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Dental Law Radio Rebrands and Relaunches as Advisory Insights Podcast

August 1, 2022 by John Ray

Dental Law Radio Rebrands and Relaunches as the Advisory Insights Podcast
Dental Law Radio
Dental Law Radio Rebrands and Relaunches as Advisory Insights Podcast
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Dental Law Radio Rebrands and Relaunches as the Advisory Insights Podcast

Dental Law Radio Rebrands and Relaunches as Advisory Insights Podcast (Dental Law Radio, Episode 32)

Over the past year, Oberman Law Firm has grown significantly, adding attorneys with various areas of expertise which extend well beyond the firm’s highly regarded and well-known work with dental practices. Consequently, the firm is rebranding and relaunching Dental Law Radio as Advisory Insights Podcast. Advisory Insights will cover the same legal, business, HR, and other topics addressed in Dental Law Radio, and will do so aimed at other healthcare practices and business owners as well.

Advisory Insights is underwritten and presented by Oberman Law Firm and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®. The show series can be found here as well as on all the major podcast apps.

 

Stuart Oberman, Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm
Stuart Oberman, host of “Dental Law Radio”

Stuart Oberman is the founder and President of Oberman Law Firm. Mr. Oberman graduated from Urbana University and received his law degree from John Marshall Law School. Mr. Oberman has been practicing law for over 25 years, and before going into private practice, Mr. Oberman was in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 Company. Mr. Oberman is widely regarded as the go-to attorney in the area of Dental Law, which includes DSO formation, corporate business structures, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, advertising regulations, HIPAA, Compliance, and employment law regulations that affect dental practices.

In addition, Mr. Oberman’s expertise in the health care industry includes advising clients in the complex regulatory landscape as it relates to telehealth and telemedicine, including compliance of corporate structures, third-party reimbursement, contract negotiations, technology, health care fraud and abuse law (Anti-Kickback Statute and the State Law), professional liability risk management, federal and state regulations.

As the long-term care industry evolves, Mr. Oberman has the knowledge and experience to guide clients in the long-term care sector with respect to corporate and regulatory matters, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). In addition, Mr. Oberman’s practice also focuses on health care facility acquisitions and other changes of ownership, as well as related licensure and Medicare/Medicaid certification matters, CCRC registrations, long-term care/skilled nursing facility management, operating agreements, assisted living licensure matters, and health care joint ventures.

In addition to his expertise in the health care industry, Mr. Oberman has a nationwide practice that focuses on all facets of contractual disputes, including corporate governance, fiduciary duty, trade secrets, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, trademark and copyright infringement, fraud, and deceptive trade practices, and other business-related matters. Mr. Oberman also represents clients throughout the United States in a wide range of practice areas, including mergers & acquisitions, partnership agreements, commercial real estate, entity formation, employment law, commercial leasing, intellectual property, and HIPAA/OSHA compliance.

Mr. Oberman is a national lecturer and has published articles in the U.S. and Canada.

LinkedIn

Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm has a long history of civic service, noted national, regional, and local clients, and stands among the Southeast’s eminent and fast-growing full-service law firms. Oberman Law Firm’s areas of practice include Business Planning, Commercial & Technology Transactions, Corporate, Employment & Labor, Estate Planning, Health Care, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Privacy & Data Security, and Real Estate.

By meeting their client’s goals and becoming a trusted partner and advocate for our clients, their attorneys are recognized as legal go-getters who provide value-added service. Their attorneys understand that in a rapidly changing legal market, clients have new expectations, constantly evolving choices, and operate in an environment of heightened reputational and commercial risk.

Oberman Law Firm’s strength is its ability to solve complex legal problems by collaborating across borders and practice areas.

Connect with Oberman Law Firm:

Company website | LinkedIn | Twitter

 

Tagged With: Advisory Insights, Advisory Insights Podcast, dental, Dental Law Radio, dental practices, healthcare practices, HR, Oberman Law Firm, Stuart Oberman

Introduction to the Advisory Insights Podcast

July 29, 2022 by John Ray

Advisory Insights
Advisory Insights Podcast
Introduction to the Advisory Insights Podcast
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Advisory Insights

Introduction to the Advisory Insights Podcast

In this introductory episode of the Advisory Insights Podcast, Stuart Oberman welcomed listeners to this new podcast featuring legal, business, HR, and other topics of vital concern to healthcare practices and other business owners. (Advisory Insights is the successor show to Dental Law Radio.) He went on to cover an extensive list of essential topics to be included in employee manuals and guidelines and more.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:01] Broadcasting from the studios of Business RadioX, it’s time for Advisory Insights. Brought to you by Oberman Law Firm, serving clients nationwide with tailored service and exceptional results. Now, here’s your host.

Stuart Oberman : [00:00:19] Hello everyone, and welcome to Advisory Insights Podcast. Well, first, I’d like to welcome our dental clients who followed us over to dentallawradio.com, and also our new listeners. I could not be more excited about what we’re doing with Advisory Insights Podcast.

Stuart Oberman : [00:00:36] We had a platform previously, and we discovered that we are getting national exposure on our platforms, what we said before. So, we took a little bit of a break and we decided, You know what? We’re going to take what you can use, no matter whether you are a health care practice or global company. We’re going to keep things simple. We’re going to keep it basic. And what our clients need to know on a day-to-day basis on how to stay, hopefully, out of trouble.

Stuart Oberman : [00:01:04] And we’d like to thank North Fulton Business Radio and Business RadioX for hosting us. But we’re going to start gearing this thing up pretty hard.

Stuart Oberman : [00:01:13] So, what are we going to talk about today? Well, let me just tell you this. In this great world that we live in of the Great Resignation, H.R. is a headache, there’s no doubt about it. So, I’ve been talking for a while on employee manuals and guidelines. I want to start off on a couple of things that, again, no matter what size you are, you need to take a look at this.

Stuart Oberman : [00:01:31] First and foremost, I don’t care if you have $1,000,000 a year on revenue or $50 billion, you need to look at your H.R. annually. You have to take a look at what the company culture is, what the headcount is, what are your benefits, are your renewals up. And in today’s world, I’ve been stressing for a long, long time, look, employee manuals will either make you or break you, and are just no longer an option.

Stuart Oberman : [00:01:56] And we had a really, really great podcast with SHRM Atlanta. For those of you that don’t know what SHRM Atlanta is, it’s an unbelievable organization. And we get a lot of information from those guys on a regular basis. And it’s employee manuals. It’s H.R. It’s a lot of internal information.

Stuart Oberman : [00:02:21] But I want to tell you something, what is no longer an option, you’ve got to know State and Federal law. You’ve got to know about EEOC. You’ve got to know about National Labor Relations Board. You have to know the Age Discrimination and Employment Act of 1967. You’ve got to know Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 1964. You have to know the Equal Pay Act of 1963. You got to know the Worker’s Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. You’ve got to know Sections 1981 and 1983 of the Civil Rights Act. You’ve got to know the American Disabilities Act. You’ve got to know the Family for Medical Leave Act. You’ve got to know the Employees Retirement Income Security Act. You have to know the Old Benefits Protection Act. You have to know the Age Discrimination Act of 1967.

Stuart Oberman : [00:03:04] How in the world are you going to run a business if you don’t know what those things are? Those have got to be in your manual. There’s no longer an option. If you don’t know any of those, if you don’t know a lot of those, or you don’t know really all of those, you need to figure out what you’re doing. You need to look internally at what you’re doing.

Stuart Oberman : [00:03:20] And failure to plan, I can’t tell you how many clients we have that are global, local, regional, and national that have no idea what I’m talking about. And that’s extremely dangerous. Not only is it costly, it’s a nightmare. So, a couple of provisions are really no longer an option. Really, again, drilling it down, What do you need? What do you need?

Stuart Oberman : [00:03:45] You know, first and foremost, in your employee manuals, you’ve got to have the at-will statements, you have the disclaimers, you’ve got to have the EEOC statement, you’ve got to have the anti-harassment issues. You’ve got to have the wage and salary, leave of absence, drug testing, social media policies. You’ve got to have the non-solicitation employment acknowledgment manual. How many employers out there have given their employee manuals to people, documents, and have no signatures acknowledging if it’s not in writing, it never happened. I’ll just telling you that right now.

Stuart Oberman : [00:04:15] You know, do you have your Family and Medical Leave Act policies? Do you have a non-gender discrimination salary ranges? When is the last time you’ve thoroughly evaluated your salaries ranges gender neutral. If they are not gender neutral, you are in a world of hurt. Are we looking at nondiscrimination in dress codes now? Are we looking at tattoo issues? Are we looking at age inquiries of prospective employees? Age inquiries, that’s a no, no. We’re going to cover that in probably our future podcasts. Holiday pay, voting time, Education Assistance Program.

Stuart Oberman : [00:04:58] Look, I know I ran through this so, so fast. I could probably spend 40 minutes on each topic that I ran through on the employee manual requirements, on employee guideline requirements. Here’s the key, again, what we’ve done on a local level, regional, national level, global level, again, whether you are a small health care provider or whether you’re a building company, these are the basics you’ve got to know. We have clients that have no H.R. client, but they’re doing a half-a-billion dollars a year. I don’t really understand that.

Stuart Oberman : [00:05:33] So, look, if you just took one thing away, it is you’ve got to know these things. If you have any questions, let us know. Hopefully, by listening to the podcast, again, we ran through a lot of information. I could talk, you know, an hour on each topic that we talked about. The key is evaluate, evaluate, evaluate.

Stuart Oberman : [00:05:50] And these are the kind of things we want to bring to you on a very, very scaled down basis on advisorypodcast.com. And we’re going to continue to do this and we’re going to continue to broadcast to our constituents, to our clients, to our friends in the industry, whether it’s health care, whether it’s general business that these are things you have to know.

Stuart Oberman : [00:06:11] Well, that is going to be our first episode of advisoryinsightspodcast.com Thank you everyone for joining us. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at 770-886-2400 or visit us at obermanlaw.com, or, in this great world that we live in, email. Please feel free to email at stuart, S-T-U-A-R-T, @obermanlaw.com.

Stuart Oberman : [00:06:37] Thank you, everyone, and we appreciate your attendance in today’s podcast. And we look forward to jumping on some more hot topics. Have a great day, everyone. Thank you.

Outro: [00:06:49] Thank you for joining us on Advisory Insights. This show is brought to you by Oberman Law Firm, a business-centric law firm representing local, regional, and national clients in a wide range of practice areas, including health care, mergers and acquisitions, corporate transactions, and regulatory compliance.

About Advisory Insights

Advisory Insights is presented by Oberman Law Firm and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®. The series can be found on all the major podcast apps. You can find the complete show archive here.

Stuart Oberman, Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm
Stuart Oberman, Founder, Oberman Law Firm

Stuart Oberman is the founder and President of Oberman Law Firm. Mr. Oberman graduated from Urbana University and received his law degree from John Marshall Law School. Mr. Oberman has been practicing law for over 25 years, and before going into private practice, Mr. Oberman was in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 Company. Mr. Oberman is widely regarded as the go-to attorney in the area of Dental Law, which includes DSO formation, corporate business structures, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, advertising regulations, HIPAA, Compliance, and employment law regulations that affect dental practices.

