dental practice management

Dental Marketing May Have Helped Dentist Arrest Thieves

January 24, 2012 By Jim Du Molin Leave a Comment

It would seem a little dental marketing can even help reclaim stolen property.

Florida dentist Bill Strupp experienced a dentist’s worst nightmare: having thieves break into his dental practice to steal computers and dental equipment.

They also made off with Dr. Strupp’s sports memorabilia collection which included an official Heisman football, dozens of signed Yankee baseballs and three signed Yankee bats given to him by his friend and dental patient, George Steinbrenner.

He desperately wanted the stolen items returned.

So he decided to use some Internet dental marketing by placing an ad on Craigslist offering a reward for the return of the stolen property. Dr. Strupp must have written a great ad, because someone called offering to sell the sports memorabilia back to him.

That someone seemed like the thief.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that Strupp played along with the caller and promised not to call the police.

“Immediately, as soon as I hung up with him, I picked up the phone and called (Clearwater police) Detective Jonathan Walser,” Strupp told the Times.

In working with the police Dr. Stupp agreed to meet the caller in a local shopping mall to obtain the sports collection and his computers in exchange for $10,000. When the thieves approached Strupp to handover the stolen property, Clearwater police moved in and arrested the suspects.

A search warrant helped find more of Strupp’s missing dental practice items, but not all.

Strupp told the Times, “I’m just flabbergasted that anybody would be that stupid to try to sell something back to somebody after you stole it from them!”

Maybe it was the great Internet dental marketing he used to write that Craiglist ad.

For more on this story see: Dentist bites back: Craigslist ad leads to arrest of two in stolen property case

Filed Under: Dental Marketing, Dental News Tagged With: dental marketing, Dental News, dental practice management, dental theft, dentist, dentistry, dentists, marketing, theft

Dentist Discovers a Way to Snuff Out Cigar Smoke

January 17, 2012 By Jim Du Molin 1 Comment

Florida dentist Edmund Rahal was sick of his dental practice smelling like the cigar shop next door. He decided to take matters into his own hands.

Last week, he visited Hillsborough County Circuit Court to ask a judge to issue an injunction to bar the odors from his neighbor’s Twisted Cigar lounge from crossing over into his dental practice.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that the cigar lounge opened three months ago right next door to the dental practice and ever since Dr. Rahal’s patients have complained that his dental practice now smells like an ash tray.

The Times further reports that the court filing by Dr. Rahal alleges “noxious, unhealthful, damaging, disagreeable and offensive odors and stenches,” making the dental practice “unpleasant, uncomfortable, unhealthy and unfit for human habitation.”

In his own defense cigar lounge owner Jim Brown told the Times that he has tried to contain odors by resealing drywall and putting a smoke filter in the dental practice air conditioning unit. It was supposed to catch particles even tinier than smoke.

However, Dr. Rahal and his dental patients still feel where there’s smoke, there’s sink.

Fore more: Valrico Dentist Asks Judge to Clear the Air With Next-door Cigar Shop

Filed Under: Funny Dental News Tagged With: Dental News, dental patients, dental practice, dental practice management, dentist, dentistry, dentists

Some Dentists Fire Patients After Missed Appointments

January 10, 2012 By Catherine Hughes 1 Comment

Some Dentists Fire Patients After Appointment No-Shows 36% of dentists don’t charge for missed dental appointments — no matter how many times a patient is a “no-show.”

Only 5% charge a fee for the first offense, while 39% charge a fee after the second missed appointment. 20% of dentists charge after the 3rd missed appointment.

With the current economic conditions, The Wealthy Dentist decided to ask dentists if they have been charging for missed appointments.

Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital is in the news this week for reveling that in the first 10 months of 2011 patients failed to attend almost 17,000 appointments. Thats about 49 missed medical appointments for every day of the year.

“Time is money!” complained one dentist, and he is right. A missed appointment is an appointment that can be filled by other patients. Missed appointment fees ranged from $25.00 for the first no-show to $2,500.00 after the third missed appointment. The average fee is $75.00.

The following dentist’s comments were selected to share how dentists are handling missed appointments –

Pre-paying is popular …

“We ask the patient to pre-pay for future appointments.” (Illinois dentist)

“Repeat offenders are put on ‘probation’ where they must pre-pay (the full price, non-refundable) before we will schedule them again. This way we don’t ‘fire’ them, they either pre-pay or leave the practice. They are usually on ‘probation’ until they consistently show up.” (Kentucky dentist)

“We have them pay before the appointment and if they break the appointment, the fee is deducted from their account.” (Missouri dentist)

“After three missed appts we will not reschedule unless they prepay in full for whatever the appointment is for. It works great. We have a great practice and people know the value that they receive here.” (Colorado dentist)

“We ask the patients who no show for 2 appts or more to prepay for further visits.” (General dentist)

