Your people may be embezzling and you probably dont even
know it. This article shows easy tactics they could use and how you can stop
from becoming a victim. If youre accepting cash payments, allowing staff to
write checks or receiving credit card payments over the phone, you are
vulnerable. Read on to protect yourself…
Your employees may be embezzling…and you probably dont
know it. Yes, you read that right. In medical offices, employees can embezzle
from you easily. Here are some ways they do that.
How employees embezzle (and how to stop it)
1. Cash co-pays. If someone pays in cash, the receptionist
can just pocket that money and you would not know about it. They could then update
the patients account saying, Oh, they paid $100. You probably wont notice
if youre missing $100 out of $50,000 in your monthly collections. Your solution: never allow anyone to
pay in cash. Staff can pocket it too easily.
2. Another way is giving them access to your checking
account. You have to have boundaries with your practice. We picked up an account
where the doctor had a lot of turnover. His last office manager arranged his bank
account so she could do his deposits and
withdrawals. She was taking money out of his account and he had no idea. Your solution: you, as the doctor and
business owner should be the only one on the bank account. You can still have
someone stamp the back of checks and deposit the checks without giving anybody
permission to take money OUT of your
account. You shouldnt have somebody else able to sign checks for your
practice. Only you can sign. The office staff can fill out checks for you but
you should be the only one that can sign them. Go to the bank and redo your
signature card.
3. A third way involves stolen credit card numbers. You
shouldnt take payments over the phone because there is too much liability of
someone committing fraud. Anybody can steal somebody elses credit card number.
It could be an employee or a patient. Your
solution: Do not accept credit card payments over the phone. If someone is
going to pay by credit card
, have them come into the office and show their ID
and then swipe their credit card on your machine. A patient could also mail you
a check but dont take any payments over the phone. The potential for fraud is
too high.
You cant put blind trust in your staff. Weve seen embezzlement
happen over and over. A doctor trusts his staff and isnt really watching his
statements every month. He starts asking questions when he senses his finances
arent where they should be.
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