Dental Practice Management Software: Embezzlement Contd

 How can a dental practice prevent embezzlement?  Obviously, the first line of defense against embezzlement is to hire honest people.  But beyond reviewing work history and calling references, no one can guarantee that their staff will never steal from them.  Bluntly stated, without good software, you cannot properly protect yourself from employee theft.  I would not have pursued my suspicion and caught this office manager without the detailed information provided by my software program.  I shudder to think about the amount of money that she could have stolen had I not caught her early on.

Where Dental Practice Management Software Fits In

A good software system will allow you to set up customized security and provide the reports you need to monitor your staff.

My office uses DentiMax but Dentrix, Eaglesoft, SoftDent and other software systems also have the ability to set up customized security and provide the reports you need to monitor your staff.  This type of functionality allows you to define the areas of the software your staff members have access to and to what degree they get this access.  If you don’t want your front desk to delete ledger items without your consent, like cash payments, limit their access rights to the ledger.  You could set up the ledger so your front desk can add and edit items but not delete items.  You should also be able to print an audit report by employee.  This report will tell you what your employees have deleted or added to your software.  For example, you might run an audit report by your office manager’s name to see if cash payments have been deleted.

During the Cold War, Ronald Reagan quoted an old Russian maxim to Mikhail Gorbechev, “Trust but verify.”  Do the best you can in hiring trustworthy employees, but use your software’s capabilities to verify their honesty.  By routinely verifying that your employees are honest, your trust and appreciation for them will increase.  But, per chance you find something wrong, you will be able to take immediate corrective action before a possible problem has a chance to balloon into something large scale or is allowed to continue unabated.

Dental Practice Software and Fraud Prevention

As a practice you want to make sure that your finances are in control.  One thing that you have to consider is that in some cases, there may be fraud going on.  With the right dental practice management software, however, you can help prevent this.

DentiMax, LLC
4115 E. Valley Auto Dr.
Suite 101
Mesa, AZ 85206
(800) 704-8494
(480) 396-1798
http://www.dentimax.com