In addition, Mr. Oberman’s expertise in the healthcare industry includes advising clients in the complex regulatory landscape as it relates to telehealth and telemedicine, including compliance of corporate structures, third-party reimbursement, contract negotiations, technology, health care fraud, and abuse law (Anti-Kickback Statute and the State Law), professional liability risk management, federal and state regulations.

As the long-term care industry evolves, Mr. Oberman has the knowledge and experience to guide clients in the long-term care sector with respect to corporate and regulatory matters, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). In addition, Mr. Oberman’s practice also focuses on health care facility acquisitions and other changes of ownership, as well as related licensure and Medicare/Medicaid certification matters, CCRC registrations, long-term care/skilled nursing facility management, operating agreements, assisted living licensure matters, and health care joint ventures.

In addition to his expertise in the health care industry, Mr. Oberman has a nationwide practice that focuses on all facets of contractual disputes, including corporate governance, fiduciary duty, trade secrets, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, trademark and copyright infringement, fraud, and deceptive trade practices, and other business-related matters. Mr. Oberman also represents clients throughout the United States in a wide range of practice areas, including mergers & acquisitions, partnership agreements, commercial real estate, entity formation, employment law, commercial leasing, intellectual property, and HIPAA/OSHA compliance.

Mr. Oberman is a national lecturer and has published articles in the U.S. and Canada.

LinkedIn

Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm has a long history of civic service, noted national, regional, and local clients, and stands among the Southeast’s eminent and fast-growing full-service law firms. Oberman Law Firm’s areas of practice include Business Planning, Commercial & Technology Transactions, Corporate, Employment & Labor, Estate Planning, Health Care, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Privacy & Data Security, and Real Estate.

By meeting their client’s goals and becoming a trusted partner and advocate for our clients, their attorneys are recognized as legal go-getters who provide value-added service. Their attorneys understand that in a rapidly changing legal market, clients have new expectations, constantly evolving choices, and operate in an environment of heightened reputational and commercial risk.

Oberman Law Firm’s strength is its ability to solve complex legal problems by collaborating across borders and practice areas.

Connect with Oberman Law Firm:

Company website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Tagged With: Advisory Insights Podcast, Dental Law Radio, employee law, Employee Manual, HR, Oberman Law Firm, SHRM Atlanta, Stuart Oberman

Stuart Oberman, Oberman Law Firm and the Advisory Insights Podcast

July 26, 2022 by John Ray

Advisory Insights
Advisory Insights Podcast
Stuart Oberman, Oberman Law Firm and the Advisory Insights Podcast
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Advisory Insights

Stuart Oberman, Oberman Law Firm and the Advisory Insights Podcast (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 477)

Over the past year, Oberman Law Firm has grown significantly, adding attorneys with various areas of expertise which extend well beyond the firm’s highly regarded and well-known work with dental practices. Stuart Oberman joined host John Ray to discuss this growth, the firm’s work with other healthcare practices and even international clients, and the rebranding and relaunch of Dental Law Radio into the Advisory Insights Podcast.

North Fulton Business Radio is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm has a long history of civic service, noted national, regional, and local clients, and stands among the Southeast’s eminent and fast-growing full-service law firms. Oberman Law Firm’s areas of practice include Business Planning, Commercial & Technology Transactions, Corporate, Employment & Labor, Estate Planning, Health Care, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Privacy & Data Security, and Real Estate.

By meeting their client’s goals and becoming a trusted partner and advocate for our clients, their attorneys are recognized as legal go-getters who provide value-added service. Their attorneys understand that in a rapidly changing legal market, clients have new expectations, constantly evolving choices, and operate in an environment of heightened reputational and commercial risk.

Oberman Law Firm’s strength is its ability to solve complex legal problems by collaborating across borders and practice areas.

Company website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

Stuart Oberman, Founder and President, Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm
Stuart Oberman, Founder and President, Oberman Law Firm

Stuart J. Oberman is the founder and President of Oberman Law Firm. Mr. Oberman graduated from Urbana University and received his law degree from John Marshall Law School. Mr. Oberman has been practicing law for over 25 years, and before going into private practice, Mr. Oberman was in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 Company.

Mr. Oberman is widely regarded as the go-to attorney in the area of Dental Law, which includes DSO formation, corporate business structures, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, advertising regulations, HIPAA, Compliance, and employment law regulations that affect dental practices.

In addition, Mr. Oberman’s expertise in the healthcare industry includes advising clients in the complex regulatory landscape as it relates to telehealth and telemedicine, including compliance of corporate structures, third-party reimbursement, contract negotiations, technology, health care fraud, and abuse law (Anti-Kickback Statute and the State Law), professional liability risk management, federal and state regulations.

As the long-term care industry evolves, Mr. Oberman has the knowledge and experience to guide clients in the long-term care sector with respect to corporate and regulatory matters, assisted living facilities, and continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). In addition, Mr. Oberman’s practice also focuses on health care facility acquisitions and other changes of ownership, as well as related licensure and Medicare/Medicaid certification matters, CCRC registrations, long-term care/skilled nursing facility management, operating agreements, assisted living licensure matters, and health care joint ventures.

In addition to his expertise in the health care industry, Mr. Oberman has a nationwide practice that focuses on all facets of contractual disputes, including corporate governance, fiduciary duty, trade secrets, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, trademark and copyright infringement, fraud and deceptive trade practices, and other business-related matters.

Mr. Oberman also represents clients throughout the U.S. in a wide range of practice areas, including mergers & acquisitions, partnership agreements, commercial real estate, entity formation, employment law, commercial leasing, intellectual property, and HIPAA/OSHA compliance.

Mr. Oberman is a national lecturer and has published articles in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, Mr. Oberman has received the Martindale-Hubbell Client Distinction Award, which is based on client review ratings of communications ability, responsiveness, and quality of service.

LinkedIn

Questions and Topics in this Interview:

  • What is new at Oberman Law Firm?
  • How has the firm expanded?
  • Tell us about your new podcast, Advisory Insights Podcast
  • The Advisory Insights newsletter

North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.

RenasantBank

 

Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

 

Special thanks to A&S Culinary Concepts for their support of this edition of North Fulton Business Radio. A&S Culinary Concepts, based in Johns Creek, is an award-winning culinary studio, celebrated for corporate catering, corporate team building, Big Green Egg Boot Camps, and private group events. They also provide oven-ready, cooked-from-scratch meals to go they call “Let Us Cook for You.” To see their menus and events, go to their website or call 678-336-9196.

Tagged With: A&S Culinary Concepts, Advisory Insights, Dental Law Radio, healthcare law, North Fulton Business Radio, Oberman Law Firm, renasant bank, Stuart Oberman

Dumb Things Smart Dentists Do, with Dr. Richard Madow, The Madow Center for Dental Practice Success

December 31, 2021 by John Ray

The Madow Center
Dental Law Radio
Dumb Things Smart Dentists Do, with Dr. Richard Madow, The Madow Center for Dental Practice Success
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Madow Center

Dumb Things Smart Dentists Do, with Dr. Richard Madow, The Madow Center for Dental Practice Success (Dental Law Radio, Episode 29)

Dentists, how does the phone get answered in your practice? Is your fascination with innovative technology actually hindering your ability to serve patients? A dentist himself, Richard Madow of The Madow Center joined host Stuart Oberman to cover some of the things that otherwise smart dentists do or allow to happen which are harmful to the practice. Dental Law Radio is underwritten and presented by Oberman Law Firm and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

Dr. Richard Madow, Co-Founder, The Madow Center for Dental Practice Success

Dr. Richard Madow, Co-Founder, The Madow Center for Dental Practice Success

In 1989, Dr. Richard Madow along with his brother Dr. David Madow founded The Madow Center For Dental Practice Success with the goal of helping their fellow dentists achieve success and happiness in their practices. Having been named a “Leader in Dental Consulting” by Dentistry Today for many years running, his publications, articles, and blogs are some of the most popular in the dental profession and have reached over 100,000 practices across the world!

Known for his hilarious and spontaneous style, Rich has lectured to standing room only crowds in practically every major city in The United States and Canada, teaching dentists and team members how to enjoy their careers, supercharge their practices, define and create their own personal success, increase profitability, and have more fun than ever before.

The Madow Center For Dental Practice Success has a unique approach to coaching – instead of modules and pre-written programs, each practice is individually guided to overcome their weaknesses and grow their strengths in order to obtain greater income levels and enjoy dentistry more. For more information, please check out www.madow.com

On a personal level, Rich is a life-long and award-winning musician, having performed in many venues across North America. He is currently writing and recording new material, and his latest album, “Coming Through With Static,” can be found on Spotify, Apple Music, and all of the regular streaming sites.

Among his other achievements, Rich’s book, Is Your Frog Boiling, was an Amazon bestseller for two full days, and he has traveled to 56 countries.

Company website | LinkedIn

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, it’s time for Dental Law Radio. Dental Law Radio is brought to you by Oberman Law Firm, a leading dental-centric law firm serving dental clients on a local, regional and national basis. Now, here’s your host, Stuart Oberman.

Stuart Oberman: [00:00:26] Welcome everyone to Dental Law Radio. We are back, back, back, back. We have an extraordinary guest today. I would say, one of the best practice consultants in the country that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and consulting with in different areas. And our clients are happy when they use this particular guest. The one, the only Dr. Richard Madow today is going to join us and he’s going to embark on his experiences.

Stuart Oberman: [00:00:59] Now, a little background on Dr. Madow. So, he is the co-founder of the Madow Center for Dental Practice Success. And that is an extraordinary, extraordinary organization. And he will provide some information after our podcast today. And the interesting part is Richard has been labeled as the Leader in Dental Consulting by Dentistry Today, which I firmly believe. I’ve had the absolute pleasure of sponsoring some events that he’s been at. And I will tell you, the reception that he receives from his doctors is extraordinary. The presentation is spontaneous and hilarious. And I really am amazed that he has spoken and presented, probably, in just about every major city in the United States and Canada. And I know what he’s done for his doctors through the years, the careers, and they supercharged their practices, and they redefined who they are, and it creates success and and profitability, which is, sometimes, it’s very hard to do for our doctors.

Stuart Oberman: [00:02:14] And on a personal note, Richard is a lifelong award-winning musician. And for those that can see his guitar on the background there, I know he’s also talented. And I’ve actually have seen him play in his presentations, and I found that he was playing the piano this morning. So, not only is he a great consultant, but he is a published musician. And Richard, welcome. Welcome to the show today. Thank you so much for joining us. I know you are very busy.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:02:45] Oh, well, thanks so much for that introduction. That was really, really nice. I appreciate it, Stuart. And without sounding too much like we’re rubbing each other’s backs here, I want to congratulate you in what you’ve done over the years. Dentists, there aren’t that many times in our careers where we need to consult with a good lawyer by purchasing a practice, partnership agreement, selling a practice, et cetera, et cetera. And so many dentists make the mistake of going to a lawyer who’s a good lawyer but isn’t involved strictly in dentistry. So, what you’ve done for dentist, building your firm like that, taking the time to learn all the nuances and special things about dentists and what makes us tick, and how we’re so weird and crazy, and all those things just has been so responsible for your great success in helping dentists across the country. So, thanks for doing that. Congratulations on doing that.

