Services for Dentists > Fraud Protection

Protection from fraud.

The American Dental Association estimates that 35% of dental offices have been embezzled once and 17% more than once – and that only accounts for offices that know embezzlement has occurred.

While there are many forms of embezzlement including billing, cash larceny, skimming, and more, what we have seen most often is “borrowing.” This means your trusted office employee tends to borrow $10 here and $20 there. While their initial intent is to reimburse the funds, the problem snowballs until a small amount of cash turns into $10,000. After all, good people put in vulnerable situations are easily tempted.

The good news is that having Benchmarks as a partner reduces your risk of embezzlement up to 80%. How?

At Benchmarks, we reconcile more than just your bank account – we do a multiple level reconciliation. We examine the entire paper trail watching the cash flow from the patient all the way to the bank. That way, that missing $10 or $20 is discovered in the early stages, before it becomes a big problem.

In addition, we have created a “Daily Close-Out Checklist” which we encourage all of our clients to follow. It offers important checks and balances that help protect your practice from potential theft. Along with independent reconciliations and tactics such as splitting financial duties among more than one staff member, you can feel confident that you’ve done all you can to lessen your risk of theft.