MDA Services Journal Column
4 Reasons to Call in the Embezzlement Protection and Investigation Professionals
By Reva Darling
MDA Services
Dentists are busy professionals who are passionate about improving their patients’ oral health. Yet, many are far less passionate about the business side of running a practice, and rely on trusted staff members to perform tasks such as bookkeeping and arranging bank deposits from credit card companies. Unfortunately, trusting too much to staff can set the practice owner up to be a victim of embezzlement. In fact, more than 50% of dentists will be embezzled against, whether they know it or not.
You purchased a practice and have inherited the office manager or are opening a new practice. If you’ve inherited an office manager or are hiring one, he or she may be fantastic at the job, but chances are that you as a new practice owner know far less than the office manager does about how the practice management software is set up, how cash or credit card payments are posted to your bank account, and how insurance payments flow into your bank. This is a perfect opportunity for Prosperident to set up procedures and policies that will both educate you on cash flow and make it difficult for anyone to redirect payments to their own accounts. Ask Prosperident about its Owner Proactive Strategies service to help you protect yourself from misappropriation of funds and better understand how to generate the reports you need to ensure your practice is financially sound.
You have an employee who never takes a vacation, refuses to cross-train anyone, jealously guards their work responsibilities, or works in the office when no one else is present. These are all red flags! Prosperident frequently sees embezzlers exhibit some or all these behaviors. The thief doesn’t want anyone else looking at their processes, accessing patient account information, or reviewing bank deposits from credit card companies or insurance payments. All their work is “top-secret” — and they may be up to no good. If this is the case, it’s time to give Prosperident a call to discuss how its team can help you find out what’s really going on with this “hardest working, most-trusted employee.”
If your gut tells you something is amiss in your practice, trust your instincts. Prosperident can perform a First Look service and covertly review selected information from your financial and practice management software records to identify if an investigation is needed. First Look consists of six tests to identify anomalies justifying further investigation. You’ll get in-person embezzlement expert advice from an examiner and a recommendation of a path forward. First Look costs $1,500 and can put your mind at ease or give you the confidence to move on to an investigation. A partial credit is applied if you move to a full investigation with Prosperident.
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Your financial reports just don’t add up. Perhaps your practice is busy, hygiene is always full, but the cash just isn’t coming in as you expect. Or your financial consulting team says that, based on your patient volume and supply costs, you should be generating more income than is on the books. Call Prosperident! The average embezzler steals about $109,000 from a dental practice before getting caught. But Prosperident can stealthily access your practice management system and investigate without your employees knowing about it. They can spot the most-common means of defrauding a dental practice, and can generate documentation needed to prove what’s happening in your practice — and who’s doing it, giving you evidence that can result in arrest and prosecution of the thief.
Being a victim of embezzlement is emotionally devastating and can be financially ruinous. Don’t wait until you reach a crisis point to call Prosperident. Make it difficult for anyone to help themselves to what is rightfully yours. Special terms are available for MDA members. Call 888-398-2327 for a confidential chat with Prosperident’s CEO David Harris. It’s the best way to protect yourself.
