The following is a re-post from a blog written by Larry Goldberg - "Accountodontist" at Glass Jacobson.

Last blog I discussed the highly informative DVD by Gordon Christensen titled “Protecting Your Dental Office From Embezzlement & Fraud”.   I mentioned many, but not nearly all, of the things you as a dentist could do to prevent one of your employees from embezzling your hard earned money.

This blog looks at some of the characteristics of the employee who might be stealing right under your nose.  Dr. Christensen mentions going with your gut feeling.  If you suspect someone is up to something dishonest you may want to follow up on your suspicion.

Some of the more general identifying characteristics such as you, the dentist, working as hard as ever and cash deposits that have declined may be hard to differentiate as stealing or a drop off in business due to the current economic climate.  Others such as a large number of adjustments showing up in your dental software merit close inspection.

As Dr. Christensen mentions, many of the characteristics that make a good employee are some of the same characteristics that are the earmark of the employee who’s taking you to the bank so to speak.  Here are just a few.

• Employee wants additional hours
• Employee wants to work alone and will not delegate tasks
• Employee is very loyal
• Employee resents your lifestyle or apparent income
• Employee works late or comes in early
• Employee takes work home
• Employee refuses to take vacation
• Employee with lots of discretionary income.  Get suspicious if your single employee making $25,000 per year is driving a brand new Mercedes and has a five bedroom house with a pool and tennis court and does not have a large trust fund.
• Employee is a long-term employee.  Why would they want to leave your dental practice since you are their personal ATM machine?
• Employee does not want overtime

So what are you supposed to do now?  Do you instantly start suspecting each and every one of your employees of being a clandestine thief?  Of course not!  However, armed with the information from this and the previous accountadontist blog you should realize that you cannot just be a passive observer in your dental practice.  You need to get involved in many of the business aspects of your dental practice that you previously ignored.  YOUR money is at stake!

If you suspect fraud in your practice, or want to set up preventative measures, contact us.  Glass Jacobson’s fraud prevention team can help.

Questions for the Accountodontist?

larry.goldberg@glassjacobson.com

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Join Us for the 8th Annual Thanksgiving Day Trot for Hunger

 

Join the D-TECH Team, So Others Might Eat(SOME), Honorary Chair Mayor Adrian Fenty and thousands of caring community members for the 8th Annual Thanksgiving Day Trot for Hunger on Thursday, November 26! A District tradition, the Trot for Hunger is a terrific event for individuals, families, companies, faith communities and other organizations who want to help the hungry and homeless on Thanksgiving morning.  SOME provides dental services to the homeless, uninsured, and under-insured population in NW Washington, DC.

Where? Along the river in West Potomac Park in Washington, DC. The start and finish line are located on Ohio Drive, SW between Independence Avenue, SW and West Basin Drive, SW. Trot for Hunger course information.

When? The Trot for Hunger will feature a timed 5K run and a 5K fun walk with staggered start times:

8:30 am Timed 5K Run

8:40 am 5K Fun Walk (not timed)

How? Registration is $23 per person from July 15 - November 16 and $25 per person from November 17 - November 21. You may register as an individual or form or join a team.

We also encourage you to invite your friends and family members to sponsor your run or walk. In recognition of your support of the homeless and poor, we are pleased to offer Trot for Hunger fundraising prizes for both teams and individuals.

Why? It's fun! Plus, your participation in the Trot for Hunger will help SOME to continue to provide hot, nutritious meals, clothing, medical care and other essentials to the increasing number of homeless and hungry children, women and men who are coming to us for help.

Questions or comments? Please contact Tracy Monson at trotforhunger@some.org or 202.797.8806 ext. 1093.

Thank you for trotting!

Medical/Dental Cross-Coding is Now Available

D-Tech Business Concepts, LLC, (D-TECH) is pleased to announce that as of September 1, 2009, we will be offering our new medical/dental cross-coding services that will allow your office to submit dental procedure claims to a patient’s medical plan. By offering you this new service, D-Tech will make available to your office the ability to:

* Provide patients who are compromised medically by oral conditions the ability to tap into their medical benefits to help pay for their procedures.

* Provide patients who have both medical and dental insurance plans the flexibility to divert the medically necessary procedures to their medical plan allowing them to save their dental plans yearly allowances for their dental procedures.

* Yield increased revenues for your practice while experiencing wide case acceptance.

* Provide patients with a sense that your practice is willing to support their effort to secure medical benefits while also becoming and excellent marketing tool for your practice.

As you consider our new service, please see below a few of the procedures that would qualify:

* Trauma procedures
* Medically necessary oral surgical, laser, and periodontal procedures (and this should only continue to grow with continuing research into the oral systemic link)
* Medically necessary implant, endodontic, and prosthodontic procedures
* TMD procedures
* Sleep apnea appliances
* Oral cancer screening
* Any medically necessary exams and X-rays that are associated with the above procedures
* Worker's Compensation cases
* Frenectomy procedures
* Bone grafts
* CT scans
* Panoramic and cephalometric x-rays
* Consultations and exams

If you would like to discuss this service, or engage D-TECH for a comprehensive consultation, please do not hesitate to contact us at your earliest convenience. We look forward to hearing from you soon.