Daniel Mathew Zukiwsky

On September 28, 2021, the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee (“the Committee”) made a decision regarding information it obtained about the practice and conduct of Daniel Zukiwsky. Following investigations by this College, the Committee identified a number of concerns with D Zukiwsky’s practice. The Committee determined that these concerns are serious in nature and that the concerns regarding D Zukiwsky’s billing practices and management of conflicts of interest appeared to be substantiated by the available evidence.

The Committee decided that its concerns were significant enough to require that D Zukiwsky complete a Specified Continuing Education or Remediation Plan (“SCERP”), including a review of relevant resources and an educational program with a professional ethics coach. 

Since 2017, as required by law, the College has been posting information about SCERPs on the public register. A SCERP is ordered by the ICRC when they have identified concerns regarding a physiotherapist’s practice or conduct. A SCERP is an educational program and is not a finding of wrongdoing, professional misconduct or incompetence, nor is it disciplinary in nature. 

File: 2020-0114

Status: Completed July 7, 2022

On September 28, 2021, the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee (“the Committee”) made a decision regarding information it obtained about the practice and conduct of Daniel Zukiwsky. Following investigations by this College, the Committee identified a number of concerns with D Zukiwsky’s practice. The Committee determined that these concerns are serious in nature and that the concerns regarding D Zukiwsky’s billing practices and management of conflicts of interest appeared to be substantiated by the available evidence. The Caution read as follows:

The Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee of the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario decided that your conduct fell below the requirements and expectations of being a physiotherapist in Ontario. The Committee decided, therefore, to deliver a formal caution to you. This caution is intended to emphasize the Committee’s concerns about the seriousness of your conduct. While this caution is not a formal disciplinary action, the text of this caution will be posted on the College’s Public Register.

The College’s recent investigation identified that you dispensed products to patients when you had a financial interest in those products, yet you did not always disclose this financial interest to your patients. The Committee had concerns, therefore, about the fact that you appeared to breach the College’s Conflict of Interest Standard, which requires physiotherapists to disclose to patients the nature of any financial interest they have in products or services before recommending (or selling) these products or services to patients. The College’s investigation also identified that you waived insurance co-payments for patients while invoicing the insurer for the full amount. The Committee acknowledged your explanation that you were uncomfortable with this practice and the Committee appreciated that you raised concerns about this practice to your former employer. You also provided assurance that you no longer engage in waiving insurance co-payments. Nonetheless, the Committee was concerned by your admitted conduct as the College has taken the position that waiving insurance co-payments can be a problematic practice, considering a physiotherapist’s obligation to meet the College’s Fees, Billing and Accounts Standard.

The Committee also had a number of concerns about your record keeping practices. The undercover investigator who attended your former practice informed you that they were involved in a motor vehicle accident, yet you did not appear to ask this patient appropriate follow-up questions about the reported motor vehicle accident as part of your intake assessment. You also did not appear to sufficiently document the patient’s medical history, as it related to the reported motor vehicle accident, in the patient record. It appeared to the Committee that you had attempted to minimize documentation of a motor vehicle accident in order to obtain insurance coverage for this patient, and the Committee considered this to be unacceptable. Doing so not only demonstrated poor record keeping on your part, but also inappropriate business practices and poor clinical practice in general.

You have now completed a Specified Continuing Education or Remediation Plan, as ordered by the Committee, in order to address the areas of concern that were identified by the Committee. The Committee trusts that completing the remedial activities that were included in your Specified Continuing Education or Remediation Plan has assisted you to improve your practice in these areas. The Committee also expects that you will reflect on the seriousness of your conduct and that concerns of this nature will not come to the College’s attention in the future.

Since 2017, as required by law, the College has been posting cautions on the public register. A caution is a decision made by the ICRC when a concern raised in a complaint or in a formal investigation is sufficient to require the physiotherapist to attend before a panel of the ICRC to receive feedback from the panel on how to prevent similar concerns from arising in the future. A caution does not involve a finding of wrongdoing, professional misconduct or incompetence and is not disciplinary in nature.  

Ref: File 2020-0114
Status: Delivered September 14, 2022