Stuart Oberman: [00:03:35] Well, thank you for that kind information there, and it’s always appreciated. And I know that you’ve been deep in the industry for many years. And I know we could probably talk for seven days on what you’ve run across. But I want to cover a really main topic, and I know that you’re an expert on this area. I want to know point blank, dumb things that smart dentists do. We all have those clients that are absolutely brilliant, the leaders, but I want to hear what you have discovered. What are some of the dumb things that these guys do on a daily basis? And I know you could talk seven days on this, but I know you got some great things. So, tell me a little bit about what you’re seeing now out there.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:04:20] Yeah, it’s a great question. And look, I’ve done a lot of dumb things. Even though I’m no longer practicing, I had a practice for many, many years, built it up from actually a bankrupt practice that I purchased. So, it was below a scratch practice because the practice had debt when I took over and grew into a super successful practice, I’m proud to say, but I did so many dumb things along the way. And then, of course, I’ve been in, geez, hundreds and thousands of dental practices, spoken to tens of thousands of dentists and team members. And dentists are so smart. They’re so nice. They’re so cool. We really want to help people, but we’ve also done so many dumb things. So, since you asked, I thought of a few. And I’d love to share them with you and your listeners.

Stuart Oberman: [00:05:04] Yeah, tell me what you think? Give me five or six of the dumbest things that they’ve done.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:05:10] Okay, here’s one. Every time — I wouldn’t say every time, maybe 85% of the time when a dentist contacts the Madow Center about consulting, or coaching, or whatever the heck you want to call it, how can we make their practice better? One of the things they always say to us is we need more new patients. We need more new patients. It’s like a mantra, like a fix. We need more new patients. And new patients are great. And let’s face it, without new patients, your practice will plateau or go downhill.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:05:38] But invariably, every single time we’ll run a data analysis of their practice and find that sure, they can use some new patients, but they are losing patients more quickly than they could ever get new patients in the practice. These patients have been in. They, for some reason, responded to something you’ve done – a referral, a marketing piece, they drove by and saw your big, beautiful sign. They made the effort to recognize your practice – call, come in, have an examination. And then, they just drop off the face of the Earth. And practices have hundreds or thousands of these people who have fallen through the cracks, fallen into the black hole, walked out the back door, whatever you want to call them.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:06:23] And these are people who already know about your practice. They probably like you. They’ve probably already had an examination, maybe even treatment proposed. And our systems are letting them drop off the face of the Earth. And it’s our fault as dentists, because we don’t have the proper systems and protocols to track people and know how to call them to get them back in. And I don’t just mean calling and saying, “You’re overdue for your recall. Do you want to schedule?” That doesn’t work. We’ve got to really know how to do this. But we’ve got these pools of existing patients that have become forgotten people. And instead, we always want to know about the new patients.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:06:58] It’s so much easier and so much more cost effective to get these patients back in who have already come to our practice; yet, we tend to neglect them. Not as sexy maybe as getting a new patient in the door, but so much easier, so much more cost effective. That’s a dumb thing that smart dentists do.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:14] Now, you have a whole program regarding this particular matter. The fixer, am I right? Well, you’ve got a whole program dedicated to this.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:07:23] Well, we do. When we work with a practice, we teach them exactly what to do and how to. And let’s face it, sometimes, you look at the data and say, “Well, this patient, they were in, whatever, four years ago. For some reason, they dropped off the face of the Earth, and we don’t think we’re going to be able to bring them back.” But we help practices identify who to start working with first, who are the best. And it’s usually people who are more recent. I mean, once somebody has been gone for four or five years, they’re tougher; although, they do come back. It’s hard to believe, but some people go five years between dental appointments, as gross as that sounds.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:07:56] But you need to have the systems, the protocols to get these people back in. And it’s usually treating them as a real person, not just sending some generic email or text, “You’re 18 months overdue, would you like-” But actually calling them, and chatting with them and saying, “Hey, we haven’t seen you for a while. Last time you were in, you were getting ready,” and I’m just winging this here, “But getting ready for knee replacement surgery. How’d that go? How are you feeling? It’s time you come back because when you saw Becky, our great hygienist, she noticed there were some areas of concern, and we really need to make sure that your teeth are healthy,” whatever. Just a personalized conversation with every single person, rather than some generic throw-spaghetti-against-the-wall-strategy. And that’s how we get people back into your practice.

Stuart Oberman: [00:08:40] Phones, phones, phones. Tell me about doctor not answering phones.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:08:46] Dumb thing number two. What a great segue, Stuart. I really appreciate that. Dumb thing number two. We do so much, and this is kind of shifting from patients who have slipped through the cracks to new patients, or maybe patients who you’ve contacted, and you have been in trouble — I mean, you’re having trouble getting a hold of them. And then, what happens? You guys are in Metro Atlanta, right? Where’s there like a dentist every square foot there? I mean, it’s the same where I’m here in Baltimore.

Stuart Oberman: [00:09:14] Six feet.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:09:14] Yeah, it’s unbelievable, isn’t it? And for some reason, somebody picks up the phone and decides to call your practice one day. It’s a great moment. And what happens? They call, and we don’t answer the phone. Now, in our live seminars, we used to do live secret shopper calls, and I’ve done tens of thousands of secret shopper calls personally. We would call dental offices live during our seminars from that area to see how they handled a potential new patient call. And we stopped doing them live, not because we embarrass somebody in front of a whole group of 200 people, and they started crying; not because we were sued for defamation because we embarrassed the dentist in front of their colleagues. Now, all of those things did actually happen, but that’s not why we stopped doing it. We stopped doing it live because 50% of the time, the phone wasn’t being answered during normal business hours.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:10:07] I mean, this is ridiculous. A potential new patient or patient who has been — you tried to bring that patient back into the fold calls your office and they get a voicemail. If you’re hearing this voicemail during regular business hours, it means we’re busy seeing other patients. No, no, no. Unacceptable. Think about it. A patient, a new patient or a recall patient, they’re nervous, they’re tense, they probably don’t want to be there, they’re looking for any excuse not to come in. They finally make the effort to call your office and they’re going to get a voicemail during normal business hours; totally unacceptable. Totally unacceptable.

Stuart Oberman: [00:10:44] So, you say a lot of seminars, you actually teach these guys how to answer the phones?

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:10:48] Oh, I’ve spent a ton of time during our live seminars talking about proper phone technique, absolutely.

Stuart Oberman: [00:10:52] Are they that bad at it? They actually have a lot of setup. I mean, you said 50%, that’s amazing. I mean, that’s-

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:11:01] I never said, don’t answer the phone at all. And once they do answer the phone, I’d say 90% of the people that actually answer do not know the proper way to get a patient off the phone and into the appointment book. They know how to get them off the phone, but not into the appointment book. So, yeah, there’s a lot that goes into it, for sure.

Stuart Oberman: [00:11:19] Well, a lot of times – and I want you to talk about this, and this may be on your agenda, but I hear the expression all the time, “Buy it and they will come.” What does that mean in a dental practice? I never understood that.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:11:35] Oh, well, that’s the third dumb thing that smart dentists do. But if you don’t mind, I just want to get back to the phone thing for one quick second. Then, we’ll talk about that because I care about this so much. Again, it’s probably an hour and a half to two-hour segment in our live seminars or webinars talking about proper phone technique, and this part of our discussion with this one thing. When a patient calls and says something that we don’t like, “How much is a cleaning? Do you take my insurance?” whatever, maybe we don’t like those particular questions, but they’re calling for a reason.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:12:05] And the reason is out of all the dental practices in your area, whether it’s Metro Atlanta or a rural area in Kansas where there aren’t that many dentists, they called your office because they want to come in. So, every call needs to be ended asking the patient to come in and not just saying, “Would you like to make an appointment?” but offering too good times. “We’d love to see you as a new patient in our practice. We can see you tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. If that’s not convenient for you. We’ve got Tuesday at 11 30 a.m. Which works best?” Again, 90% of these calls end with the patient never being offered an appointment. So, I just want you to get that in there before we move on to buy it and they will come, which is another favorite dumb thing of mine.

Stuart Oberman: [00:12:48] I hear that all the time, and I don’t know what that means.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:12:51] Buy and they will come. Well, when I say buy it and they will come, again, when a dentist contacts us at the Madow Center, it’s because they want to improve their practice. And also, dentists go to large dental conventions because they want to improve their practice. Down there in Atlanta, you’ve got to Hinman, one of the best meetings in the world. It could be the Chicago Midwinter, or the ADA, or maybe more than likely a smaller regional meeting. Every state has them and every state agency has them. And you go there to learn, and you go there to improve your practice. And one of the things we love doing as dentists because we love gadgets and we love touching things is we love going to that exhibit hall because all the latest and greatest equipment in tech is there, and it’s all shiny and fun. It’s also very costly.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:13:37] And one of the mistakes dentists fall into is they’re looking for ways to improve their practice, and they wind up getting sucked into buying a piece of equipment that’s going to put them in $80,000 to $100,000 worth of debt with the promise from this salesperson, this highly commissioned salesperson, that if you buy this object, people will flock to your practice. It’s all you have to do. Just buy this. And I’m not a Luddite. I’m not saying tech is bad. Tech is great. Cone beam imaging is phenomenal. Being able to have a crown made in your office the same day, if you’re skilled enough to do it, that’s a big if, but if you are skilled enough to do, it is incredible. But patients won’t come into your practice because you bought the latest and greatest technology no matter what these salespeople say. They’re saying buy it and they will come, but it’s just not true. It’s back to basics of providing a memorable experience.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:14:32] Phone tech, we were talking about. Treating every patient incredibly well. I mean, these are things we teach all the time. That’s what gets people to come into your office to stay, to get treatment accepted, to refer. It’s not because you’ve got the best cone beam technology. And again, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have this, it helps us practice better, but only if you can afford it, only if you’re not going to go into debt. Don’t think that this technology is going to bring you more patients because it just simply won’t. Now, you guys deal with — you see the down and dirty, you see people’s balance sheets. I’ll bet you’ve seen dentists who are in horrible debt. And it’s just so sad, isn’t it?

Stuart Oberman: [00:15:10] Well, you’ve seen this, and probably there’s only 10% of dentists out there that retire at 65. The rest of them have got to work, they’ve got to work, and they got to work, which is-

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:15:20] It’s scary, isn’t it?

Stuart Oberman: [00:15:22] It really is sad. It really, really, really. So, why do they buy this equipment? I mean, why do they buy that? Why do they buy a hundred-thousand piece of equipment? Why?

