
d. The Essay must be typed and comply with professional formatting guidelines (e.g. APA);
e. The Essay must demonstrate:
i. at least 6 goals of improvement on Mr. Robinson’s documentation practices as an SLP;
ii. reflect learnings and insights from ACSLPA’s Standards of Practice, Guideline on Clinical Documentation and resource, What Constitutes Timely Documentation; and
iii. describe Mr. Robinson’s strategies, plans and supports for improving his documentation and ensuring that he complies with ACSLPA’s expectations.
4) Mr. Robinson shall complete a period of monitoring in his employment setting (the “Monitoring Period”) for a total of 120 days on the following terms and conditions:
a. Within 15 days of receiving the Decision, Mr. Robinson must provide a letter to the Complaints Director (“Employment Letter”) from his supervisor in his primary employment setting where he is employed as an SLP. For clarity, a primary employment setting is where Mr. Robinson is employed on a full-time basis, or, where Mr. Robinson works the greatest number of hours during the week if he has more than one employment setting(s). The Employment Letter must confirm:
i. The location of Mr. Robinson’s employment setting, including the unit(s), if applicable (the “Employment Setting”);
ii. The name and contact information of the anticipated supervisor, or other such manager, at the Employment Setting (the “Supervisor”) who will complete Mr. Robinson’s Monitoring Period;
iii. That the Supervisor has read and reviewed the Decision and understands the requirements of the Monitoring Period; and,
iv. That the Supervisor agrees to provide the Complaints Director with 2 letters during the Monitoring Period (the “Monitoring Letters”) about Mr. Robinson following the requirements of the Decision.
b. The Monitoring Letters shall be provided to the Complaints Director in the following intervals:
i. The first Monitoring Letter shall be due 60 days after the Employment Letter is approved by the Complaints Director and shall address the first Monitoring Period of 60 days;
ii. The second Monitoring Letter shall be due 60 days after the first Monitoring Letter is approved by the Complaints Director and shall address the second Monitoring Period of 60 days.
c. During the Monitoring Period, Mr. Robinson is expected to be monitored and receive oversight regarding his documentation practices as an SLP from the Supervisor but is permitted to work as SLP independently and therefore requires no direct or indirect supervision while performing the responsibilities of his role.
d. Each Monitoring Letter shall confirm:
i. Confirmation that Mr. Robinson worked as an SLP without significant leaves of absence during the previous 60 day Monitoring Period;
ii. Whether the Supervisor has any concerns regarding Mr. Robinson’s documentation practices as an SLP and if concerns exist, whether they were reconciled by Mr. Robinson;
iii. Confirmation that the Supervisor obtained feedback from other members of the healthcare team or managers and that no concerns exist regarding Mr. Robinson’s documentation and if concern exist, whether they were reconciled by Mr. Robinson; and,
iv. Confirmation that during the previous 60 days, the Supervisor conducted at least 1 audit of Mr. Robinson’s documentation as an SLP that included at least 5 patient charts and no concerns existed regarding Mr. Robinson’s documentation practices as an SLP or if concerns existed, they were addressed and remediated by Mr. Robinson.
e. Mr. Robinson shall be responsible for any costs related to the Monitoring Period, if any costs become due.
5) Mr. Robinson shall pay 25% of the total costs of the investigation and hearing, to a maximum of $3,000.00 (the “Costs”) and on the following terms:
a. The Costs are due 12 months after the date that Mr. Robinson receives a copy of the Decision;
b. The Costs must be paid to ACSLPA, whether or not Mr. Robinson holds an active practice permit with ACSLPA; and,
c. The Costs are a debt owed to ACSLPA and if not paid by the deadline indicated, may be recovered by ACSLPA as an action of debt.
6) Should Mr. Robinson fail to comply with any of the orders above within the deadline specified or within the period of the extended deadline granted by the Complaints Director, the Complaints Director (or her delegate) may do any or all of the following:
a. Treat Mr. Robinson’s non-compliance as information for a complaint under s. 56 of the Act;
b. In the case of failure to complete the course, or pay costs within the timelines referred to above, or within the amended deadline agreed toby the Complaints Director, Mr. Robinson’s practice permit will be suspended until he has complied with the outstanding order(s); or,
c. Refer the matter back to a hearing tribunal for further direction.
7) The orders set out above at paragraphs 2-5 will appear as conditions on Mr. Robinson’s practice permit and ACSLPA’s online public register until they are completed and notice of the conditions may be provided pursuant to section119 of the Health Professions Act, as follows:
a. Conduct requirement – Coursework required arising from a disciplinary matter;
b. Conduct requirement – Essay arising from a disciplinary matter;
c. Conduct requirement – Costs arising from a disciplinary matter;
d. Conduct requirement – Letters from practice setting arising from a disciplinary matter;
e. Conduct requirement – Practice verification arising from a disciplinary matter.
8) Where mutual agreement is required between Mr. Robinson and the Complaints Director relating to an outstanding requirement, and an agreement cannot be reached by Mr. Robinson and the Complaints Director on the implementation of the outstanding requirement, the Complaints Director (or her delegate) may refer the matter back to a hearing tribunal for further direction.
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