There are many ways to steal money from a medical practice, some more complex than others, but after years with a trusted employee , things become easier. “By definition, embezzlement is the dishonest appropriation of property by one or more natural persons to whom these property have been entrusted.” One solution is to simply take money from patients' cash co-payments, billing the patient but not processing the payment. “According to the 2011 Marquet Embezzlement Report, medical practices suffer from some of the greatest financial malfeasance among service industries; this is even more true for smaller, busier operations.” This can be avoided by verifying the number of patients seen daily with the amount of co-pay received or another way to discourage this is to put up signs stating that each patient be sure to get a receipt. Money can also be taken by writing checks to the practice for invoices that are never submitted or for an invoice that is submitted but the check bounces and another check is written for the same amount but for something or someone else. Payroll management is another way to steal money from a practice, by giving yourself a raise, bonuses or simply overestimating hours worked. Ways to avoid this are to simply distribute all bonuses at a specific time of year and implement a biometric employee timekeeping system that records specific hours each person works. Corporate credit cards and credit card ATMs are another way to misappropriate funds by using them for personal expenses and not for the practice or by processing refunds at credit card machines. This can be avoided by verifying all credit card statements with purchase receipts and authorizing refunds only by a practice manager at the credit card terminal. Money is also siphoned off through the creation of fake companies or sellers. The employee can either create a fake supplier and send the money to that company, or collude with an employee of a real supplier to siphon funds from the company. To avoid the creation of fake companies, the firm must implement a dual review and authorization process for new suppliers and conduct random audits of supplier files. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Cullom Eye and Laser Center was robbed by its office manager Sherea Darnell, who worked for them from 2012 to 2016, at that time she withdrew $514,000 from the firm. “Darnell used three of Dr. Cullom’s credit cards to make personal transactions for his own benefit.” She used the credit cards to pay for her son's college tuition, cash advances and to buy plane tickets for herself and her family. Darnell also gained access to Dr. Cullom's accounts to pay off credit card balances without any authorization. In this case, what I would do to try to prevent this from happening again is not give credit cards to any employee of the practice, but if I have to do it for any reason, I would set limits of spending on the cards and would check the card. recorded each month. Additionally, if I actually have to give a card to someone, I would make sure that the person using the card is not the same person who.