A Kelowna massage therapist has been suspended for three months after submitting almost 100 fraudulent claims for treatments she didn’t perform.

According to a recently published June 5 College of Complementary Health Professionals of BC, massage therapist Vicky Bhardwaj put through 97 false claims for 10 clients and then denied it when the regulator began its investigation.

“Ms. Bhardwaj’s misconduct represents a fundamental breach of trust between a healthcare professional and the public. Fraudulent billing is unethical and can lead to the misuse of public or private resources intended for patient care,” the regulator said in the decision.

The decision said an insurance company began an investigation and found that Bhardwaj had “engaged in deliberate misconduct.”

Following the insurance company’s investigation, the massage therapist was supposed to report the matter to the regulator, but instead kept it quiet.

The regulator became aware of the fraudulent claims when a customer complained in December 2022, and the College began an investigation.

“During the College’s investigation, Ms. Bhardwaj falsely denied that she had submitted the false claims, other than those claims related to the complainant and the complainant’s husband, and that she submitted fraudulent claims for treatment that occurred while she was out of the country,” the decision said.

Bhardwaj signed a consent agreement admitting to her behaviour.

The decision didn’t give a dollar amount, but with the average massage costing around $120, Bhardwaj’s false claims would roughly add up to $10,000.

The College also found that she’d failed to keep proper health records and failed to produce records for the college when asked.

Along with a three-month suspension of her licence, she has to complete “intensive” remedial coursework on ethics and pay costs of $350.

The College said she will also be subject to random audits of her billing and clinical records for 12 months.