01/20/2004    Gene Feinberg, DPM, Lynn Homisak, PRT

Preventing Employee Theft (David Zuckerman, DPM)

RE: Preventing Employee Theft (David Zuckerman,
DPM)
From: Gene Feinberg, DPM, Lynn Homisak, PRT

If someone is stealing and you know it, of
course you would fire them or prosecute them. It
is when you are not sure that presents the
problem.

It is not only the co-pays that you have to be
careful of. An office employee can take checks
and cash if they are only slightly
sophisticated. Cash that is skimmed off the top
is easy to hide when the patient's record is
posted to be paid. It is unlikely that you would
check the daily income record against the
patient's record to see if they match. If the
patient's record is marked paid--there will
likely be no question.

Also, checks may be taken right off the top by
marking the patient's record paid and taking the
check and depositing it into an account they
have opened in your name with their signature.
Then, all they have to do is write checks off
their account. The signature will match and
there will most likely be no questions asked.

You can't watch everything but you should give
the appearance of watching everything by making
spot checks of the mail and in office payments
and how they are posted to the patient's
accounts. You are most vulnerable if you appear
to totally trust the person taking your money
and not check their work.

Gene Feinberg, DPM
feinberg@erols.com

Unfortunately, just as there are unethical
doctors and lawyers, etc., assistants are no
exception; however, I know you're not implying
that it's impossible to find a single assistant
that DOESN'T steal money!...because there are a
lot of us out there who wouldn't THINK of it.
Think PROactive and not REactive. The best
prevention is to be more attentive to WHO you
are hiring. Don't be afraid to check their
references and previous employers. At any rate,
if you've had some bad experiences (and as good
general practice management), you need to follow
a very basic business system of checks and
balances. I suggest you 1) have your staff keep
a day sheet of all monies that come if for the
day, 2) make sure the money and your day
sheet "prove" at the end of the day, 3) make
sure you can easily cross check it with another
source of patient payments (for example, your
fee sheets)...and that your staff knows you
perform this cross check daily and lastly and
very importantly, 4) make an extra effort to
appreciate and communicate with your staff so
they don't ever feel they need to "make up" for
themselves what they feel they are entitled to
and do not get. Obviously, if it ever gets to
the point of thievery, that assistant must be
dismissed immediately...but trying to prevent
reaching that point is my best suggestion.

Lynn Homisak, PRT
Renton, WA
LynnPRT@msn.com

Other messages in this thread:

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01/19/2004    Brian Kashan, D.P.M., Steven H. Goldstein, DPM

Preventing Employee Theft (David Zuckerman, DPM)

RE: Preventing Employee Theft (David Zuckerman,
DPM)

If you have any employee who is stealing from
you know matter how long they have been with
you, that person or persons should be fired
immediately PERIOD!

Steven H. Goldstein, DPM
Livingston, NJ

Why would you suspect your staff of stealing co-
pays? If you believe this is happening, you
should fire the employee. Trying to place
safeguards for a dishonest employee is
fruitless. They will always try and find ways to
steal and you will never be able to trust them.
Allowing it to happen places some of the blame
on you.

However, all practices should have certain
safeguards in place to discourage dishonesty.
The accounting for co-pays is only one small
part. Make sure that all cash received has a
numbered receipt given to the patient. No
exceptions, even if the patient does not want
one. There will then be a written trail to cash
received. It should ALWAYS be entered into the
system, and the system must balance EVERY day.
If someone took a co-pay, you would not balance.
If they didn't log it on the patient's account,
you can bet the patient will call when they get
a bill they already paid.

Other safeguards include making different people
responsible for different things. For example,
the person that accepts the co-pay is not the
person who records it in the system. In order to
make everyone aware of the situation, ask your
staff for ways to better account for the co-pay
problem. If you have one bad egg, you can bet
that the other eggs will eventually let you know.

Finally, be responsible for your practice and
review day sheets, bank deposits, and conduct
monthly audits that compare your deposits with
your computer system to make sure there is no
discrepancy. These are all easy methods to
implement and do not create a huge
infrastructure to work.

Brian Kashan, D.P.M.
Baltimore, MD
drbkas@att.net