It’s a fact, fraud sucks! Widely published statistics show that 3 out of 5 dentists have been a victim of employee dishonesty during their career. In fact, embezzlement is so widespread in the profession that virtually every dentist will know at least one other dentist who was stolen from. What is less widely known is…
Dental practices have the right to monitor employee computer use. You must balance the employee’s right to privacy with the employer’s right to monitor workplace computer systems. Bill Hiltz Digital monitoring software can reveal who is doing what on a computer. Generally speaking digital monitoring looks at “what is happening“, while digital forensics looks at…
Practice Management Software – Credit Balances A credit balance on a patient’s account normally arises when a patient has prepaid for their treatment or has overpaid their balance. Sometimes in error, an insurance company will overpay, and this can also create a credit balance. The credit balances above represent money that the practice owes to…
Merchant Refunds Credit card terminals (and online portals) are designed to accept credit card payments and issue refunds . This creates an opportunity for a dishonest employee to issue fraudulent refunds to their own credit or debit card. Making an unauthorized credit card refund is a common embezzlement scheme that can be easily prevented. Do…
Report shows 57 percent of embezzlers are women, and law enforcement agencies agree. (Marquet Report on Embezzlement) “In dentistry, the majority of offices employ women in financial positions so 99% of my cases involve female embezzlers. Many of my largest cases involved stealing small sums of money over time. These schemes can continue for years,…
Receiving insurance checks in the mail can be a gateway to embezzlement.
#4 in our series of #TIPS intended to help you deal with fraud, embezzlement, waste, and abuse in your dental practice. “I think I am being embezzled” I have spoken with hundreds of dentists about fraud and embezzlement. Many were convinced or “pretty darn sure” that fraud was happening in their practice. Indeed, probably half…
Fraud threatens everyone. Fraudsters continually bombard us with email, mail, door-to-door, and telephone scams. They do this because it works; consumers lose millions of dollars annually to fraud. Here are some practical consumer protection tips from our friends at the BBA and CCB that I felt worth sharing. CCB (Canadian Competition Bureau) This is a guide…
This is a conversation with a dentist regarding the handling of insurance checks. Dentist: My staff cannot access insurance checks that are mailed to my office. Me: How do you accomplish that? Dentist: I have a lockbox that only I can access. On my way to work each day, I pick up the mail from…