Same-Day Surgery Manager: My top suggestions to avoid fraud, theft in your program
My top suggestions to avoid fraud, theft in your program
By Stephen W. Earnhart, MS
CEO
Earnhart & Associates
Austin, TX
Eventually, we will all be the victim of unscrupulous individuals that wish to plunder our coffers of supplies, cash, or other value at our facilities. The issue is not how to deal with it after it occurs (a nightmare), but rather how to prevent it in the first place.
All the holiday bills start rolling in, and people often get strapped for money. This is the time of the year that people get desperate. So this also is the time of the year for you to review some basic theft prevention procedures. Let me share some tips:
• The business office.
Some of the most significant issues here deal with the theft of cash, forgery, and bank fraud. The key to prevention is diligence. It's sad to say, but you really need to assume that each of your staff members is capable of thievery.
How to spot trouble: Whoever does your books — that is, who writes checks for you and enters them into a computerized general ledger system — needs to know that someone is looking over their shoulder. You need "checks and balances" to avoid problems. Using three individuals in the process effectively reduces your chances of theft.
One person should order supplies, another person should check the shipping statement to make sure they are all there, and the third should write and sign checks for payment. My strongest recommendation is that you have another person review the bank statements and canceled checks each month as well. Most banks do not submit the actual check to anyone. They give you the option to view it online, which most of us are too busy to do. You want the actual physical check to look at each month.
Why? Here is a common way crooks steal your money from your account. They go into your general ledger and make out a check to themselves or a fictitious individual. They print the checks to be paid, including the one made out to them. Once that check is printed, they stamp it with your name or simply forge the check and cash it. After the check is printed, they go back into the system and edit the check entry and change the payee to a real account. Unless you have the physical check to look at each month, you would never know what happened, and your account would balance each month.
Another method they use is to take a blank check and put a piece of tape over the Payee line. They print the check made out to a current, legitimate vendor, then remove the tape and put their own name on the check. Very effective.
So, diligence is needed in the business office.
• Supplies.
Don't for a moment think that your supplies are safe from plunder. There are countless situations in which staff members are selling supplies right out the back door of your facility. Do an audit of your supplies on a regular basis and randomly. Install a security camera on your loading dock — even if it is a nonworking model they sell at your local Radio Shack for about $20.
Also be alert for vendor counts on consignment supplies. For example, a vendor may say that you used 20 of an item, when your surgical case information shows you actually used 16. The vendor would be charging you for four that you do not use and getting credit for the sales.
• Reputation.
Your reputation can be stolen as well. You need to safeguard it like you do your other assets. So often I heard from surgeons working in a hospital or surgery center about poor turnaround times and start time inefficiency. In most cases, it is not true. However, the damage has been done when they tell other surgeons that you are not efficient.
Prevent that theft by posting your actual turn-around time on your web site and in the locker rooms. If they are bad, post the corrective action. If they are good, make sure everyone knows it! Don't hide your light under the basket, as they say.
Nasty stuff can happen out there. Prepare yourself.
(Earnhart & Associates is an ambulatory surgery consulting firm specializing in all aspects of surgery center development and management. Contact Earnhart at 1000 Westbank Drive, Suite 5B, Austin, TX 78746. E-mail: [email protected]. Web: www.earnhart.com.)
Eventually, we will all be the victim of unscrupulous individuals that wish to plunder our coffers of supplies, cash, or other value at our facilities. The issue is not how to deal with it after it occurs (a nightmare), but rather how to prevent it in the first place.Subscribe Now for Access
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