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Prosperident Pulse Archive — March 2014 to July 2014

Home > Media > Prosperident Pulse Newsletters > Prosperident Pulse Archive — March 2014 to July 2014

This archive collects five issues of the Prosperident Pulse newsletter from March 2014 through July 2014. Use the table of contents below to jump to any issue.

Issues in this archive

March 2014

 
 
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, Our team is 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

April 2014

 
 
Dental Embezzlement News
Issue #22 -- April 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:
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
Sep 19 Santa Monica Oral and Maxillofacial Study Club, Santa Monica CA
Sep 21 New Jersey Health Professionals Development Institute, River Edge NJ
Oct 5 Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists, Anaheim CA
Oct 11 Southern Association of Orthodontists, Nassau Bahamas
Nov 15 Dalhousie University, Halifax NS

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.”
 
 
Prosperident in the Media
 
 
 
 
Orthodontists -- are you going to New Orleans?

David Harris and Wendy Askins will be at the AAO and welcome the chance to meet with orthodontists who have embezzlement concerns, and of course to connect with current and former clients.  Send us an email here if you would like to meet.
 
 
 
Introductory Offer
We frequently get asked for our recommendations about the "best practices" in a dental office to control embezzlement.  While we have provided this information to clients for some time, but haven't made it publicly available until now.
 
For the month of April only, the questionnaire will be available for $89, which is one third off the retail price of $129 (just be sure to use the discount code below). 

 
To order yours, you can visit our e-store here.  Use offer code APRILSHOWERS to get the saving. 
 
This document is free to current and former Prosperident investigation clients, who can obtain it by contacting us here.
A Note From Our CEO:
 
The Mind of the Embezzler
I've often said that our embezzlers fall neatly into two categories, which I labeled the "Needy" and the "Greedy".  The Needy are exactly what you expect; some life event has made their finances unworkable, and they are stealing to preserve the basics of life.  Some of the events that might prompt this include an addiction, a spouse losing his or her job, or a divorce.  Stealing is done because the thief feels that they have exhausted their other options.
 
The Greedy are a bit different (and fascinating -- I keep threatening to write a book about them -- perhaps this column is the start :-).  These people steal to scratch an emotional itch, not a financial one.  We are completing an investigation now where the thief won a seven-figure lottery prize, and after winning the money-- get this -- kept stealing.  These thieves get some kind of "endorphin rush" when they steal and it becomes addictive.
 
The Greedy thieves I have met are smart people and in many cases are close to being the intellectual peers of the dentists they work for.  I think that at some level they resentfully compare your wealth and status to their own, and decide to address the inequity that they perceive.
 
In contrast to the Needy, Greedy thieves tend to flaunt their "winnings".  We have seen everything from top-end BMWs to boats to membership in the "Shoe of the Month Club" bought with YOUR money. 
 
The good news is that our extremely popular Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire is excellent at ferretting out these thieves.  The Questionnaire provides a systematic way of capturing and evaluating the behaviors that are characteristic of embezzlement.
 
We are in the process of improving how we deliver this product to include automatic reminders to complete a new questionnaire (our recommendation is that a Questionnaire be completed every three months), online scoring, and notification when we make an update to the Questionnaire, which we do periodically based on what we are seeing in the field. Stay tuned for more information on our enhanced system, which we hope to have available next month.
 
We will continue to offer the Questionnaire at no charge until the end of this month.  You can get it by clicking here and using the code APRILISFREE.  Taking 15 minutes to complete this questionnaire is absolutely the best time you can invest in controlling embezzlement. 
 
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

May 2014

 
 
Dental Embezzlement News
Issue #23 -- May 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:
May 8 Denver Profitable Dentists Study Club
Jun 3 Henry Schein, London ON
Aug 22 Patterson Dental -- Birmingham, AL
Sep 19 Santa Monica Oral and Maxillofacial Study Club, Santa Monica CA
Sep 21 New Jersey Health Professionals Development Institute, River Edge NJ
Oct 5 Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists, Anaheim CA
Oct 11 Southern Association of Orthodontists, Nassau Bahamas
Nov 15 Dalhousie University, Halifax NS
 

Look for us in 2015 at great places like the AAE, NESO and PDC!
 
