Family physician sentenced to 4-year prison term for largest doctor billing fraud in Alberta history

An Edmonton family physician has been sentenced to four years in prison for a crime described as the largest billing fraud by a doctor in Alberta history.

In 2016, Dr. Yifei Shi billed Alberta Health for a total of $1,388,862. According to an agreed statement of facts entered in Court of King's Bench on Thursday morning, $827,077 of that amount was fraudulent.

Shi claimed false billings that year for non-existent psychiatric counselling and treatment for hundreds of patients. 

"She would bill for psychiatric counselling on almost every patient she saw," the court document states. "She did not provide psychiatric treatment to her patients in the amounts that she claimed to Alberta Health."

Now 35, Shi was charged in April 2021 by Edmonton police with one count each of fraud over $5,000 and theft over $5,000.

She pleaded guilty Thursday to the fraud charge.

When Shi was charged, police alleged she had over-billed the Alberta government up to $4.1 million in a fraud scheme that dated back to 2013, but Shi only admitted to committing fraud in 2016.

After Shi was charged, she was allowed to continue practising medicine, but all the money claimed through billings was held in escrow by Alberta Health, amounting to $582,000 in effective compensation to the provincial government.

Shi's lawyer, Kent Teskey, told court Thursday that the family doctor dipped into her own savings to pay for office overhead and staffing costs after she was charged.

"In the face of criminal charges, she continued to work, knowing that money would be held," Teskey told the court. "She's been serving her patients. They appreciate the fact that she continued to practise."

Teskey said his client is remorseful. Court of King's Bench Justice Paul Belzil agreed that giving up that money was a sign of remorse. 

In addition to the four-year prison sentence, Belzil also ordered Shi to pay back $827,077 in full restitution.

The judge accepted a submission from Crown prosecutor Megan Rosborough that Shi's crime is the largest billing fraud by a doctor in Alberta history.

Rosborough asked the judge to impose a five-year prison sentence, noting that at the time she committed fraud, Shi had a happy family and was extremely well-educated with a dream job that had high earning potential.