Make sure your software can help you prevent dental fraud and theft
It’s not something you want to think about. But the truth is that embezzlement happens to many businesses, large and small. And it can put the future of your dental practice at risk.
Healthcare is one of the top industries affected by embezzlement, according to the 2010 Marquet Report on Embezzlement. Even your most trusted employee — the one who always stays late and never takes a vacation — could be taking advantage of you. In fact, an employee who never wants to leave his or her post is a red flag for fraud.
Here are some of the most common ways an employee can carry out dental office embezzlement:
• Hiding cash payments by making account adjustments
• Forging your signature on checks for deposit into another account
• Processing a refund onto a personal credit card
• Giving free services to family members or friends
Along with your watchful eye, your dental practice management software is a critical tool for preventing dental fraud. Read on to learn how DAISY was designed with safety controls to protect you.
Put it on your permanent record
Most types of embezzlement involve changing your practice’s records. A fraudulent employee might accept a cash payment, but then discount the charges in your system and pocket the extra money. He or she could also delete an appointment after a patient has paid in cash, so there’s no record of the charges.
DAISY keeps a permanent record of all your appointments and charges. Even if information is changed, it can never be deleted.
Make sure your software:
• Records all appointments, even if they’ve been deleted after their start time
• Keeps an undeletable record of all transactions, especially those changed or removed from the record prior to posting
• Automatically archives receipts and makes them easily visible — even if the patient or account has been deleted
• Produces reports on activity for deleted accounts
Give the right access to the right people
You can stop temptation in its tracks by limiting who can adjust your records. Good practice management software, like DAISY, can give the dentist the final say in adjusting a balance. That way, your staff can enter adjustments, but only you can change the final posting.
DAISY allows you to:
• Track activity by user login to create a permanent audit trail of changes to your system
• Set access levels for employees and restrict certain functions, such as the mailing address for insurance payments
Even with security controls in your software, you should still enforce a policy in your office that no one can use the computer without properly logging in. That way, every entry can be tracked accurately.
Catch red flags with automatic reports
In DAISY, reports that show your start and end balances for the day are automatically generated. No member of your staff can stop or filter them. To catch inconsistencies in patient charges or deposits, compare your normal end-of-day reports, as well as your deposit slips from the bank, to DAISY’s automatic reports. You’ll easily spot the differences.
We’ll show you how to prevent fraud
DAISY was designed to look out for you and keep your best interests at heart. But even with all of the security controls DAISY has to offer, you still need to know how to use them to catch embezzlement in your practice.
That’s why we offer one-on-one training with dentists covering DAISY’s security suite. We’ll teach you how to use these features and what to look for.
For more information about DAISY or to schedule a training session, just get in touch with us.
To read real stories of dental practices who were scammed, defrauded, and taken for a ride, download our free e-book on embezzlement.
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