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NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
Prosperident is teaming up with a couple of great organizations to bring you Panel of Pearls on June 18 at 8 pm Eastern.
Our CEO David Harris will be appearing with Eric Pook of dental lease advisors Cirrus Group and Alan Twigg of HR experts Bent Ericksen for a panel discussion where, as the name suggests, we will have lots of "pearls." And as an added bonus, Dr. Martin Mendelson, one of the coolest guys in dentistry, will be our featured host.
This free webinar is a great place to gain some knowledge and some PACE-eligible CE.
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We'd love to speak at your event!
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Embezzlement is a dry, boring topic, right? Not when we talk about it! Our daily contact lets us use real-life cases to bring this topic to life, and to bring out the "teaching moments" that make time spent with us worthwhile.
Our speakers have spoken at meetings like Hinman, Greater NY, Chicago Midwinter, CDA, AAO, AAE and many others.
To find out more or book a Prosperident speaker for your society or study club click THIS LINK.
Here are some places you can see us soon:
| Sep 4 |
Dental College of Georgia |
Augusta GA |
| Sep 6 |
Georgia Dental Association |
Atlanta GA |
| Sep 27 |
Optimize Dental |
Edmonton AB |
| Dec 12 |
OMS Specialists |
Golden Valley MN |
| 2026 |
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| Feb 20 |
Chicago Midwinter Meeting |
Chicago IL |
| May 15 |
Connecticut State Dental Association |
Uncasville, CT |
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Embezzlement via Credit Cards is Increasing |
Something we have noticed recently is increasing theft in practices involving credit card payments.
Many dentists we speak with understand how embezzlers can steal cash, but have difficulty visualizing other types of theft, like cashing checks payable to the dentist or stealing credit card payments belonging to the practice.
With the amount of cash most practices receive in long-term decline, embezzlers have adapted and now can comfortably steal any type of payment. And credit card transactions provide a particularly attractive target for thieves.
For obvious reasons, we won't get into too much methodological detail here, but here are three areas where we see misappropriation involving credit cards:
- Improper refund transactions.
- Thieves running a "parallel" merchant terminal.
- Misappropriations involving "virtual credit card" payments received from insurance companies.
Virtual credit cards are a terrible way to get paid -- you can read the reasons for why HERE.
How can dentists protect themselves? Here are a few ideas.
- Do your numbers add up? At the end of each month, compare credit card collections according to your practice management software against your deposits to your merchant account.
- Keep in mind that most stealing involves a concealment transaction, where a thief makes a deceptive entry in practice management software.
- When reviewing credit card transactions, make sure you work from monthly statements from your merchant provider and not the daily printouts from your terminal. Pay particular attention to refund transactions.
If you think you might have an issue with credit card transactions, click HERE to speak with us.
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The View from the CEO's Chair
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I started Prosperident in 1989, when a dentist asked me for help with a possible embezzlement.
Nostalgically, dentistry was a much simpler place then. Practices were not yet computerized, and most did not accept credit card payments. Payments by electronic funds transfer were not yet taking place, and preferred provider organizations were just starting to worm their way into dentistry.
In the past 36 years, the financial operation of dental practices has become much more complex, and unfortunately thieves have gotten bolder and more sophisticated.
Back in the days of the old manual "pegboard" system, thieves used simple techniques like inserting a piece of cardboard to prevent what they were writing on a patient receipt from transferring to the ledger that sat underneath the receipt. In those days, theft was normally limited to stealing cash, and the amounts stolen were relatively small.
The embezzlement schemes we see now can be much more advanced (see the discussion above on theft using credit cards) and the dollars involved can be much bigger. The biggest theft I have seen so far this year exceeded $700,000 over six years from a solo practice. We also regularly see thefts involving all payment types including cash, checks, credit card payments and electronic funds transfers.
As thieves get bolder and more sophisticated, so do we. Increasing automation and artificial intelligence are allowing our team of experienced investigators to broaden its reach and focus on the activities where human scrutiny can bring the most value.
As a practice owner, it's challenging to keep pace with the increasing complexity of the financial aspects of your practice. We can help, and our Owner Proactive Strategies program is an excellent way to gain skills as a practice owner. To learn more, f eel free to contact me by clicking THIS LINK.
David Harris
CEO
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We are Prosperident, Dentistry's Embezzlement Experts
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