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Dental Products Report | April 2009
Don’t be paranoid. Be protected
Of all the news stories reporting on dental practice embezzlement, a common thread is the thieves started off as star employees. And every employer has the same quote, “I didn’t think it could happen to me.” Surveys conducted in 2007 by the American Dental Association and TheWealthyDentist.com put the impact of embezzlement/theft anywhere from 17.5% to 59% of offices, respectively. The Levin Group reports 35% of surveyed dental offices have been knowingly embezzled, 17% more than once. However, in August of 2008, Henry Schein Practice Solutions (HSPS) conducted a focus group in which none of the attendees believed they had been embezzled from, something Steve Roberts, Director of Core Products & Electronic Services for DENTRIX (dentrix.com), knows is statistically inaccurate.
This is no surprise to Cynthia Mattson, a dental CPA who provides accounting, tax and consulting services to dentists. In her experience, most dentists—clinically savvy, but lacking business training—are not concerned. “The dental community, in general, is trusting and caring,” she said, “which makes them prime targets for embezzlement.” According to the HSPS focus group, none of the attendees used any system security measures other than the standard Windows authentication, and none had ever attempted to search for embezzlement. “Practice management system passwords were disabled or shared throughout the office, day-sheets were not run by entry-date through an automated process, audit reports were not being checked regularly…patient billing was not being monitored by the dentist,” Roberts said, and the list went on. With the uncertain economic times, high rate of foreclosures, and ever-increasing layoffs, the circumstances are ripe for a good employee to get desperate. Is now the time to start interrogating your office manager, lock down files or panic? No. According to Mattson, “concern should be ongoing, but paranoia should not reign.” You don’t have to become the nutty boss who can’t trust his or her employees. In the modern dental practice, there are simple software solutions that can help you easily monitor the books so you can have peace of mind without creating a rift with valued staff members. The dentist’s responsibilityUsing practice management software to ease your paranoia only works if you know how to get the most out of the program. Too often, reports you learn to run during training are forgotten in the day-to-day running of the practice. Passwords put in place to prevent editing reports are never activated, perhaps saving time, but definitely putting the practice at higher risk.
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