title: Protecting your practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dentists have much invested in their practices. They need to protect their practices from fraud and noncompliance. The author provides practical suggestions for how to significantly reduce the risk of fraud and theft in the practice without disrupting day-to-day operations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  By adhering to nonintrusive policy and procedure changes, dental practice owners can reduce inherent risks of fraud and theft, while increasing financial and human resource knowledge regarding their practice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Practice owners with the appropriate policies and procedures benefit from significantly lower risk of loss from fraud and theft. Furthermore, they have a better understanding of their practice's finances and human resources.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kerr
mesh_terms: D005607:Fraud / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D010559:Personnel Management / Q000379:methods; D011215:Practice Management, Dental / Q000458:organization & administration; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013800:Theft / Q000517:prevention & control
keywords: Confidentiality; dental offices; dental records; documentation; employee performance appraisal; fraud; general practice; practice management