Practice Management Alert

It's important to run a Medicare- exclusion background check on all new staff you hire, but you shouldn't stop there. "Don't put blind faith in these data bases as if they are absolute," says Curtis J. Udell, CPAR, CPC, CMPA, senior adviser at Health Care Advisors Inc. in Annandale, Va.

When it comes to embezzlement and diversion of funds and expenses (common business scams that unethical staff pull on physicians), many providers terminate employees without bringing charges, and that means there's no public record of these crimes.

You need to dig deep to make sure the slate is clean, especially when hiring an office manager, administrator, or anyone who will have fiduciary responsibilities, Udell says. Running a pre-employment credit check is a great way to reduce your risk.