Dental Embezzlement News

Issue #6 -- October 2012
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.
 
October 11, 2012
Binghamton, NY -- Sixth District Dental Society
October 16 San Francisco, CA -- Academy of Dental Management Consultants
November 25 New York, NY -- Greater New York Dental Meeting (DT Study Club)
November 25-29 Toronto, Kitchener, London and Windsor ON -- Patterson Dental
January 15, 2013
Wheaton IL,
Wheaton Dental Society
February 12 Mercury Data Exchange Webinar
March 7-9 Vancouver, BC -- Pacific Dental Conference
April 12 Parker, CO -- Denver Profitable Dentists Study Club
April 17-20
Las Vegas, NV -- Dentaltown Townie Meeting
A Note From Our CEO:
I gave an interview last week for DentistryIQ, PennWell's terrific online site.  (This interview should be available on the site later this month.)

When I was answering the questions that the editor put to me, I had a one of those epiphanic moments. I realized that one of the reasons that dentists have been spectacularly unsuccessful in controlling the embezzlement epidemic afflicting their profession (three in five dentists will be victims in their careers, clearly an alarming statistic) is that, for the most part, the consultants who advise dentists have been misdirecting them.

A search of the words "dental embezzlement" on the internet yields dozens of articles, including many written by some of the most recognizable names in the dental consulting world.

The majority of these articles have a common theme -- they advocate a set of policies and controls that a dentist needs to implement in order to "prevent" fraud.  The number of controls recommended by the authors varies from six or seven to well over fifty.  Each of these controls is designed to block a specific method of embezzling.

There are two problems with this approach; it is unlikely to be implemented, and even if it is, it is unlikely to succeed.

Dentists rightly consider their time to have considerable value; using that time as an untrained, ill-equipped auditor is not something most dentists will embrace.

I lost count some time ago of how many embezzlement matters I have been consulted on; suffice it to say that I have encountered many dental embezzlers, and I am probably in as good a position as anyone to understand how they think.  These thieves are driven by powerful internal forces, and we should not expect either the possibility of being caught or a few flimsy control systems to deter them.  We should also not expect them to follow policies set by the dentist when, by definition, they do not follow societal rules.

For these reasons, the approach advocated by these well-intentioned consultants is doomed to ineffectiveness. 

Another consequence of the "controls stop fraud" thinking is that many embezzlement victims unnecessarily blame themselves for their plight.  I've heard many dentists say things like "if only I had checked my day-end sheets daily, this wouldn't have happened".

What is being missed is the adaptive nature of thieves; if these dentists had been checking daysheets, the thieves would have simply used some other method for stealing that would have avoided the dentist's scrutiny.

For me, the irony is that monitoring for fraud is actually far easier than most dentists and consultants think.  Regardless of the specific embezzlement methodologies being employed, the behavior of thieves is remarkably predictable. 

Embezzlers want to control communication in their offices, do not want to take vacation, resist upgrades or changes to practice management software, etc.  If dentists and their advisors can learn to identify behaviors indicating embezzlement, they can quickly realize when it is happening. 

We have developed a scored behavior analysis checklist that I am happy to share with any dentist or consultant who emails us at fraudnews@prosperident.com.  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 the worst moment in their professional career.
 
If you are in that position, 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 -- William Hiltz
 
Bill Hiltz, known locally as "the Bloodhound" is Prosperident's Chief Forensic Examiner. 
 
Bill oversees the work of Prosperident's talented group of investigators, and  personally conducts some of Prosperident's most complex investigations.  Bill is known for his ability to get virtually any type of practice management software to divulge its secrets, and for his ability to "smell" embezzlement (hence his nickname).
 
Bill is also an accomplished speaker and author, and he is able to keep audiences spellbound by telling "war stories" drawn from his vast experience.
 
Bill can be reached by clicking here.
 
 
 
Prosperident -- The Dental Embezzlement Experts