PDF Version - Glidewell Dental Labs
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PDF Version - Glidewell Dental Labs
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check for and to look at in order to stop embezzlement,<br />
or to find out if it’s happening. My approach is a little<br />
bit different. What I tell dentists is that there might be a<br />
thousand different ways to embezzle from their practice,<br />
but regardless of which of those thousand the thief is<br />
using, the way these thieves behave is very predictable. We<br />
already mentioned the people who are in the office alone<br />
at unusual times. You also might consider that employees<br />
who are reluctant to take vacations might have their finger<br />
in the till. So we have what we call the “Embezzlement Risk<br />
Assessment Questionnaire,” which is a scored questionnaire.<br />
If you score at a certain level, it tells you that you either<br />
have very little risk or, conceivably, that you are at high risk<br />
of embezzlement going on in your office.<br />
MD: So are you saying that one type of employee who might be<br />
suspicious is someone who gets two weeks’ paid vacation from<br />
the dentist but never uses it and cashes it out? Or maybe it’s the<br />
person who wants to stay in the office even when everybody else<br />
goes on vacation?<br />
DH: Yes, that’s a symptom. Whether they get cash for their<br />
vacation or not is irrelevant. To me, the real issue is that<br />
they do not want the office open when they are not there.<br />
MD: I see, so they want to be able to cover their trail at any<br />
moment if something irregular is discovered. They probably<br />
worry that if they are gone for a week and somebody starts<br />
digging through the computer that any irregularities could<br />
be noticed.<br />
DH: What uncovers a lot of fraud is patients asking questions<br />
about things. A very common scenario is when a patient<br />
says, “I was in two weeks ago and I paid by cash, but I just<br />
got my statement and it showed that I paid by check.” If that<br />
call comes to the thief, they can squelch it by saying: “Yes,<br />
I know. We just upgraded our computer system and there<br />
are a couple of bugs. The software vendor is working on<br />
it. We’re very sorry it happened.” It doesn’t matter whether<br />
there is one of those calls a day or a hundred, the thief can<br />
make them go away. On the other hand, if the thief is not<br />
in the office and there is someone else getting these calls,<br />
sooner or later that person is going to say to the doctor that<br />
something funny is going on. And then it unfolds. It’s about<br />
control of information in the practice, and the thief can only<br />
exert that control by being there.<br />
MD: That makes sense. They’d probably even insist on taking<br />
all phone calls, right?<br />
DH: That’s right. They’re often the ones who almost lunge for<br />
the phone when it rings. For a dentist who doesn’t suspect<br />
fraud, this looks like a very motivated, committed employee.<br />
MD: Might this employee work on having the best phone skills in<br />
the office, so it only makes sense to have them answer all calls?<br />
“<br />
You’ll see hand instruments and<br />
all kinds of consumables that are<br />
for sale online at a lower price<br />
than you can buy them from<br />
a supplier. Theoretically,<br />
I guess some of this stuff is<br />
gray market that somebody<br />
bought in some other country<br />
and imported. But I think a<br />
vast majority of it just kind of<br />
‘fell off the truck’ in one way<br />
or another.<br />
”