Fraud is REAL and happens each and every day, in all areas of business, including the dental industry.
It was our pleasure to be the host of a recent webinar on Fraud prevention presented by Lori Margiotta, founder of www.Bookkeeperfordentists.com. We decided to take the notes for that session and turn it into a blog post.
The following is an interesting read on how to prevent fraud from happening to you.
The key to fraud prevention is to know your numbers. We will go over some of the reports, systems, and procedures you need to be aware of to feel confident that you are doing everything you can to prevent fraud.
There are so many types of fraud: cash and cheque theft, insurance fraud, theft of supplies, credit card fraud, payroll fraud and so on. This blog will focus on how Tracker can help you PREVENT and DETECT fraud.
The first and most obvious deterrent to fraud is having security enabled in Tracker. Each user should have his or her own individual password, and nobody (not even the boss) should know that password. When a user leaves a workstation, they should log out. There is a timeout feature in Tracker that can lock Tracker after a few minutes of inactivity. There should be no generic profiles (ie: dental, temp) and each user should have appropriate user rights. If you are not sure if you should give a right to a user, then don’t. If they ask for that right, ask why. If they have a good answer, you can give them access.
Once user rights have been established, we can look at reports. Every day a set of day end reports should be run. The reports in Tracker are not time sensitive, so they can be run the next morning if we miss a day. Simply click on Reports | End of Day Procedures to open the interface for end of day reports. Reports that are specific to security include Patient Balance Not Paid, Invoice / Appointment Info, End of Day Audit, Missed Billing and Missed Claims in the Procedures section. The Print Reports section has Cash Receipts by Payment Method, Daily Fees and Payments, Billings by Client, and Bank Deposit. The summary should also be run daily.
There are also reports for Adjustments, Refunds and Credits. Most dentists will not run these reports themselves, nor will they review them nearly enough. Make sure you understand what the reports are for and make sure you review them as often as you can. It is your business. No one will care as much as you do. Lori recommends having the staff, who print and review the reports, to date and sign them to create accountability. Each provider is also responsible for confirming the billings match their procedures.
Lori’s Suggestions to look out for include:
– Any billings that don’t match to patients scheduled – INSURANCE FRAUD
– Any billings under the wrong provider – error or intentional – ARE YOU PAYING ASSOCIATES for work not completed by them (such as hygiene…small enough to not get noticed)?
– EVERY PATIENT BILLED SHOULD BE ON THE SCHEDULE
– LOOKING FOR FICTITIOUS PATIENTS
– PRINT OUT ALL PAYMENTS FOR THE DAY – BY PAYMENT METHOD
– PRINT OUT TERMINAL BATCH TOTAL- close DAILY deposits to enter bank
– VERIFY ALL terminal payments match to the penny – make necessary corrections (if any) ***NO REFUNDS ON TERMINAL ***
– GATHER ALL CASH AND CHEQUES – match to the penny
– WRITE UP BANK DEPOSIT SLIP DAILY – even if it is only $3.00
– YOU OR OUTSIDE SOURCE (I DO THIS – NO STAFF IN THE PRACTICE)
– FRAUD- CROSS-REFERENCE THAT THESE DEPOSITS ARE IN THE BANK STATEMENT – theft of cash and cheques and credit card fraud
– PRINT OUT REFUND REPORT
– REFUNDS ONLY BY E-TRANSFER OR CHEQUE – BY YOU or outside source. Confirm if it’s a real patient.
– AUDIT REPORT PRINT OUT A SPECIFIC AUDIT REPORT FOR EACH DAY SHOWING DELETED TREATMENTS AND DELETED PAYMENTS:
– report to show who did the deletion
– need to know why deletion was made – make note on day end
– PRINT OUT WRITE-OFFS FOR CURRENT DAY:
– DENTIST TO AUTHORIZE WRITE OFF – ALWAYS
-PRINTED COPIES SERVES AS EVIDENCE – Can confirm if changes done afterward and find patterns
-print out the same reports at month end
-do a cross check to see if things look the same
-keep an eye on your accounts receivables
-print out aged A/R – how to know if A/R is being worked on
-every staff member should take vacation
We look forward to working with Lori again and are available to practice owners who would like some training on this very important topic.
Feel free to contact me, Jerome Perreira, [email protected], for any further information.