Dental Embezzlement News

Issue #7 -- January 2013
See us in person ...
 
Here are some of the places Prosperident will be speaking soon.  We'd love to see you at one of our events.  To book a fantastic speaker for your study club or dental meeting, call us at 888-398-2327 or send an email to fraudnews@prosperident.com.

 
January 15 Wheaton IL,
Wheaton Dental Society
February 12 Mercury Data Exchange Webinar
March 8 and 9 Vancouver, BC -- Pacific Dental Conference
April 4 and 9 American Association of Orthodontists Webinar
April 12 Parker, CO -- Denver Profitable Dentists Study Club
April 17-20
Las Vegas, NV -- DentalTown Townie Meeting
March 27-29 2014 Atlanta, GA --Thomas P. Hinman Dental Meeting
A Note From Our CEO:
When we started this newsletter about a year ago, our plan was to send it monthly.  That's still the plan.  However, our investigative work takes priority and that means that sometimes we will be a little (or in this case a lot) tardy with our newsletter.
 
In the last two months of 2012, we started a record number of investigations, and this forced our entire team to put other work aside.

Since it is clear to me that the workload isn't diminishing any time soon, we started hiring again, and I am pleased to say that we were successful in hiring three outstanding investigators to complement our existing team.  I'll be introducing you to them in upcoming newsletters.

As you know, a major news story of 2012 was the "Frankenstorm" that devastated parts of the Eastern Seaboard.  Two of our staff were caught in the storm -- fortunately neither was harmed.  If you were affected, I hope that you were as fortunate.
 
The destructive power of Hurricane Sandy did reinforce one point for me -- as much as we humans like to think that we control our environment, there are some forces so strong that they defy our control.
 
I hesitate to compare a storm that caused loss of life and affected millions of people with the operation of your dental office.  However, I see one small parallel.  Embezzlers are pushed by some incredibly strong emotional forces; some are desperate and feel basic necessities are jeopardized; others are driven by ego and feel that society hasn't properly rewarded their talents. 
 
In either case, their motivations are sufficiently powerful to circumvent any system of controls you implement.  I will never state that controls are useless; they aren't and every business depends on them to function.  However, they are not powerful enough to stop a determined thief, in the same way that roofs and walls couldn't stop Hurricane Sandy.
  
If you have heard me speak or have read you have heard me say that the simplest, easiest and cheapest way to control embezzlement in your office is to regularly scrutinize employee behavior.
 
We have recently made some major enhancements to our tremendously popular Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire.  If you don't have it, or if the version you have is more than three months old, I'd encourage you to ask for a copy, by emailing us at fraudnews@prosperident.com.  I've said it before -- investing 10 minutes in completing this questionnaire could save you a bundle.
 
 
Thanks for reading,
 

David Harris
Chief Executive Officer
IN THIS  NEWSLETTER
What NOT to do if you think you might be a victim
 
Many dentists describe the moment when they realize that a trusted employee is stealing from them as one of the worst moments in their professional career.
 
If you have that feeling, you can make your position much worse if you do the wrong things:
 
  1. Don't confront the suspect.  Aside from alerting him or her of your suspicions, you aren't yet ready for a productive confrontation.
  2. Don't act suspiciously, start asking for extra reports, spend lots of time on the phone in your private office with the door closed etc.  ALERTING THE SUSPECT PREMATURELY CAN HAVE SEVERE CONSEQUENCES!
  3. Don't call the police ... yet.  There will be an appropriate time to do this later.
  4. Don't try to do this yourself -- investigation is a job for experts.
A more complete list of dos and don'ts is available by emailing us at fraudnews@prosperident.com.
 
If you think you might be a victim, you can call us at 888-398-2327 , or send email to our fraud hotline (checked daily by our on-duty investigator at fraud@prosperident.com).  We will normally respond within 24 hours.
 
  
Visit our Website
Investigator Profile -- Donna Fess
 
Donna Fess is one of our most experienced investigators.  Her niche is the investigation of embezzlement for dentists using Dentrix and Easy Dental software.
 
Donna is a certified trainer for both softwares and is definitely our internal resource person for both.
 
Donna is a member of both Speaking and Consulting Network and the Academy of Dental Management Consultants.
Donna makes her home in beautiful Santa Rosa, CA.
 
Donna can be reached by clicking here.
 
 
 
Prosperident -- The Dental Embezzlement Experts