What To Do If You Suspect Embezzlement In Your Dental Practice

You suspect that there is embezzlement happening in your dental practice. You’ve confirmed it with an investigation. Now how do you confront the embezzler? Pat Little, D.D.S, F.A.G.D., C.F.E., CEO and Founder of Dental Risk Concepts and Prosperident describes the steps a dentist must take when confronting an embezzler.

Interview Transcript (Modified for Readability)

“What I would recommend doctors do when they find out there’s embezzlement — now this is assuming they’ve already had the investigation conducted. If I could preface that a bit, the key with the investigation is to make sure nobody walks into the office to conduct the investigation. It’s very vital that this be done in stealth because if the embezzler ever thinks that the investigation is going on, they’ll almost always try to destroy evidence, and we don’t want that. We want an investigation to be conducted in stealth, behind the scenes, and that way the doctor knows for sure if it’s occurring.

At that point, the doctor can bring the embezzler in. But there’s some homework the doctor needs to do first. We have a termination check list, and it’s simple things like have the locks ready to be changed, make sure they’re escorted out of the office.

There are several things the doctor needs to take care of legally and certainly if there’s an employment issue, a labor law attorney is very important. One of the things doctors don’t want to do is just have a knee-jerk reaction, fire them, and get them out of the office because that can open up all kinds of issues.”