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:15:32] Well, first of all, it’s fun. Let’s face it, we’re dentists, we love doing fun things that are technologically advanced and that our patients will love. So, we buy because, in a way – and this is not a bad thing, I guess – it keeps our batteries charge. You’re a little burnt out, you’re sick of the mundane. Well, this is a cool thing. I can do more procedures. I can do my endo more accurately, whatever. That’s one of the reasons.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:15:53] But again, ask them to buy and they will come philosophy, which is not true, a lot of times we buy dental technology because we think it will enhance our bottom line. Our patients are going to say yes to everything we proposed. I always say, you talk about CEREC, which if you’re not a dentist and you’re listening, it’s a technology where instead of having a crown be to a point – and so you prepare the crown, then you send the impression to a lab, then the crown comes back, it’s cemented in two weeks later – a CEREC technology will allow you to do the crown same day because you make the crown right in your office.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:16:27] Well, this is fun, but it’s expensive. And as I always say, this is a patient talking, “I’ll only get that crown if you can do it in one day,” said no patient ever. Patients aren’t going to leave you or say no because you don’t have the latest technology. They’ll leave you and say no because you’re not making them feel special. You’re not providing a great patient experience. That’s why patients believe you’re running late all the time. You’re not getting the phone and it’s going to voicemail. That’s why patients leave, not because of the technology you have. So, again, nothing against outstanding equipment, and supplies and all those things in your office, but it’s not going to bring in more new patients. And as you said, Stu, only 10% of dentists is gonna retire at 65. Well, that’s sad. That’s pathetic. And a lot of times, it’s because of the tremendous amount of debt they’ve incurred. Let’s face it.

Stuart Oberman: [00:17:17] Yeah. Number four, give me your number four. Give me your number four.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:17:21] Okay, good. Yeah, let’s keep rocking here. This is fun. Something the dentists do all the time is they try to sell dentistry. They try to sell dentistry. And we take these courses, and I’ve taken them myself – not proud to say – where it’s like a weekend workshop, and we’re going to teach you how to sell dentistry. And by the time you leave here, your patients are going to say yes to all their treatment.

Stuart Oberman: [00:17:46] My patient coordinator is not selling enough dentistry, right?

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:17:50] Right, exactly. Here’s the problem – if my patient care coordinator could just sell more dentistry, everything will be great. So, you take her or him to this course, and then you come out, and you become a used car salesman, and you’re using these high-pressure techniques to get your patients to say yes to dentistry. I mean, it’s essentially like — and think about it, patients that come into your dental practice as a new patient, typically, they’re calling your office because they’ll say, like, “I chipped a tooth, I’m overdue for a cleaning. I’m having a little discomfort. I noticed my gums are sensitive and bleeding a little bit,” whatever, “I got new insurance.” These are the reasons that patients come into our office.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:18:28] And many times, they need a ton of treatment. They need $12,000 worth of treatment or $15,000 worth of treatment. And that’s great, and we can help them become healthy again. But these high-pressure treatment acceptance courses pretty much say, “Okay, you do the exam. You get the patient through your consultation room, and you tie them to the chair, and you browbeat them until they say yes.”

Stuart Oberman: [00:18:50] Yeah.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:18:51] That’s going against human nature. That’s not the way it works, and we’re trying to sell them on this dentistry. And it’s not about selling. It’s about establishing the relationship. It’s about having the patient trust you, and bond with you, and kind of become your friend in a way and say, “Well, you know what? I trust this office. I know they’re telling me the truth. I know it’s not because the dentist has five kids in private school. So, it’s for my health, and I’m going to say yes.” But when we pressure our patients to try to sell dentistry, well, every now and then somebody says yes, and you feel like you’re the greatest patient presentation master in the world-

Stuart Oberman: [00:19:28] But don’t patients pick that up, though? I mean, they pick that up, don’t they?

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:19:32] I totally agree.

Stuart Oberman: [00:19:33] They know when they’re being sold.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:19:35] I totally agree. The great thing about dentistry, or there are many great things about dentistry, but one of the great things about dentistry is that we profit the most when we get our patients in good dental health. It’s a true win-win. Other professions, they profit the most when they’re doing something that maybe isn’t so great for their customer or maybe isn’t so great for their client, but in dentistry, we make the most money when our patients are in the best state of dental health. So, that’s great. So, let’s use that to our advantage. We shouldn’t have to pressure people into saying yes to treatment. We should educate them about their dental health and get them to understand that, “Hey, if we do this, you’re going to be in better health.”

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:20:13] So, one of the things I always like to say is it’s not when the patient says yes, it’s where they say yes to getting their dentistry done. In other words, we shouldn’t feel like we have to get them to say yes in the first visit. What we should feel like is that we’re going to make them comfortable enough that when they finally do say yes, it’s in our office and not somebody else’s office because we scared the crap out of them. And it’s not about getting them to say yes to everything all at once. Some patients need a year, two years, three years or more to get all their treatment completed for financial reasons, for scheduling reasons, for whatever reason. So, we need to welcome that. We need to work with our patients to make things the most comfortable for them. And then, they’ll get their treatment done eventually, but they’ll get it done in your office and not someone else’s because we didn’t scare them away by selling, selling, selling.

Stuart Oberman: [00:21:04] That’s a great point. Almost too much selling can drive away patients. That’s a great point. I never thought about. That’s a great point.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:21:11] Yeah. It’s funny, I took this this fancy schmancy treatment planning course many years ago, and the guy kept-

Stuart Oberman: [00:21:19] When you were a young kid, right?

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:21:21] What’s that?

Stuart Oberman: [00:21:22] When you were a young kid?

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:21:22] When I was a young kid. Right, when I was a young buck. And they kept saying, “Well-” And I’ll do it with my bad Texas accent, but this guy had a strong Texan accent. He would say, “You got to ask somebody 12 times until they say yes.” And I’d be like, “Well, what are you talking about?” “Is this a treatment you would like?” “No, no, no. I can’t afford that right now. I’m not ready.” “Well, that’s okay. I’ve got 11 more times. Is this the treatment you would like?” “No.” And like, it doesn’t work. It’s high pressure. It drives people nuts, and they run away screaming. So, yeah, we can’t sell it. It’s all about trust. It’s really all about trust.

Stuart Oberman: [00:21:54] Give me number five. Give me a number five.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:21:56] Okay, number five. There’s an expression, I think it’s an expression in the South, and that is “Dance with who brung you.” And dentists tend to ignore this advice so many times. And I’ll give you maybe two main categories of what dentists do. Dentists will be frustrated or a little bored and burnt out, not really earning the amount of money they’d like, so they get distracted, like, “Oh, I’m going to invest in my cousin’s brewpub. That should be fun,” or “I’m going to sell this multilevel marketing lotion in my office. If I get five patients to do it, and they get five, they each get five, and then they each get five, and then they each get five,” despite the fact that mathematically this is impossible, “I’m going to be a millionaire selling overpriced hand lotion, and I can retire from dentistry.” And we get distracted.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:22:43] But dentistry is who brung us. I mean, there are a few things that we could do better for our career and have a great dental practice, and we get distracted by these other things. And that’s one way of not dancing with who brung it. But my other way, I see this much more too, is the dentist thinks, “Well, my practice is doing okay, but I could do a lot better if I opened up a satellite practice.” And I can’t stand that term. Like what the heck is a satellite practice? One practice kind of revolves around the other practice, and if you can grab it on the right day, that’s 30 miles outside of town.

Stuart Oberman: [00:23:15] I wanna scale. I wanna scale. I want to scale. Meanwhile, your main practice is-

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:23:20] Exactly

Stuart Oberman: [00:23:20] … is in the tank. So, yeah.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:23:22] Bingo! Bingo, Stuart! You’ve got it exactly. And then, what happens? The second you open your satellite practice, you’ve doubled your overhead, and you can’t be there to do all the production, so you’ve got to hire an associate. Now, you’ve tripled your overhead because you’ve got to pay this associate. And the associate’s not invested in it, they’re just biding time until they could do something better. And you’ve got more management headaches, much more overhead when you could be doing so much better if you just put all your efforts into making your one practice the absolute best it can be.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:23:56] And another example I just thought of too of not dancing with who brung you, when we’re not doing as well as we would like, we get distracted by doing these esoteric procedures. “I’m going to take this weekend warrior course and learn how to do this procedure,” when meanwhile, let’s focus on what most patients need. Patients need endo core and crown, they need scaling and root planing, they need implants and implant restoration. Let’s focus on not these esoteric crazy treatments, but focus on what patients need, doing it in one office, one office where we’re utilizing our space and our team to the maximum. That’s how you make a profit in dentistry, and that’s how you treat your patients well.

Stuart Oberman: [00:24:35] Yeah. How about one more?

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:24:39] You want one more?

Stuart Oberman: [00:24:39] Yeah, give me one more. Give me one more, because there’s got to be one more. There’s got to be one.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:24:47] I wouldn’t do this. Well, I had this in mind to do this the last one, because it’s something we started talking about in the beginning when I was talking about how Oberman Law Firm is such an incredible place because you specialize in working with dentists. And I’ll say dumb thing number six is not using specialized professionals. You’ve got to have what some people call their board of directors. Every dentist needs an accountant, an attorney, a financial advisor, a lease negotiator, a web designer-

Stuart Oberman: [00:25:15] A good consultant from Baltimore.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:25:17] Exactly. A great dental coach for your practice.

Stuart Oberman: [00:25:20] From Baltimore.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:25:21] I think the Madow Center the best. But yeah, you know, there are definitely times in our careers where we need to utilize the services of a dental coach or consultant. So, all those things. But so many times we make the mistake of not going to somebody who truly specializes in dentistry. “My best friend from college is an accountant. She’s a genius. I’ve never seen somebody to be able to recite the tax codes as well as her,” and she might be, but if her practice consists of 10 restaurant owners who are clients, and then somebody who does this, and somebody who does that, well, oh yeah, but it’s all the same. It’s all tax returns. It’s all P&L statements, right? No, it’s not. Dentistry has so many nuances that you’ve got to really be a specialist to understand,

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:26:07] “Oh, you know what? My nephew, he’s a whiz with computers. He’s going to do my website and SEO.” He might be a whiz with computers, but unless he knows all the dental terminology and all the things that are specific to dentists, he’s not going to do a good job for you. Accountants, geez, they need to know everything about dental practice – what your overhead should be, what your team should be earning, what different PPO plans can offer you, all these things. And unless your accountant, or your attorney or whatever specializes in dentistry, breaths it, works with a day in and day out, they’re not going to be as effective as somebody who truly specializes in working with us.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:26:43] And might it be a little bit more expensive to use a financial planner or accountant, et cetera, who specializes in dentistry? Well, it might be, but who cares because you’re going to be the huge winner in the long run, both financially, fewer headaches, all those things that we treasure, less time, more time efficient, all those things are going to come into play when you truly use a specialized professional. So, I think a great way to do the final dumb things, since I’m talking to a truly specialized professional on your podcast.

Stuart Oberman: [00:27:14] Well, yeah. It’s amazing is that a doctor will say, “Well, I got a little bit of trouble doing a root canal.” I’m like, “Why didn’t you send that out to endo? I mean, half the endos can even find to B2 canal.” I mean, it’s amazing that we say this all the time, stay in your wheelhouse. All of a sudden, I paid $6000, went to implant course; and now, on Monday, I’m a specialist, and and I can graft anywhere, anything, any time, any place. Now, I’m good.”

