One thing that no dental practice wants to face is the possibility of employee theft or fraud.
- A Dental Office also Needs Fraud Prevention
In our last article, we covered the importance of financial records. One other reason for these records is to track the problem with embezzlement.
How Big of a Threat is Embezzlement to Dental Practices?
When it comes to theft and embezzlement, no one is totally immune. "Susan Gunn, a national speaker and certified fraud examiner, told embezzlement course attendees at the Chicago Midwinter Meeting, that three out of five professional practices are currently being embezzled. After the meeting, Susan stated that upwards of 80% of her course attendees currently suspect embezzlement or had recently been embezzled. 'Simply stated,' she said, 'we are in a crisis.'” If you have ever suspected that something wasn’t quite right with your office finances, there was a good chance that you were right.
Several years ago, I became suspicious of an office manager who worked in one of my satellite offices. The office’s collections were way down and I was concerned. After reviewing the software’s appointment book, it appeared that the office manager was under collecting for my associate’s work. I noticed that completed procedures that appeared on the appointments were, in some instances, missing from the ledger. This was especially true for the “cash” patients. I then pulled my associate dentist’s progress notes and verified my suspicion. There was a huge discrepancy between the work my associate had recorded in his progress notes and the work the office manager had recorded in the ledger. I next printed an audit report which informed me that my office manager was also deleting cash payments and then reentering these payments at lower amounts. Hoping that she would make a voluntary confession, I asked why she had failed to enter certain procedures and why she had deleted cash payments from the software. She then surprised me by providing a very detailed and lengthy explanation, addressing all of my questions. I wanted to believe her, but I could not ignore the information the software provided. And so, I called the patient and informed her we were auditing our books – the patient confirmed all of my suspicions...
DentiMax, LLC
4115 E. Valley Auto Dr.
Suite 101
Mesa, AZ 85206
(800) 704-8494
(480) 396-1798
http://www.dentimax.com
