Dental Embezzlement News
Issue #21 -- March 2014
Did you miss a previous newsletter?  We archive them here.
 
IN THIS  NEWSLETTER
We Love to Talk!
Here are some of the places you can hear us speak in the next few months:
Mar 27 Thomas P Hinman Dental Meeting, Atlanta GA
Apr 3-5 Western Regional Dental Convention, Phoenix AZ
Apr 23 Study Club of Dr. Ray Maxwell, Seattle WA
Apr 25 Star of the North Meeting, St. Paul MN
May 8 Denver Profitable Dentists Study Club
Jun 3 Henry Schein, London ON
Oct 5 Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists, Anaheim CA
Oct 11 Southern Association of Orthodontists, Nassau Bahamas

To book a great speaker for your meeting or study club, please send an email here  or call us at 888-398-2327.
 
Prosperident's Mission
 “We eliminate uncertainty for dentists with embezzlement concerns and maximize financial and emotional recovery for victims.”
 

Read our stuff
 
 
 
"No embezzlement here -- my daysheet balances every day against my bank deposit."
 
Of course it does. 
 
Only the dumbest of thieves hand you reports that leave a visible shortfall in the bank deposit, and they certainly won't do that if they know that you check the daysheet. 
 
Most thieves do one of two things -- they either manipulate the transactions captured by the daysheet to make it say what they want it to say, or they tamper with the bank deposit after you have checked it but before it gets deposited to the bank.
 
Making the deposit yourself or cross-checking the daysheets against actual deposits to the bank account are effective at stopping the deposit tampering.  Daysheet manipulation is both more prevalent and much more difficult  to curtail. 
 
For security reasons we won't discuss the details of how thieves manipulate daysheets here, but if you are a dentist with concerns, we are happy to chat.  Just send an email here and we will set up a time to discuss.
How to get your own Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire
 
Our most powerful (and most requested) embezzlement detection tool is our free Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire. You can request your own copy here.
 
 
For more information please visit Gary’s website at www.takacslearningcenter.com
 
 
 
Guest Column -- Gary Takacs
Many of you know or know of of this month's guest columnist. 
 
Gary's Takacs' bio states that he is a practice advisor, speaker and founder of the Thriving Dentist Show, the #1 dental podcast on iTunes.
 
Prosperident CEO David Harris was privileged to be a guest on Gary's show in January -- you can check it out here.
 
David made the following comment about Gary that suggests that his bio is a bit understated:  "In addition to being a great interviewer, Gary is clearly one of the brightest minds in dentistry today".  David is a Mensa member himself, so coming from him this is indeed high praise.
 
Let's see what Gary has to say.
 
5 Tips to Make 2014 Your Best Year Yet
It’s my strong opinion that dental practices are either growing or they are in decline. A case could be made that there is a third option of staying the same, but with ever-rising overhead, staying the same is just another form of decline.  This article will share 5 specific tips that will help you make 2014 your best year yet!

Develop a Comprehensive Marketing Plan             New patients are necessary for a growing practice and often times the difference between a good practice and an amazing practice is the volume of quality new patients. Spend some time this year crafting a comprehensive marketing plan that includes internal, external and digital marketing activities. In my own practice, our most effective internal marketing strategy is the Dentist calling all new patients and any patient who receives an injection on the evening of treatment. An effective external marketing strategy for us is making NFL-Quality mouth guards for our local high school football team. One very effective external marketing strategy for us has been getting online patient reviews. An appropriate marketing budget for a growing practice is 4-5% of revenue.

Embrace Whitening               Growing your whitening business is a great way to create better patients. Here are 3 simple things you can do to grow your whitening business:

1)     Take a shade match at the beginning of the hygiene appointment. Then show the patient their current tooth shade on a shade guide organized chromatically from dark to light.
2)     Value price whitening. Consider value-pricing whitening as a means of making it more affordable and accessible for your patients. The real economic benefit is the restorative & elective treatment that results from increasing your whitening.
3)     Offer lifetime whitening. Consider providing your whitening patients with free gel provided they keep their recommended hygiene appointments. This is a win/win strategy that patients love!

Use Digital Photos for Patient Education    Take the following series of 6 digital photos on all new patients:
  • Natural smile
  • Close up retracted view
  • Upper occlusal view
  • Lower occlusal view
  • Left buccal corridor
  • Right buccal corridor
Load the photos onto an iPad or tablet for patient viewing. This will convert the process from a passive process to an active process for the patient. Be prepared to hear two frequent comments from patients; 1) “Wow, I have never seen my teeth like this before”, and 2) “Yuck!”
 
Add Clinical Services              Adding clinical services is an excellent way to grow your practice. Existing patients already know and trust you and will likely respond well when you introduce additional services. Some services worth considering are; Adult orthodontics (6 Month Smiles or Invisalign), Implants, Sedation dentistry and Treatment of head and neck pain (TruDenta).

Provide a Remarkable New Patient Experience      The first visit to your practice should be an awesome new patient experience that helps the patient take a greater interest in their oral health. Take some time with your team and design a new patient experience that is ideal. Consider beginning with a simple office tour that shows the patient some services that are available in your office. Include a new patient interview where a team member takes the time to get to know your patient and understand their ‘dental story’. Make it a ‘wow’ experience where patients leave saying, “Wow, I have never been treated so thoroughly before!”
 
Consider the 5 tips presented in this article as an excellent way to make 2014 your best year yet. As you begin to implement these recommendations, think of the following axiom. To achieve what you have never achieved, you must do what you have never done. Here’s to your success!
 

A Note From Our CEO:
 
 
Where Did February Go?
 
It's been another busy month here at Prosperident. We've started a record number of engagements, Bill Hiltz and his team are making some improvements to our lab's software, we've brought on some talented new staff members and I've had a couple of excellent speaking engagements.
 
Our relationships with consultants and companies making practice management software continue to develop, and overall we are thrilled with the direction Prosperident is taking.
 
As I have mentioned in this space previously, we are pleased to see the emergence and continued development of monitoring software that is now available for both some general dental software and also for some orthodontic software.  Last week I had the privilege of visiting the head office of Practice SafeGuard, a product that works with Dentrix practice management software.  I am certainly impressed with the product and pleased that Prosperident has been able to contribute some of our ideas to this product's development.  We believe that the combination of technological monitoring with the behavioral monitoring provided by our Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire is both highly effective while concurrently an efficient use of a dentist's time.
 
On the subject of monitoring, if you haven't completed an Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire lately (our is recommendation doing it every three months) or if you have never done one, let us know and we will be happy to provide you with the latest version.  Completion takes about 15 minutes and it can save you a bundle.
 
I'll also mention that I will be at the Hinman meeting in Atlanta later this month (where one of our capable Senior Investigators, Dr. Pat Little, is speaking), and at the AAO meeting in New Orleans in April with Wendy Askins, who heads our Orthodontic Department.  If you are going to either meeting and would like to meet face-to-face, just let us know. 
 
Finally, it's great to have my friend Gary Takacs as our guest columnist this month.  I'm always dazzled by Gary's wisdom and I think his contribution is no exception.
 
Thanks, as always, for reading


 
David Harris, MBA CMA CFE
Chief Executive Officer
 
 
 
 
Prosperident -- The world's largest dental investigation embezzlement firm
888-398-2327