Stuart Oberman: [00:27:51] Well, I’ll tell you what, and I’m sure you could probably name 70 things that our guys do on the dumb things, but this is amazing. I mean, I hope that when our doctors listen to this, they will one make note of each thing that you said because it is amazing, it is practical, it is everyday usage. You guys teach it every day. You’ve been in the trenches. You’ve been there. You’ve done that. So, this is not only from a quote consultant that has never put a hand in a mouth. You’ve actually been there and done that. It’s so I think you’ve got a whole different perspective, which a lot of the consultants and business advisors and so on have no clue about. So-

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:28:39] Yeah, I like to think, Stu, there’s kind of a fraternity/sorority of dentists that we just have done some — we’ve been kicked, we know what it’s like to prep the dismissal of tooth number two on a patient that’s squirming, salivating and bleeding, we fought with insurance companies, we’ve let our teams. And there are some consultants out there, most who have never had this experience. How can they relate to it like we could? Just like using a specialized professional to have on your board of directors, your attorney, your accountant, your financial planner? It’s good to work with people who have been there, done that.

Stuart Oberman: [00:29:15] Well, I know you’ve been there, done that. And your reputation far precedes you, what you guys do on a daily basis. Richard, it is amazing, as always. Again, we could talk for seven days on this. I can’t thank you enough for, one, joining us on the podcast; and two, for what you guys do for the industry. I’ve seen it, I’ve been there, I’ve done that, I’ve listened, and you guys do a fantastic job. So, my friend, thank you for joining us and enjoy Baltimore.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:29:45] Thanks so much. It’s my pleasure. If anybody wants to send me an email, my personal email address is rich@madow.com. I love getting emails from dentists all across the world. If you want to see what we’re doing to help other dentists, just check out our website. It’s madow.com. I love to do a chat. We don’t charge for initial visit, so to speak. I’d love to speak with you and talk about what’s going on in your practice. It’s fun and we can always help. So, thanks so much for having me.

Stuart Oberman: [00:30:18] With that being said, you guys are putting on stuff all the time. What’s your next event? What’s your next podcast? When’s your next speaker?

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:30:26] Oh, geez. Well, thanks for asking. We do a podcast, it comes out two to three times a month. It’s called The Dental Practice Fixers. So, if you just go on wherever you get your podcasts – Apple, Spotify, YouTube. It’s on YouTube as well.

Stuart Oberman: [00:30:40] Where I can find your music too, right?

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:30:42] Exactly. Yeah, my music is on Spotify. You can look for Richard Madow. I got my stuff in there, but look for The Dental Practice Fixers. Or if you go to our website, there’s a little drop-down for dental podcast. You can check it out there. Speaking gigs are finally coming back after the pandemic, so I’ll be in a bunch of places, I think, in the next few months – Orlando, Long Island, Arizona, Montana. I hope I’m not forgetting anything but finally getting you out there and doing some speaking gigs again. So, if I come to your neck of the woods, that would be great. Also, I just got contacted by an office in New Jersey, a large group practice, and they want me to come in and do an in-service for their team. And I’m really excited about doing that. So, we do that too. Anything you want, we’re here to help.

Stuart Oberman: [00:31:25] I hear you, man. My friend, thank you, sir. Have a fantastic weekend. Happy holidays and we’ll be talking to you soon.

Dr. Richard Madow: [00:31:31] It’s great to be a guest on your podcast. Thanks so much, Stu.

Stuart Oberman: [00:31:34] Thank you, buddy.

 

About Dental Law Radio

Hosted by Stuart Oberman, a nationally recognized authority in dental law, Dental Law Radio covers legal, business, and other operating issues and topics of vital concern to dentists and dental practice owners. The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

Stuart Oberman, Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm
Stuart Oberman, host of “Dental Law Radio”

Stuart Oberman is the founder and President of Oberman Law Firm. Mr. Oberman graduated from Urbana University and received his law degree from John Marshall Law School. Mr. Oberman has been practicing law for over 25 years, and before going into private practice, Mr. Oberman was in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 Company. Mr. Oberman is widely regarded as the go-to attorney in the area of Dental Law, which includes DSO formation, corporate business structures, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, advertising regulations, HIPAA, Compliance, and employment law regulations that affect dental practices.

In addition, Mr. Oberman’s expertise in the health care industry includes advising clients in the complex regulatory landscape as it relates to telehealth and telemedicine, including compliance of corporate structures, third-party reimbursement, contract negotiations, technology, health care fraud and abuse law (Anti-Kickback Statute and the State Law), professional liability risk management, federal and state regulations.

As the long-term care industry evolves, Mr. Oberman has the knowledge and experience to guide clients in the long-term care sector with respect to corporate and regulatory matters, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). In addition, Mr. Oberman’s practice also focuses on health care facility acquisitions and other changes of ownership, as well as related licensure and Medicare/Medicaid certification matters, CCRC registrations, long-term care/skilled nursing facility management, operating agreements, assisted living licensure matters, and health care joint ventures.

In addition to his expertise in the health care industry, Mr. Oberman has a nationwide practice that focuses on all facets of contractual disputes, including corporate governance, fiduciary duty, trade secrets, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, trademark and copyright infringement, fraud, and deceptive trade practices, and other business-related matters. Mr. Oberman also represents clients throughout the United States in a wide range of practice areas, including mergers & acquisitions, partnership agreements, commercial real estate, entity formation, employment law, commercial leasing, intellectual property, and HIPAA/OSHA compliance.

Mr. Oberman is a national lecturer and has published articles in the U.S. and Canada.

LinkedIn

Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm has a long history of civic service, noted national, regional, and local clients, and stands among the Southeast’s eminent and fast-growing full-service law firms. Oberman Law Firm’s areas of practice include Business Planning, Commercial & Technology Transactions, Corporate, Employment & Labor, Estate Planning, Health Care, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Privacy & Data Security, and Real Estate.

By meeting their client’s goals and becoming a trusted partner and advocate for our clients, their attorneys are recognized as legal go-getters who provide value-added service. Their attorneys understand that in a rapidly changing legal market, clients have new expectations, constantly evolving choices, and operate in an environment of heightened reputational and commercial risk.

Oberman Law Firm’s strength is its ability to solve complex legal problems by collaborating across borders and practice areas.

Connect with Oberman Law Firm:

Company website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Tagged With: client retention, Dental Law Radio, Oberman Law Firm, Richard Madow, Stuart Oberman, The Madow Center, The Madow Center for Dental Practice Success

Tax Updates for 2021 and Beyond, with Danielle McBride, Oberman Law Firm

December 24, 2021 by John Ray

Danielle McBride
Dental Law Radio
Tax Updates for 2021 and Beyond, with Danielle McBride, Oberman Law Firm
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Danielle McBrideTax Updates for 2021 and Beyond with Danielle McBride, Oberman Law Firm (Dental Law Radio, Episode 28)

On this edition of Dental Law Radio, Stuart Oberman was joined by Danielle McBride, tax authority and Partner at Oberman Law Firm, to discuss tax updates for 2021 and beyond. Danielle discussed changes in the Employee Retention Tax Credit, potential tax increases, a surtax on net investment income, and much more. Dental Law Radio is underwritten and presented by Oberman Law Firm and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

 

Danielle McBride, Partner, Oberman Law Firm

Danielle McBride
Danielle McBride, Partner, Oberman Law Firm

Danielle McBride has been practicing law for over 21 years, and her primary focus is representing healthcare clients on a local, regional, and national basis. Ms. McBride regularly consults with clients regarding simple to complex healthcare transitions, including mergers and acquisitions, employment law, governmental compliance, tax strategies, practice valuations, DSO formation and structures, employee compensation, associate and partnership contracts, joint ventures, and partnership buy-in/buy-outs.

In addition, Ms. McBride brings a wealth of knowledge and experience preparing practice valuations for clients, as well as formulating simple to complex tax strategies, and entity formations.

Ms. McBride holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology/Criminology from The Ohio State University, a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law, and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation from Case Western Reserve University.

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, it’s time for Dental Law Radio. Dental Law Radio is brought to you by Oberman Law Firm, a leading dental-centric law firm serving dental clients on a local, regional and national basis. Now, here’s your host, Stuart Oberman.

Stuart Oberman: [00:00:26] Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Dental Law Radio. I have the absolute honor of having, Danielle McBride, Partner Oberman Law Firm, joining us today. And we’ve got a great, great topic. But first I want to get to talk to Danielle a little bit about really what she does at our law firm, which is amazing, and that’s why that I want to really have her on today’s podcast.

Stuart Oberman: [00:00:54] So, Danielle’s been practicing for about 21 years and focuses on health care and on the regional national basis. And Danielle handles a lot of dental transitions, healthcare transitions, employment law and tax. So, that’s going to be one of our topics today and, also, practice valuations. And Danielle has her Law Degree from Ohio Northern University and a Master’s in Tax from Case Western Reserve University. And there is no better topic today in today’s world if you’re a dental practice owner than tax.

Stuart Oberman: [00:01:36] So, Danielle, I want you to talk a little bit today about tax update for 2021 and beyond. I know that you are in tune immensely as to what’s going on with that. You have an enormous amount of resources. And we are extraordinarily happy to have you as a member of the firm. And I know we rely on you a lot for a lot of complex stuff. So, it is my absolute pleasure to have you on today. So, tax, tax, tax, tax, tell us what’s going on. And welcome, welcome, welcome.

Danielle McBride: [00:02:08] Tax. Well, thanks Stuart for the introduction. And I’m really happy to be here today and talk about tax, which to most people sounds like a boring topic, but it really plays a huge role in all of these transitions that we do. And part of what we do as a dental-specific lawyer is to make sure that we keep up to date on things that affect our clients in particular. And these tax laws, there’s a lot of stuff that does not affect clients in our business, but the things that do are important for them to learn.

Danielle McBride: [00:02:43] And we’ve got two real big bills, two bills that have gone through the the House, one passed into law. We’ve got the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was actually passed and signed into law by the President November 15th. That had some major items. It’s the largest infrastructure act in decades. It’s got major items for disaster relief, capital contributions, public utilities, excise taxes, cryptocurrency provisions. And there’s one item in particular that has an impact on our dental clients. And that’s this Employee Retention Tax Credit, which was originally put into place under the CARES Act to allow those practices that had a decrease in revenues be able to claim some tax credits.

Danielle McBride: [00:03:33] So, the Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act actually ended that retroactively to September 30th of 2021. When it was originally put in place, it was supposed to — and it was extended through the end of 2021. So, now, we’ve lost the fourth quarter. That also keys up a few problems because they did this so late that there were some employers who had already withheld deposits thinking that they were going to get this credit. And so, there’s actually a new notice that came out on that. So, this earned income employee retention tax credit is 70% of qualified wages paid in a calendar quarter before, now, September 30th of 2021. The only exception to September 30, 2021 is the recovery startup business. And that’s someone who probably wasn’t in business before the March 2020 COVID shutdown. So, those clients have the ability to maybe qualify for quarter four when they wouldn’t have before this Infrastructure Act was signed into law.

Stuart Oberman: [00:04:57] I got one question. What kind of notice was sent out? What kind of notice when you say notice?

Danielle McBride: [00:05:02] It’s an IRS notice. So, the IRS notice, it’s Notice 2021-65 issued by the IRS. And that’s to provide guidance on the rollback of the employee retention tax credit, except for those recovery startups, like I mentioned. And so, for those employers that got an advance on the credit, the IRS isn’t making you repay that money until the due date of the fourth quarter return, which is January 31st of 2022. They’re also including a waiver-

Stuart Oberman: [00:05:32] Can our doctors get a copy of that from us? Because I know we get these questions from from CPAs.