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.”
 
 
Prosperident in the Media
 
 
 
 
Things NOT to do if you suspect embezzlement in your office:
  • Start asking unusual questions of staff
  • Ask for reports you haven't requested before
  • Spend lots of time in your private office on the phone with your CPA
  • Allow a couple of geeky looking people with briefcases to come to your office to look at stuff
  • Implement additional security features in your software
  • Start posting articles about embezzlement in other offices on your staffroom bulletin board
  • Run around flapping your wings like a chicken

If someone is embezzling from you, they are constantly looking for signs that they are about to get caught.  When a thief observes these signs, their thoughts turn to self-preservation, which includes things like destroying evidence.  "Evidence" for this purpose usually includes your practice's financial and clinical records.

Unfortunately, many dentists have learned the hard way about the dangers from alerting a suspect prematurely.  If you have concerns about embezzlement, we recommend using our "Panic List of dos and don'ts that is available on our web store at www.dentalembezzlement.com/store and getting immediate professional assistance.
This Month's Offer From Our E-Store
We're offering a GREAT deal on our most popular document this month.  Our newly-updated Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire is available until the end of May at 50%.  Go to our e-store at www.dentalembezzlement.com/store, select the Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire, and use Offer Code HALFPRICEMAY.
 
 
 
This document is free to current and former Prosperident investigation clients, who can obtain it by contacting us here.
 
 
A Note From Our CEO:
 
 
 
 
Most days I truly love my job.  I get to work with bright, talented people, I get to travel to exotic places and sometimes do cool stuff -- last month I visited Phoenix, Seattle, St. Paul and New Orleans, and I got to see my first-ever arena football game and even got to see an exciting playoff NHL game.
 
But most of all, what makes what I do worthwhile is that I think we are doing some good.  At a macro level, we have been tremendously successful at raising awareness on the part of dentists about embezzlement.  This awareness has translated into a demand for our articles, to be interviewed, and for us as speakers beyond what I might have dared to hope for.
 
At the micro level, we work daily with upset, discouraged dentists who are victims and help them make financial and professional recovery and get their lives back on track.  I have huge respect for dentists, because I know that I could not handle the emotional demands of your job. At a visceral level, it bothers me when someone abuses your trust the way that embezzlers do.  So the ultimate source of my satisfaction is seeing one of our "alumni" taken away in handcuffs.

I think one of our investigators, Scott Clifford (who heads our Special Investigations Group, which looks at some of our most "interesting" embezzlements) put it best in a recent Facebook post:

-Click-
Wife: who were you talking to?
Me: FBI field office in L.A.
Wife: darn, you have a cool job
Me: yes I do.
 
Scott sums it up nicely for all of us at Prosperident. 


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

June 2014

 
 
Dental Embezzlement News
Issue #24 -- June 2014
Did you miss a previous newsletter?  We archive them here.
 
IN THIS  NEWSLETTER
  • We love to Talk!
  • Prosperident in the Media
  • This Month's Offer
  • A Note from our CEO
We Love to Talk!
Here are some of the places you can hear us speak in the next few months:
Sep 5 Patterson Dental, Biloxi MS
Sep 11
Island Pursuit of Dental Excellence, Nanaimo BC
Sep 19 Santa Monica Oral and Maxillofacial Study Club, Santa Monica CA
Sep 21 New Jersey Health Professionals Development Institute, River Edge NJ
Sept 25 International Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, Indianapolis, IN
Oct 5 Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists, Anaheim CA
Oct 11 Southern Association of Orthodontists, Nassau Bahamas
Nov 15 Dalhousie University, Halifax NS
Jan 29
 topsFest, Atlanta GA
 

Look for us in 2015 at great places like the AAE, NESO and PDC!
 
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.”
 
 
Prosperident in the Media
 
Our most popular article ever -- 
 
 
 
This Month's Offer From Our E-Store
The boss told us to do this -- for the month of June, we are offering 70% off for our "How to Beat Embezzlement in Your Practice"   guide.  This guide is a collection of proven steps and procedures a dentist should take to avoid becoming "one of the embezzlement statistics".  Go to our web store at www.dentalembezzlement.com/store, select the How to Beat Embezzlement guide for your country, and use Offer Code DAVIDWENTCRAZY.
 