“We just charge them little more when they come next. Also if they are entitled for any offers or discounts don’t give them that.” (General dentist)

Confirming helps …

“Confirm. Confirm. Confirm.” (General dentist)

“Have your patients give you the cell number where they receive texts and text them their appointment. Works like a charm.” (California dentist)

“We confirm by phone, email and text message.” (General dentist)

“We double book or call patient the morning of appointment.” (California dentist)

“We send a sms reminder the day before the scheduled appointment.” (General dentist)

Same day or on-call appointments only …

“After the second time we choose the option of putting the patient on our short call list only.” (Georgia dentist)

“We don’t give 3rd time offenders the opportunity to schedule in advance. We put them in our ‘Short Notice Club’ and call them when we have an opening or they can call to see if they can get in that day.” (Oklahoma dentist)

“After 3 missed, the patient must call on a day they would like to come in and see if there is an appointment available.” (Pennsylvania dentist)

“We don’t “fire” them but put them on a VIP list where we call them when we have a same day appointment available.” (New Hampshire dentist)

Fire them …

“My letter to the patient who I am dismissing is actually very nice. It states that our priorities do not match and that they would be better served by another dentist and to please let us know where to forward their records. A lot of times, the patient begs us to let them come back to the practice and they become our best patients ever about being there for their appointments even in bad weather, etc.!” (Alabama dentist)

“We send three letters and then dismiss patient with a 30 day emergency window so they have ample time to find a new dentist that will be more conducive to their schedule.” (Missouri dentist)

“You must get rid of them because you can not afford them. The other thought is to give them a stand-by appt. They may have to wait a while to be seen.” (North Carolina dentist)

“After a new patient reschedules/misses an appointment twice, we fire/do not reschedule. When existing patients break numerous appointments we notify them to call us on a day when they have extra /free time on their schedule and we will see if we can work them in at that time (this way we are not blocking an actual appointment for them). The best approach would be to require a credit card at time of scheduling to hold the appointment.” (General dentist)

How do you handle missed appointments? Have you ever “fired” a patient?

Filed Under: Dental Surveys, The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: dental fees, dental practice, dental practice management, dentist, dentistry, dentists, economy, missed appointment, missed appointments

Dental Office Embezzlement of $100,000 in Dental Insurance Payments

December 27, 2011 By Catherine Hughes 2 Comments

Dental office embezzlement is still alive and well in California.

Deborah Lynn Kessler, 45, pleaded guilty to four counts of grand theft over charges that she embezzled more than $100,000 in dental insurance payments at the dental practice where where was manager.

The Orange County Register reports that Kessler signed dental insurance payments over to her personal bank accounts over the course of about three years. Investigators initially said she may have used the money to pay for an RV, boats and trips, and to cover her personal bills.

She was sentenced to two years in jail, plus an additional two more years of community supervision.

According to a 2010 Association of Certified Fraud Examiners report almost one-fourth of all embezzlement cases report losses of at least $1 million with smaller businesses being the most susceptible to fraud.

The average embezzlement scheme lasts for 18 months before detection.

The U.S Chamber of Commerce estimates that employee embezzlement costs American companies $20 billion to $40 billion a year. A long-term employee is 15 times more likely than a stranger to steal from a company.

Some of the best ways to prevent dental office embezzlement is by implementing a segregation of duties, keeping petty cash to a minimum and requiring dual signatures on checks.

Has your dental practice ever been the victim of employee embezzlement? What happened, and how did you handle it?

For more on the Orange County Register story see: Dental worker guilty of stealing more than $100,000

Filed Under: Dental Embezzlement, The Wealthy Dentist Tagged With: dental embezzlement, dental insurance, Dental News, dental practice, dental practice embezzlement, dental practice management, dentist, dentists, embezzlement

Dentists: Are Dental Hygienists Worth Their Weight in Gold?(video)

November 14, 2011 By Catherine Hughes Leave a Comment

Dentists: Are Dental Hygienists Worth Their Weight in Gold?(video) In our story, Dental Hygienists Among the Fastest Growing Occupations in the U.S. we revealed that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook for 2008-2018 expects the demand to hire more hygienists to perform preventive dental care will continue to grow.

According to the ADA, independent dentists reported paying full-time dental hygienists $33.90 per hour in 2008.

Considering the current economic environment The Wealthy Dentist decided to conduct a survey asking dentists if they pay their hygienists an hourly wage or if compensation is based on commission.

It seems most dentists still pay their dental hygienists an hourly wage, but some feel paying on commission is more fair. Said one dentist, “Hygienists are worth their weight in gold!” Another dentist disagreed saying, “Practices couldn’t run without them, but the current economics barely breaks even at best … hygienists seem to think they are cash cows for the office and fail to recognize the support and facilities the utilize.”

It’s an interesting economic issue. Click on Play to hear more of what dentists say about paying hygienists –

How do you pay the hygienist in your practice?