Danielle McBride: [00:05:38] Yeah, we have access to it. We can give it. If there are dental CPAs or clients who want a copy of this notice, we have access to tax research. We can easily provide a copy of that notice. Notice also allows for some waiver of failure deposit penalties if you retain those deposits before December 20th of 2021. So, important piece of information for all those dental advisors to have in counseling their clients for this last quarter of the year.

Stuart Oberman: [00:06:14] Well, I know when you say — so, how do our clients or anyone who’s listening today get that information? They just email to you, and you can just send out-

Danielle McBride: [00:06:27] Sure, they can email our office.

Stuart Oberman: [00:06:30] Okay.

Danielle McBride: [00:06:30] They can email me at our office. It’s just Danielle@ObermanLaw.com. Or they can call and ask for me at our office phone number, 770-886-2400.

Stuart Oberman: [00:06:43] Now, there’s a lot of acronyms thrown around through all this legislature stuff that’s going on now and probably into 2022. So, when our doctors hear the acronym ERC, what does that stand for?

Danielle McBride: [00:06:58] Employee retention credit. And sometimes, also-

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:00] And that’s what you’re talking about.

Danielle McBride: [00:07:01] And sometimes, also, referred to as ERTC, employee retention tax credit.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:06] Got it. Okay. Now, one thing is we get questions on how does the Back Better Act affect my practice? And I know you are on the forefront of that.

Danielle McBride: [00:07:20] Sure. And the Employee Retention Tax Credit was part of the Infrastructure Act. The second piece of legislation is the Build Back Better Act, and that has not been signed into law yet. It has passed the House and there is a Senate version. And that Senate version was passed or the act was passed by the House on November 19th. It’s been with the Senate. The CBO or the Congressional Budget Office has given some statistics to the senators on how much this is going to cost, what’s going into the bill, how are we paying for these things, tax increases and spending, all of that.

Danielle McBride: [00:08:02] And December 11th, a draft legislative text was released by the Senate Finance Committee chair. And so, that’s the current version of the bill that the Senate is looking at. It’s going to take all 50 senators for this thing to pass, and they’re still negotiating it. And there are senators like Senator Manchin who-

Stuart Oberman: [00:08:23] Of course.

Danielle McBride: [00:08:23] … are really pushing on this tax legislation. They have a couple of concerns; one with the Congressional Budget Office dollar amounts on this thing. And then, the other big issue that’s being debated under this Build Back Better Act is the SALT or the state and local tax deduction cap. It was a $10,000 cap. They want to raise it to $80,000. Cap was supposed to sunset in 2025, and they’re talking about pushing it out a little longer or maybe taking away that cap after 2025 or 2032, I think has been mentioned on this. So, that’s the biggest concern.

Danielle McBride: [00:09:12] For those of our clients who are concerned about this, the good news is this act had a lot of tax provisions in it that could have raised things like capital gains rates, individual and corporate business tax rates, estate planning issues and IRA contribution amounts. Things like that were contained in that bill. All the individual rates and the capital gains rate increases were removed from the bill. And some other limitations to that would have been a concern, most of those are no longer in the text of the bill, and it doesn’t look like those kind of things are going to get negotiated back in.

Danielle McBride: [00:09:54] So, those key provisions in this Build Back Better Act are going to be things like extended child tax credits, earned income tax credits, added childcare entitlements and paid family leave. There are some climate change spending in there. Tax increases, the state and local tax issue that I mentioned, there’s also tax increases for large corporations – a 15% tax on large corporations, one percent excise tax on stock buybacks for corporations. These are all things that are probably not going to affect our smaller dental practices. Even the larger dental practices are probably going to fall underneath the limits to where this is going to have an effect on them. There are surtaxes on modified adjusted gross income, but it’s on income from $10 million to $25 million, and 8% above $25 million.

Danielle McBride: [00:11:07] The one thing that does potentially have an impact is an expansion on the 3.8% surtax on net investment income. They want to include trade and business income, which would also include our Sub-S corporations, and a lot of our dental practices are Subchapter S corporations, and they take that income out of the business. Those distributions are not subject to a 3.8% Medicare payroll tax. If this expansion on the surtax on net investment income is expanded, then that’s going to take away what some people call the S-Corporation loophole. So, those are-.

Stuart Oberman: [00:11:49] Are major-

Danielle McBride: [00:11:49] There’s some other minimum distribution rules. Backdoor Roth IRA contributions and things like that are also being discussed. Roth IRA conversions, backdoor Roth IRA conversions may end in 2022. That’s one of the things that’s under this bill, which may have a big impact on some of our clients as well. Those are where there are certain income limits that don’t allow you to use a Roth IRA feature. And so, to take that away would mean you can’t get a Roth IRA. And those are the big issues in that act.

Stuart Oberman: [00:12:35] Wow. Well, I know that you are a major contributor to our Advisory Insights newsletter. And I know you’ll be bringing our listeners up to date on a regular basis regarding that. And I know-

Danielle McBride: [00:12:49] Right.

Stuart Oberman: [00:12:49] And we’re going to talk a little bit in a subsequent podcast regarding capital gains and ordinary income. I know you’re expert on that also. So, wow, there’s a lot of stuff. So, I think this is a great update. Again, we could talk for days on this topic, but I think this — I mean, it’s unbelievable. And I know some of this stuff that you’re reviewing, and looking at, and writing about, so this is major stuff.

Stuart Oberman: [00:13:20] Well, I think this gives our listeners a really, really good, good basis moving forward into the new year, especially what they need to do for this year. Although we got a week and a half, and I know there’s going to be lot of — or about week and half or so — a lot of scurrying activity. And this will keep our guys pretty busy with the CPAs. So, no, this is great stuff. Again, there’s so many moving pieces to this. And I know that you just scratched the surface of the highlights. I will tell you that.

Stuart Oberman: [00:13:54] So, well, I’ll tell you, well, it’s amazing. So, we’re going to bring you back on some subsequent podcasts. I know we got a couple more to go and our listeners are going to be even more informed. So, amazing. Danielle, thank you so much for joining us today. I know you’re very busy with yearend stuff and all the tax reviews coming up in the Legislature stuff. So, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us.

Danielle McBride: [00:14:24] Thanks, Stuart, for having me.

Stuart Oberman: [00:14:25] And then, what we’ll do is if you have any questions, concerns, feel free to reach out to us. Number is 770-886-2400. Oberman Law Firm, if you have any questions, please feel free to email myself Stuart@ObermanLaw.com or Danielle@ObermanLaw.com. Folks, thanks for joining us, and have a fantastic day. Talk to you soon.

 

 

About Dental Law Radio

Hosted by Stuart Oberman, a nationally recognized authority in dental law, Dental Law Radio covers legal, business, and other operating issues and topics of vital concern to dentists and dental practice owners. The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

Stuart Oberman, Oberman Law Firm

Stuart Oberman
Stuart Oberman, host of “Dental Law Radio”

Stuart Oberman is the founder and President of Oberman Law Firm. Mr. Oberman graduated from Urbana University and received his law degree from John Marshall Law School. Mr. Oberman has been practicing law for over 25 years, and before going into private practice, Mr. Oberman was in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 Company. Mr. Oberman is widely regarded as the go-to attorney in the area of Dental Law, which includes DSO formation, corporate business structures, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, advertising regulations, HIPAA, Compliance, and employment law regulations that affect dental practices.

In addition, Mr. Oberman’s expertise in the health care industry includes advising clients in the complex regulatory landscape as it relates to telehealth and telemedicine, including compliance of corporate structures, third-party reimbursement, contract negotiations, technology, health care fraud and abuse law (Anti-Kickback Statute and the State Law), professional liability risk management, federal and state regulations.

As the long-term care industry evolves, Mr. Oberman has the knowledge and experience to guide clients in the long-term care sector with respect to corporate and regulatory matters, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). In addition, Mr. Oberman’s practice also focuses on health care facility acquisitions and other changes of ownership, as well as related licensure and Medicare/Medicaid certification matters, CCRC registrations, long-term care/skilled nursing facility management, operating agreements, assisted living licensure matters, and health care joint ventures.

In addition to his expertise in the health care industry, Mr. Oberman has a nationwide practice that focuses on all facets of contractual disputes, including corporate governance, fiduciary duty, trade secrets, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, trademark and copyright infringement, fraud, and deceptive trade practices, and other business-related matters. Mr. Oberman also represents clients throughout the United States in a wide range of practice areas, including mergers & acquisitions, partnership agreements, commercial real estate, entity formation, employment law, commercial leasing, intellectual property, and HIPAA/OSHA compliance.

Mr. Oberman is a national lecturer and has published articles in the U.S. and Canada.

LinkedIn

Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm has a long history of civic service, noted national, regional, and local clients, and stands among the Southeast’s eminent and fast-growing full-service law firms. Oberman Law Firm’s areas of practice include Business Planning, Commercial & Technology Transactions, Corporate, Employment & Labor, Estate Planning, Health Care, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Privacy & Data Security, and Real Estate.

By meeting their client’s goals and becoming a trusted partner and advocate for our clients, their attorneys are recognized as legal go-getters who provide value-added service. Their attorneys understand that in a rapidly changing legal market, clients have new expectations, constantly evolving choices, and operate in an environment of heightened reputational and commercial risk.

Oberman Law Firm’s strength is its ability to solve complex legal problems by collaborating across borders and practice areas.

Connect with Oberman Law Firm:

Company website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Tagged With: Danielle McBride, Dental Law Radio, ERC, ERTC, Oberman Law, Oberman Law Firm, Stuart Oberman, Taxes

Top 10 Mistakes Dentists Make

December 3, 2021 by John Ray

DentalBoardComplaintsDLREpisode26Album1
Dental Law Radio
Top 10 Mistakes Dentists Make
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Top 10 Mistakes Dentists Make (Dental Law Radio, Episode 27)

With clients in about 35 states, Stuart Oberman and his dental law team at Oberman Law Firm have seen a bit of everything. In this episode of Dental Law Radio, Stuart reviews the top mistakes dentists make in their practice, starting with failure to recognize problem patients. Dental Law Radio is underwritten and presented by Oberman Law Firm and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

 

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:01] Broadcasting from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, it’s time for Dental Law Radio. Dental Law Radio is brought to you by Oberman Law Firm, a leading dental-centric law firm serving dental clients on a local, regional, and national basis. Now, here’s your host, Stuart Oberman.

Stuart Oberman: [00:00:26] Hello everyone and welcome to Dental Law Radio. All right. Today’s topic, I am very passionate about. As I said before, we are a dental-centric law firm, Oberman Law Firm. Clients from multiple states, probably 30, 35 states last count, clients from California, Maine to Florida, all points in between. And what I see is the same, same mistakes over and over and over again, until I just have to beat my head against the wall.

Stuart Oberman: [00:01:05] So, I want to review for you Oberman’s Top Ten List of Mistakes. So, let’s start off, let’s run right into it. Mistake number one, failure to recognize problem patients. I can’t tell you how many calls a week I get, “I got this problem patient. What do I do? I got this problem right now. I got the patient in the chair. What do I do?”