This document is free to current and former Prosperident investigation clients, who can obtain it by contacting us here.
 
 
The Biggest Misconceptions About Embezzlement
There are some things about embezzlement that are frequently misunderstood.  Here is a list from our investigators:
  1. My practice is immune because …
  2. There is no embezzlement in my practice because my daysheet balances every day.
  3. Most embezzlement can be traced to hiring mistakes.
  4. Making it harder to steal will discourage thieves from trying.
  5. If it’s happening, my CPA will spot it in the course of his / her work.
  6. Financial inconsistencies are what give the embezzler away.
  7. Embezzlers predominantly steal cash.  Checks payable to the doctor are safe.

If you have questions on these or other embezzlement matters, please email us here.
Guest Column -- The Allana Smiles Foundation
Editor's note -- I'm going to let CEO David Harris introduce this one.
 
DH -- I've known Adele Reiche for several years.  Adele is a dental consultant and speaker from California.  She and I have shared a podium on occasion.  I recently heard Adele speak about a wonderful organization known as the Allana Smiles Foundation that assists cancer patients.  Adele reminded me that cancer touches EVERYBODY (in fact, we have at least one investigator who is a cancer survivor), and I was quite moved by what she said, so I pledged Prosperident's assistance.  I'll let Adele tell the story:
 
 
What is The Allana Smiles Foundation and why is it so important for Cancer Patients?
As a dentist, I’m sure that you help many people in your community.  I want to bring to your attention one small thing that you can do that can make a huge difference.
Did you know that many cancer patients are forced to wait for potentially life-saving treatment because they can’t afford the “dental clearance” needed before starting treatment?
 
The mission of the Allana Smiles Foundation is to provide essential dental care and assistance to newly diagnosed cancer patients - patients whose treatment cannot proceed until they have been determined by a dentist to be orally healthy and stable.  For patients receiving cancer treatment, preventing delays caused by infection is critical.  By reducing the risk of developing dangerous infections, dentists play a huge role in pre-treatment preparation. 
 
Unfortunately, many cancer patients can’t pay for even basic dental treatments and therefore can’t begin to receive cancer treatment. Oncology centers usually have specific protocols to prevent dental flareups during treatment, including the restoration of caries, root canal therapy (if time permits), extraction of hopeless teeth, and dental hygiene care. 

Additionally, for certain cancers, such as head and neck cancers, a patient must have optimal oral health in order to undergo treatment at all. Because cancer treatment normally lowers immune response, patients are prone to developing oral infections or complications.  
 
At Allana Smiles, we believe that no one should be held back from cancer treatment because of a lack of dental care.  Imagine the anguish of a newly-diagnosed cancer patient realizing that they can’t begin chemotherapy or oncology treatment because they can’t afford the prerequisite dental examination and treatment.

This problem is real - and together we really can make a difference with dentistry and touch the lives of millions of everyday Americans.
 
So how can you, a Dentist, get involved?
 
Become an Affiliate Member and bring smiles back from the brink…
 
The Allana Smiles Foundation invites you to become involved.  In some communities, at least six patients are referred monthly for dental clearance and social workers report that typically four patients are in dire need of financial assistance.
 
Partnering with The Allana Smiles Foundation prevents these patients from postponing treatment. Modest means should not result in people being deprived of vital cancer treatment. Not while we can come together and help them.  We encourage general and specialist dentists to get involved by becoming Affiliate Members of The Allana Smiles Foundation. 
 
Our Affiliate Member Dentists:
· Know that cancer can affect anyone. 
· Agree to provide a dental clearance for at least 1 cancer patient per month at no charge, allowing the patient to begin treatment.
· Spread the mission of the Foundation with their colleagues so they can get involved too.
· Are listed by state on the Allana Smiles website (AllanaSmiles.org) along with their logo and link to their website.
 
