Embezzlement is the most common type of employee theft that occurs at dental practices, according to the California Dental Association.
The American Dental Association released survey results in January that revealed nearly half of dental practices experience theft from staff members. The CDA shared 11 controls dentists can implement into their practices to protect against embezzlement:
- Divvy up financial tasks among employees to reduce the likelihood of an employee manipulating account information.
- Split up job functions for entering online payments, reviewing monthly bank statements and prepping for monthly bank reconciliations. Practices with multiple authorized signers should also separate the job functions of preparing and signing checks.
- Dentists can request their bank mail statements be sent to their personal home or email addresses so they can regularly review them for inconsistencies or inappropriate accounts-payable names.
- Store the dental practice's checks where only authorized employees can access them.
- Require confirming documentation, such as credit card statement or vendor invoice, for every check signed in the dental practice.
- Access the practice's accounts-payable history to review invoice data.
- Give your bank specific instructions that contain a list of approved vendors and signers.
- Keep an eye out for an increase in patient refunds, adjustments or bad debt write-offs, as well as discrepancies between patient statements and accounts receivable records.
- Monitor patient complaints about their accounts, as they could stem from fraudulent activity or the need to create a policy clarifying account protocol.
- Collaborate with a practice software specialist to ensure security controls are protecting your practice from employee theft.
- Run audit reports on patient accounts to find any suspicious transactions where a payment is posted and then reversed after the deposit has been processed.
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