Stuart Oberman: [00:01:32] Let me make this point real clear. And I’ve said this over and over and over again, you’re going to know you’ve got a problem patient before you put your hand in their mouth. You know why? Because when they called your office, they were rude. When they made the appointment, they were rude. When they went to your front desk to check in, they were rude. When they walked back to your chair, they were rude. They’ve cussed at your hygienist. They’ve cussed at your assistant. And yet you’re going to treat them. And you’ve got 17 people in your office tell you, “Doc, bad news. Doc, bad news.” And yet because you see $1,000 coming in your checkbook, you’re going to treat them.

Stuart Oberman: [00:02:14] Let me make this point clear, you touch one tooth and you bought that problem patient, and you will live with that patient forever. Get rid of that patient. Do not ever, ever, ever, ever treat a problem patient. Your gut is going to tell you, you’ve got a problem patient. And when that patient sits in your chair, before you touch them and they tell you what’s wrong, I don’t care what it is. You don’t do it. You do not do cavities. I don’t care. You do not do whatever that problem is. You get rid of that patient.

Stuart Oberman: [00:02:52] Two – a good friend of mine is going to kill me on this one – collections. Rule of thumb, my opinion is never, ever, ever send your patient to collections. We do a lot of board complaints, a lot of risk management, and I’m going to say at least 90 percent of all problems stem from collections. Once you send a patient to collections, you lose control of what the stature of that case is because then you’ve got some collection agency person harassing your patient and never ends. So, I mean, we’ve had clients before that have sent a patient to collections for a $100. So, they’ve got a problem, then they pay me $2,000 to put the fire out, so that is very good business sense. Do not send your patients to collections.

Stuart Oberman: [00:03:54] Mistake number three is, our dental offices are horrible at communication. They fail to advise the staff for the need of consistent, accurate documentation. Document your charts. Let me make this point clear, if you rely on your staff to document your charts, you’re going down a dark hole. It’s okay to delegate that. But at the end of the day, that’s your responsibility. If they put down the wrong x-ray right left side, tooth wrong.

Stuart Oberman: [00:04:25] And you go in front of the board and that board calls you out. Or you go in a deposition for malpractice claiming, that other attorney calls you out. What are you going to say? “Well, that was my staff’s problem. I didn’t do that.” And you got three people on the board or five people on the board, sitting and looking at you like, “Why do you have the wrong x-ray in the file? Why do you have the wrong x-ray marked?” “Well, it’s my staff’s problem, it’s not my problem.”

Stuart Oberman: [00:04:56] Do not rely on your staff for everything. You’ve got to document it. Teach them what is consistent, accurate, complete documentation. If it’s never in a file, it never happened. If it’s wrong in the file, it’s your responsibility.

Stuart Oberman: [00:05:16] Four – and this is an interesting problem – failure to maintain good chair side manner with patients. And let me tell you, there’s a difference. So, our younger doctors are enormously successful clinically. But the bedside manner is a little rough. It’s quick. They’re under pressure. Our doctors have been practicing a little bit longer, I would say, as a whole or probably a little bit better with chair side manner. That’s a broad statement, so I could have it in every case.

Stuart Oberman: [00:05:55] But chair side manner will keep you out of trouble. A very good friend of mine practicing for 30 years, never had a board complaint. Never had a malpractice claim. I asked her one day, I said, “How did you avoid this kind of trouble? Thirty years never had a board complaint. Malpractice claim, never.” She was, “Let me tell you what I did. First five minutes, I want to know how the family’s doing because it’s already in my chart. I know they’re married. I know the wife passed away. I know their child is sick. I know the child was sick. I know they’ve got kids in college. I know all that. So, for five minutes, I want to know how the family’s doing.”

Stuart Oberman: [00:06:41] You can spare five minutes out of your time with every patient at least five minutes to figure out what’s going on with that patient. And that, from a pure risk management standpoint, will reduce your malpractice claims. And if it’s a new patient, and you don’t get a good feeling talking to that patient, you better take action right away.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:02] But chair side manner is so important because, look, people love you, but they don’t want to be there. They don’t want be [inaudible]. They don’t want to be poked and prodded. They’re getting divorced. They’re struggling. They’re being laid off. Their kids are in jail. Their mother is sick. They’re taking care of families. They’re going back and forth to nursing home. Their dad’s house is being foreclosed upon. People got problems.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:29] And all you’ve got to do is be that sunshine and that light. And if there’s a problem and you’ve got a connection with that doctor, we’re painting a connection with that doctor and you got a connection with that patient. You’re going to avoid a problem. All communication.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:47] Mistake number five, failure to designate a point person. Let me tell you, you got someone in your office that’s handling payroll, OSHA, HIPAA, Compliance, EEOC, Department of Labor, Audits, everything in between. You’ve got to have a designated point person. You can’t have every person doing everything. You can’t have the hygienist or your wife or husband who’s managing a practice do everything. You’ve got to have a point person.

Stuart Oberman: [00:08:20] What are you going to do when you get an OSHA complaint? Where’s it going to? Do you have a process? What are you going to do when a board investigator comes to your office and wants to have information? What are you going to do? Who are you going to direct that person to? Is it going to be you? You don’t have the time for that. You don’t have the resources. You don’t have the training for it. Designate that person on an H.R. standpoint.

Stuart Oberman: [00:08:48] Six, failure to avoid negative comments in charts. Let me tell you, you write something bad in a chart and a patient gets a copy of that chart, it’s going on the internet, folks. I have seen every cuss word imaginable in a chart. I’ve seen every patient called every name in the book. Every patient’s child, mother, wife, husband called everything under the sun in a chart. I’ve seen comments in there that will violate Federal Law regarding race, color, creed, sex, or origin.

Stuart Oberman: [00:09:28] Never ever, ever put anything in the chart that you would not want to put on the front of the New York Times. Because once it goes viral, you are dead in the water. There is no retraction. What are you going to do? Patient decides to go seek another doctor. It is what it is. You’re not going to please everyone and that patient is going to move to another location.

Stuart Oberman: [00:09:55] What are you going to do if all of a sudden you discover that someone in your office, because you never read the chart, put something derogatory about that patient physically, mentally, race, color, creed, sex, or origin? What are you going to do? And, now, that patient has got that file because they picked it up at 10:00 and you didn’t get to your patient until 5:00. You lost control. You absolutely lost control.

Stuart Oberman: [00:10:25] You better know what goes in your files. You better have a policy to prevent that. You better have something in writing from your staff outlining they will not violate that provision. Because, again, if it goes viral, you have a huge, huge problem.

Stuart Oberman: [00:10:42] Mistake number seven, failure to follow up with a patient. Look, I know when I’ve had dental issues, my doctor’s office will call and say how are you doing. Doctor’s offices, we have clients who have regular routine. Our clients have a regular routine. They will call that patient and say how are you doing. It only takes five minutes. You’ve got a complex procedure, “How are you doing?” Or your staff calls, “How are you doing?” Follow up.

Stuart Oberman: [00:11:18] Now, another aspect of this is follow up and document it. Because you will have a patient go south and you will call them 17 times, they will not answer 17 times. Or you call them 17 times, they don’t answer 16, they answer the 17th time. But they will swear under the sun, moon, and stars that you never, ever, ever called them. So, if you’re going to call them, document it. Document the conversation that you followed up. I can’t stress how much that means to the patients and how much of a concern it will be if you don’t get an early reading on that patient that they’ve got a problem.

Stuart Oberman: [00:12:01] So, here’s another concern with our doctors, failure to properly discharge patients from care. I get this question all the time, “I’ve got a problem patient. I wish I could discharge them, but they just won’t go away.” The answer is, you can discharge the patient at any time. Now, my general rule is, you got to be specific on your state rules, but, generally, you discharge, you give a reason, a non-combative reason. And then, you give them 30 days of emergency service.

Stuart Oberman: [00:12:37] Now, that is going to vary state by state. We’d have to check that out. But you can discharge a patient if they do not listen, if they’re not paying their bill, if they are constantly late on appointments, if they reschedule appointments. There is a process. Never ever, ever text a discharge. Never ever, ever text a discharge or send a discharge by email.

Stuart Oberman: [00:13:05] First and foremost, you’ve got to have permission to correspond with a patient by email. It’s electronic communication that involves HIPAA. Send it regular mail or send it certified mail, one of each, or FedEx. Not that I’m endorsing FedEx, UPS is fine too. But that’s a term of art. But get rid of that patient, put it in writing. And then, what you want to do is make sure you keep it for your file. “Well, I discharged that patient.” “Well, is the discharge letter in the file?” “No. But I know I did.” “I sent a certified.” “Do you have the certified receipt?” “No. But I know I did.” “I sent a FedEx.” Again, I’m not endorsing FedEx. “I sent a FedEx.” “Well, you know, I just forgot the receipt.” Figure it out.

Stuart Oberman: [00:13:56] Mistake number ten, failure to refer when needed. I don’t know why in today’s world, our doctors do not refer more cases out. In many cases, they are not qualified to do the treatment that they are doing. But yet they will certainly engage in that conduct and try to do it because they took a course on it at one time. If it’s not what you do every day and if you have to ask yourself, “Am I capable of doing that?” The answer is refer it out. The $1,000 or $2,000 that you save long term will save you a long list of headaches down the road. Refer it out. Know to say when.

Stuart Oberman: [00:14:48] So, mistake number ten, final number ten. So, when you get a board complaint, you get a malpractice claim. And I always say, “It’s not if, it’s when,” because patients are nuts and things happen. In today’s software, you have to be very, very careful to remove or modify notes because it comes up as modification in your software many times. I would not alter notes in the computer. I would do supplementals.

Stuart Oberman: [00:15:25] Look, we all go back and write notes on cases. It’s impossible to remember everything within five minutes of a meeting. You’re going to remember things that occurred at a later date. There’s nothing wrong with adding a typed out or handwritten note to supplement what you have. But if you start modifying notes to avoid a malpractice claim or a dental board complaint or deleting information, you’re in a whole different world and a whole different problem set of headaches that you never wanted to go down. So, be very, very careful what you modify in your communications.

Stuart Oberman: [00:16:08] Folks, that is a simple, simple, simple, 15 or 20 minutes presentation on mistakes. They’re simple mistakes. It’s the simple things that cause you the biggest headache. It’s not the massive things. It’s the little things that add up to the big things. Take a look at what you’re doing. Take a look at these top ten mistakes. And then, let’s look at what we need to do or how you need to improve what you’re doing. But it’s simple steps.

Stuart Oberman: [00:16:39] Thank you for joining us once again on Dental Law Radio. My name is Stuart Oberman. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call at 770-886-2400 or stuart, S-T-U-A-R-T, @obermanlaw.com. Thanks for joining us and have a fantastic day.

 

About Dental Law Radio

Hosted by Stuart Oberman, a nationally recognized authority in dental law, Dental Law Radio covers legal, business, and other operating issues and topics of vital concern to dentists and dental practice owners. The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

Stuart Oberman, Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm
Stuart Oberman, host of “Dental Law Radio”

Stuart Oberman is the founder and President of Oberman Law Firm. Mr. Oberman graduated from Urbana University and received his law degree from John Marshall Law School. Mr. Oberman has been practicing law for over 25 years, and before going into private practice, Mr. Oberman was in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 Company. Mr. Oberman is widely regarded as the go-to attorney in the area of Dental Law, which includes DSO formation, corporate business structures, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, advertising regulations, HIPAA, Compliance, and employment law regulations that affect dental practices.

