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.. | REFERRALS: .. | hospicewr.org NORTHERN OHIO'S HOSPICE OF CHOICE WITH NEARLY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE in hospice and palliative medicine, Hospice of the Western Reserve shares your commitment to delivering the highest quality of care to your patients. Explore our professional caregiver online resources at hospicewr.org/resources. While there, you can: Your Prtner In Cre ead the latest edition of Clinical Connections, our clinically focused newsletter for professionals. Download a copy of our Eligibility Quick Reference Guide, which contains guidelines, practitioner reference materials and functional assessment tools. Watch inspiring and informative stories about the benefits hospice and palliative care provides to patients and families. A S IF PROVIDING E XCELLENT CARE, NAVIGATING GOVERNMENT REGUL ATIONS AND JUGGLING STAFF SCHEDULES WERE NOT ENOUGH, PHYSICIAN PR ACTICES ALSO FACE THE SERIOUS THRE AT OF INTERNAL FR AUD. EMBEZZLEMENT AND THEFT cost medical prac- tices tens of millions of dollars annually, and the amounts involved in individual occurrences can be staggering: In a 2014 case in Florida, a woman who worked for a medical group was accused of embez- zling well over half a million dollars to purchase luxury cars and rent a pricey home. Physicians can avoid at least a portion of those losses by addressing some common managerial missteps, Seattle-based CPA fi rm Moss Adams LLP notes on its website. Among the path-smoothers to embezzlement, according to Moss Adams, are failing to implement a payment reconciliation process, storing cash-box keys beside the front desk, posting payments before they are deposited at the bank, and making deposits only weekly or sporadically. The fi rm recommends several steps physician groups can take to head o… theft, including: + C l a r i f y i n g c o l l e c t i o n p r o c e d u r e s f o r copayments + Providing a receipt for ever y payment made + Conducting pay ment reconci liation before close ever y day + Keeping keys to ca sh boxes away from the front off ice and putting the boxes in f ireproof sa fes overnight + Not relying on just one employee to ma nage the accounting process ■ BY STEVE BARRETT Bypassing the Fraud Freeway 2 1 M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S C L E V E L A N D /A K R O N / C A N T O N n S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 016