Nearly 49 percent of dental practices said they had experienced employee theft, and about 46 percent of those said it happened more than once, according to a survey conducted by the ADA Council on Dental Practice.
"The most common types of theft included: taking cash; padding the number of hours worked; taking products such as electric toothbrushes or whitening kits; and providing free or discounted treatments to family members or friends without approval," Douglas Wolff, DDS, chair of the ADA council's practice management subcommittee.
In response to the survey results, the ADA developed a checklist of tips to help practices prevent employee theft. Recommendations include downloading credit card charges onto accounting software, cross-training employees for multiple duties and hiring a practice software specialist to ensure security controls.
Click here for the full checklist.