Dr. Suman Kumar Koka has been formally cautioned by Ontario’s medical regulator following complaints, including one report of a patient receiving care from the doctor’s assistant, who was not a physician.
A Sudbury doctor has been formally cautioned by Ontario’s medical regulator following complaints, including one report of a patient receiving care from the doctor’s assistant, who was not a physician.
It’s not the first time Dr. Suman Kumar Koka has been called before the body for a similar issue.
As of May 7, Koka’s practice was placed under supervision by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. The regulator restricted his medical license, requiring him to practice medicine under the guidance of an approved clinical supervisor for a minimum of six months; undergo a comprehensive evaluation, involving chart reviews and interviews with colleagues and patients, and submit to direct observation of his patient care.
Koka is also required to complete continuing professional education focusing on “office management, delegation, and properly terminating the physician-patient relationship.”
The Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee mandated that Koka appear before a panel to receive the caution.
Clinical oversight
According to the committee, a “physician assistant (PA) candidate” performed a diagnosis, recommended treatment, and issued a prescription without any direct involvement from Koka, which is against the regulations.
The committee also wrote they couldn’t confirm if Koka even knew about the patient at his clinic.“The documentation in the chart shows that the PA candidate made decisions on behalf of the Respondent but there is no indication the Respondent reviewed and signed off on those decisions.”
Furthermore, investigators found the medical records to be deficient, stating that the documentation showed “a complete lack of understanding of the subjective-objective-assessment-plan (SOAP) approach to medical recordkeeping.” The Committee concluded that this indicated “insufficient oversight by [Koka] as supervisor of the PA candidate to ensure the delegate is competent.”
Beyond the clinical oversight failures, the regulator’s recent decision also called attention to Koka’s business operations.
In the documents, Koka acknowledged that his staff did not answer the telephone due to workload, but the committee rejected this, stating that a doctor must “ensure he has an office telephone that is either answered or where voice messages can be left,” and that these must be managed in a timely fashion.
Previous findings
The committee stated that the 2026 findings should be viewed in the context of Koka’s prior history, which includes a 2019 inquiry by the regulator. That inquiry also addressed issues with his delegation practices and record-keeping, specifically in regards to the handling of methadone maintenance therapy; the documents state Koka commonly prescribes hydromorphone, which is also known by the trade name Dilaudid.
In that 2019 case, the committee found that Koka had delegated controlled acts to a physician assistant without an established physician-patient relationship. At that time, the committee wrote that Koka “acknowledged that he had never met the [patient] in person or over video conference before he delegated his methadone maintenance therapy to the physician assistant.”
In their recent decision, the committee expressed that its concerns were significantly “elevated” by this history. They noted that the physician continues to demonstrate failures in his delegation practices “in spite of prior education and direction from the Committee.”
Koka is also the sole officer and director of Northwood Recovery, which has locations in North York, Hamilton and Manitoulin Island. It operates under the name Recovery North in Sudbury, Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie.
In 2025, the CBC submitted a freedom of information request to the Ontario Ministry of Health seeking records of Koka’s total billing to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). It reveals that he billed just over $2.3 million in 2023 and nearly $2.5 million in 2024. The Toronto Star’s earlier reporting found Koka billed $1.5 million in 2018-19, putting him in the top one per cent of doctors ranked by OHIP billing, where he remains.
Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com.