IT’S TIME TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH DENTISTRY. Can you imagine not being a part of the solution to this national problem?  We all know someone who has been affected by cancer- none of us are alone in the fight.  It is our hope that the Foundation encourages and inspires others, just as Allana herself did.  Please visit our web site at Allanasmiles.org.
 

 
A Note From Our CEO:
 
I
 This month marks the 24th edition of our little newsletter.  Starting just two years ago, with an initial subscriber list of about 2,000 readers, our circulation has grown beyond my wildest expectations so that we now provide embezzlement information to over 50,000 people each month. Whenever I speak or otherwise run into dentists, it is wonderful to receive the generous praise I get for our efforts.

It's also been fantastic to be able to feature guest columns from some of the brightest minds in dentistry.
 
In celebration of this anniversary, and also in anticipation of Prosperident's 25th anniversary in August of this year, we are doing a couple of things we've never done before.  First, this month's guest column is not about how to improve your practice, but about a charity that we at Prosperident strongly support.  I'd urge you to consider getting involved.
 
Also, I've told our customer service folks to give you the best offer they ever have on our electronic documents, and you can see what they came up with on the left side of this page.
 
I'm also excited because we are holding a company-wide meeting at our head office in Halifax, Canada in July.  Our investigators and support staff are really looking forward to the chance to working together on improving our products and teamwork (and hopefully do some sea kayaking while they are here!).
 
 
I hope your summer is a great one too.
 


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

July 2014

 
 
Dental Embezzlement News
Issue #25 -- July 2014
Did you miss a previous newsletter?  We archive them here.
We Love to Talk!
Here are some of the places you can hear us speak in the next few months:
Sep 5 Patterson Dental, Biloxi MS
Sep 11
Island Pursuit of Dental Excellence, Nanaimo BC
Sep 19 Santa Monica Oral and Maxillofacial Study Club, Santa Monica CA
Sep 21 New Jersey Health Professionals Development Institute, River Edge NJ
Oct 5 Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists, Anaheim CA
Oct 11 Southern Association of Orthodontists, Nassau Bahamas
Nov 15 Dalhousie University, Halifax NS
2015
Jan 29
 topsFest, Atlanta GA
Feb 20 Ortho2 User Group Meeting, Scottsdale AZ
May 8 American Association of Endodontists, Seattle WA
Sept 11 Northeastern Society of Orthodontists, Providence RI
Nov 5 ADA Annual Meeting, Washington DC
 
 
To book a great speaker for your meeting or study club, please send an email here  or call us at 888-398-2327.
 
Dr. Little Goes to Washington
One of Prosperident's most accomplished speakers, Dr. Pat Little FAGD, has been confirmed as a speaker for ADA 2015 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.  Congratulations, Pat! 
Prosperident's Mission
 “We eliminate uncertainty for dentists with embezzlement concerns and maximize financial and emotional recovery for victims.”
 
The Thief's Motto

"Improvise, adapt and overcome" (with apologies to Clint Eastwood's character in the 1986 movie Heartbreak Ridge). An embezzler in your office makes a careful study of your controls and procedures, and plans an embezzlement methodology that will circumvent them. With many, many opportunities in your practice, a thief is almost certain to find an embezzlement "pathway".
 
A thief can defeat any set of controls.  The "embezzlement-proof practice" simply doesn't exist.
 

David Harris Interviewed 
 
A great interview on embezzlement with David Harris on Marilee Sears' excellent The Future of Dentistry series is available by clicking here:
 
 
 
Check out our web store
You can find our web store at www.dentalembezzlement.com/store.
 
One of our most popular items is our Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire.  Spending 15 minutes completing this questionnaire is the absolute best use of a dentist's time for controlling embezzlement.
 
We've recently updated the Questionnaire based on our ongoing experience with embezzlement.  If your questionnaire is more than a year old, we'd definitely recommend obtaining the updated version.
 
For the month of July, the questionnaire can be purchased at a 25% discount by using the Offer Code JULY25SALE when selecting the Questionnaire.
 
 
In Praise of the Cloud
 
Andy Jensen is a very interesting guy.  He spent almost 20 years with Henry Schein in the software area before becoming the VP Marketing for Curve Dental, the upstart practice management software that has led the pack in the move to cloud-based computing.
 
We at Prosperident see major advantages to cloud-based practice management software and are thrilled to have Andy join our illustrious group of guest columnists.
Bad Things Happen to Good Practices
By Andy Jensen

Bad things do happen, even to good people. Tornadoes have a funny way of indiscriminately targeting whatever gets in their path. National news of spring flooding seems to always surprise us. That last big hurricane made land fall without a care for you and your efforts to board up the practice. And something that affects us all: A thief in need of cash turns a blind eye to how often you volunteer at the local shelter.

Preparation for disaster is the key solution for every unfortunate incident. But there’s one big drawback: To prepare for uninterrupted service and a quick recovery the practice would need to spend oodles of money on equipment, configuration, line and power services, monitoring and continued maintenance to get the job done correctly. The amount of life energy and financial resources to spend on this problem makes it somewhat unreasonable for the dentist and their team to realize the perfect disaster recovery plan.

Fortunately, there is a solution that provides adequate protection and is financially reasonable: The cloud provides the overall best business continuity solution. In the event of a disaster the practice can regain access to ALL of its data in a matter of minutes. And the cost of utilizing a web-based application, both in terms of dollars and mindshare is a fraction of what it would be otherwise.

Take, for example, the experience of Drs. Chung and Aurora of Vancouver, who utilize a web-based application, Curve Dental, to help them manage their practice. Upon arriving one morning ready for a new day, Dr. Aurora quickly discovered that all of his computers had been stolen during the night. With patients set to arrive soon, Dr. Aurora called his wife, who brought him a personal laptop from home. Within minutes Dr. Aurora had access to the day’s schedule and it was mostly business as usual.

“It takes time and expertise to re-install and set up traditional client-server management software,” says Dr. Chung. Theft is not an uncommon disaster for dental practices, and for good reason. Thieves are confident they’ll find computers, servers, networking equipment, and drugs, all of which can be easily sold for a quick profit. Without computers, a dental practice using client-server software would lose at best half a day of production—and cross their fingers for an off-site data backup that will restore correctly.  Dr. Chung says that with their software “all one needs is a computer with an Internet browser.”

To prepare for the worst, practices would be faced with spending unreasonable amounts of energy and resources to keep their data safe and available. Web-based applications offer the overall best business continuity solution for the typical practice. Web-based dental software, that has been appropriately architected, is inherently more secure and available than client-server software.

Curve Dental has prepared several whitepapers and a real life case study on how web-based dental software can be a lifesaver for practices struck by disaster. Doctors can call 888-910-4376 to receive these papers or visit www.curvedental.com/whitepapers.
A Note From Our CEO:
 
I
 Prosperident had a visitor on the weekend -- Hurricane Arthur traveled up the East Coast and walloped us on Saturday.  Fortunately, our extensive computer infrastructure didn't miss a beat and remained in full operation throughout the storm.  Others weren't so lucky.  At the peak, 140,000 Nova Scotia households were without electricity, and as I write this (two beautiful sunny days after Arthur hit) there are still about 30,000 households more-or-less patiently waiting for power.
 
 
 
Interesting, but what does this have to do with embezzlement, you might ask?  The sheer power of nature is at different times wondrous and frightening.  While the determination and ingenuity of a motivated embezzler will not knock down trees or cause boats to sink, measured against the scale of human emotions it ranks somewhere between a tropical storm and a hurricane.
 
And kind of like the people in the picture by the rocks at Peggy's Cove who have placed themselves in (possibly mortal) danger by underestimating nature's power, underestimating embezzlers is also perilous.
 
I encourage you to take advantage of the summer months to give careful thought to whether anyone in your office is demonstrating embezzlement-like behavior.  The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners recently released its 2014 Report to the Nations, which gave some very interesting statistics -- over 90% of embezzlers displayed at least one such behavior, and over 60% presented two or more behaviors consistent with embezzlement.  Our popular ERAQ is a tremendous help in organizing your thoughts and analyzing the results.  If you don't have one, or yours is more than a year old, please take advantage of our special July offer.
 
I hope you have a great summer that is hurricane and embezzlement free.
 
S
 
S


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