In addition, Mr. Oberman’s expertise in the health care industry includes advising clients in the complex regulatory landscape as it relates to telehealth and telemedicine, including compliance of corporate structures, third-party reimbursement, contract negotiations, technology, health care fraud and abuse law (Anti-Kickback Statute and the State Law), professional liability risk management, federal and state regulations.

As the long-term care industry evolves, Mr. Oberman has the knowledge and experience to guide clients in the long-term care sector with respect to corporate and regulatory matters, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). In addition, Mr. Oberman’s practice also focuses on health care facility acquisitions and other changes of ownership, as well as related licensure and Medicare/Medicaid certification matters, CCRC registrations, long-term care/skilled nursing facility management, operating agreements, assisted living licensure matters, and health care joint ventures.

In addition to his expertise in the health care industry, Mr. Oberman has a nationwide practice that focuses on all facets of contractual disputes, including corporate governance, fiduciary duty, trade secrets, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, trademark and copyright infringement, fraud, and deceptive trade practices, and other business-related matters. Mr. Oberman also represents clients throughout the United States in a wide range of practice areas, including mergers & acquisitions, partnership agreements, commercial real estate, entity formation, employment law, commercial leasing, intellectual property, and HIPAA/OSHA compliance.

Mr. Oberman is a national lecturer and has published articles in the U.S. and Canada.

LinkedIn

Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm has a long history of civic service, noted national, regional, and local clients, and stands among the Southeast’s eminent and fast-growing full-service law firms. Oberman Law Firm’s areas of practice include Business Planning, Commercial & Technology Transactions, Corporate, Employment & Labor, Estate Planning, Health Care, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Privacy & Data Security, and Real Estate.

By meeting their client’s goals and becoming a trusted partner and advocate for our clients, their attorneys are recognized as legal go-getters who provide value-added service. Their attorneys understand that in a rapidly changing legal market, clients have new expectations, constantly evolving choices, and operate in an environment of heightened reputational and commercial risk.

Oberman Law Firm’s strength is its ability to solve complex legal problems by collaborating across borders and practice areas.

Connect with Oberman Law Firm:

Company website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Tagged With: Dental Law Radio, dental practice management, dentists, Mistakes Dentists Make, Oberman Law Firm, Stuart Oberman

Dental Board Complaints

November 19, 2021 by John Ray

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Dental Board Complaints (Dental Law Radio, Episode 26)

Patients can file dental board complaints for reasons which are spurious or even sinister. How do you lessen the likelihood of such complaints? As Stuart Oberman explains in this episode of Dental Law Radio, there are some basic “know your patient” and patient experience practices you can implement to lessen the livelihood of these complaints, and if they are filed, mitigate their risk to your practice. Dental Law Radio is underwritten and presented by Oberman Law Firm and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, it’s time for Dental Law Radio. Dental Law Radio is brought to you by Oberman Law Firm, a leading dental-centric law firm, serving dental clients on a local, regional and national basis. Now, here’s your host, Stuart Oberman.

Stuart Oberman: [00:00:25] Welcome everyone to Dental Law Radio. I always say that it’s a great profession, except for the patients. The patients will drive you nuts. And, I always say in the meetings that I’m a pleasure speaking at, online, tell our clients, it is not if you’re going to get a board complaint, it is when because what happens is that it is so easy nowadays to file a board complaint.

Stuart Oberman: [00:01:01] Many things are done online in many states. In some states, I can literally go out of your office after I just had a cavity filled, go to QT, grab a Diet Coke, and I can sit in the parking lot and file a board complaint because I didn’t like you, I didn’t like your staff, I didn’t like how much you charged me. It is too easy.

Stuart Oberman: [00:01:28] So, what happens is you get this letter notice from the board. You’re shocked, you’re angry. What are you going to do? Well, the question is how do you prevent that. Going forward is a whole different scenario than prevention. So, you know, a couple of things to think about on the prevention side. Okay.

Stuart Oberman: [00:01:50] So, a patient you do not know is more likely to file a complaint than Aunt Betty who you’ve seen for the last 30 years. Patients who do not pay their bills are a huge problem. You’ve got to look at that. Is it risky? Is it risky to file or send him over to collections than it is to let $100, $200 go? Look, at the end of the day, it’s a board’s responsibility to make sure that you are doing your job correctly.

Stuart Oberman: [00:02:18] However, a couple of things. Preventive. Before that patient leaves your practice, you better make sure they understand what’s expected, what’s not expected. There’s no way possible that you can have an inkling as to what that patient is thinking. If there is a concern, then you need to make an additional appointment with that patient because an extra five, 10, 15 minutes will save you a world of headaches down the road. If you have a problem patient, again preventative, you have your assistant in there with you telling the patient what is good, the bad, the ugly, and straightforward.

Stuart Oberman: [00:03:03] One thing I always say is you need to look your patient in the eye. That’s a lost art in today’s world. When you’re looking at your patient and you’re telling the patient what’s going on, that’s a whole different ballgame. You’re going to pick up a lot of things you’re not going to pick up by talking on telephone. Always, always, always give the patient extra time if they need it, and, let me say this if you’ve got a problem patient, we had doctors that will not talk to patients.

Stuart Oberman: [00:03:40] If I get a patient that is a problem patient and communicates with my office manager, whomever is not working, gosh, pick up the phone, call these patients. I say guys plural ’cause I’m from the North. So, pick up the phone. Call the patient, get the problem solved. Now, for 10 minutes, they’re going to vent and they’re going to blow your ear off, which is fine, let them vent. [inaudible] could this problem matters and I call the patient and I’ll say, “Hey, look, I represent Dr. Jones. Tell me what’s going on.” For 15 minutes, I’m lambasted about everything that the doctor didn’t do, the price, the staff, everything. Great. I’m a venting board. Now, let’s get to the problem-solving matter. Okay.

Stuart Oberman: [00:04:28] So, when a board matter, when you get a board letter, you got to make sure you understand what the complaint is, the timeframe within which this client filed that complaint. And, let me tell you this. You don’t always have to give a complaint to your malpractice carrier. It is up to you and the facts and circumstances. But let me make this statement very clear. If you have someone from your malpractice carrier that’s representing you at a board hearing, they better know what they’re doing.

Stuart Oberman: [00:05:02] We’ve had cases that I have handled and I’ve made it very clear to the malpractice lawyer, “Look, we do this time and time and time again. This is your second hearing. It’s my 700th hearing. Sit back, relax. If you want to join the meeting, fine. Let us take the lead. We know what we’re doing. We know the boards. We know what’s going on, and you can report back to the insurance company at a later date.” So, you better know the experience of that lawyer, how to respond. And, if that lawyer is just showing up without responding or sending down different documents or what be required to be proactive, you need to find someone else.

Stuart Oberman: [00:05:42] So, the board’s going to request, you got to be ready for this, an updated CV, copies of your license, continuing CE education requirements. It’s amazing how many of our doctors can’t find their CE and wait until after the board hearing, [inaudible] if it’s informal to gather it up. These are things you need to gather up beforehand. Give a complete copy of all the records. The last thing you want in the world is the board to discover that you’re not being forthcoming with records. That is a huge, huge problem.

Stuart Oberman: [00:06:16] So, then let’s talk about defenses, defenses. Document your instructions to the patient [inaudible]. Document every complaint, every concern. Put it in the file. Our previous podcast, we discussed the certain things you can’t put in the file, certain things you do not want to put in a file. Derogatory comments, comments regarding race, color, [inaudible], sexual origin. Those are inappropriate. It should never be in a file. Keep copies of all your correspondence. Keep records of all incidences. Look, things are going to happen. Document him, keep him, keep him in the chart. Update your CV. Update your attendance. Keep your resume up to date. And, note, note, note extensively all problems with that particular patient. Document it, document it, document it.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:17] So, what are the most common complaints that we receive? And, we receive a lot of complaints from our dental offices. A lot of them are garbage, but some of them are very realistic and we’ve got to deal with them. So, what’s the number one complaint? It’s hard to say.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:34] Let me go through some of these things, but it’s hard to say what’s number one and number 10. But what we consider unprofessional conduct is a failure to release records. You want to get an OSHA complaint, you withhold records. You want to get a board complaint, you withhold records.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:52] Substandard practice. License expires when you’re hygienist and you’re associate doctors.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:59] Malpractice claims. Be thorough.

Stuart Oberman: [00:08:04] Sexual misconduct on both sides of the fence, male and female. There are things that are absolutely inappropriate.

Stuart Oberman: [00:08:15] Now, board complaints will also come from your staff. So, you’ve got to be careful also with patient relations.

Stuart Oberman: [00:08:25] Financial issues. Billing for services that are not rendered, multiple billing and billing discrepancies. Look, there’s times we’ve been in board complaints and we thought it was clinical. Clinicals was fine and we got absolutely hammered on the financial side because it wasn’t documented. There’s double entries. Lab referrals were incomplete. So, those are things that you’ve got to take a look at on a broad scale that may go wrong.

Stuart Oberman: [00:08:53] So, what I would do is, on the complaint side, figure out what the problem is with your patients. Figure out what needs, how the problem needs to be rectified. Take a look at these proactive matters that we’ve discussed. Review them internally with how your procedures are going. And, I will tell you, the longer a problem goes on, the bigger the fire, the more expensive it gets. A problem matter is happy when it’s closed. Get it done, get it closed, get it released.

Stuart Oberman: [00:09:32] That is a very, very, very quick update on dental board complaints. Again, I could talk a whole day on this. Just take a look at a couple of things. Take a look at your procedures and everything should work out okay.

Stuart Oberman: [00:09:46] Thank you for joining us on Dental Law Radio. My name is Stuart Oberman. If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call, 770-886-2400. My email is stuart, S-T-U-A-R-T, @obermanlaw.com. Thanks for joining us and have a fantastic day.

 

About Dental Law Radio

Hosted by Stuart Oberman, a nationally recognized authority in dental law, Dental Law Radio covers legal, business, and other operating issues and topics of vital concern to dentists and dental practice owners. The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

Stuart Oberman, Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm
Stuart Oberman, host of “Dental Law Radio”

Stuart Oberman is the founder and President of Oberman Law Firm. Mr. Oberman graduated from Urbana University and received his law degree from John Marshall Law School. Mr. Oberman has been practicing law for over 25 years, and before going into private practice, Mr. Oberman was in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 Company. Mr. Oberman is widely regarded as the go-to attorney in the area of Dental Law, which includes DSO formation, corporate business structures, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, advertising regulations, HIPAA, Compliance, and employment law regulations that affect dental practices.

In addition, Mr. Oberman’s expertise in the health care industry includes advising clients in the complex regulatory landscape as it relates to telehealth and telemedicine, including compliance of corporate structures, third-party reimbursement, contract negotiations, technology, health care fraud and abuse law (Anti-Kickback Statute and the State Law), professional liability risk management, federal and state regulations.

As the long-term care industry evolves, Mr. Oberman has the knowledge and experience to guide clients in the long-term care sector with respect to corporate and regulatory matters, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). In addition, Mr. Oberman’s practice also focuses on health care facility acquisitions and other changes of ownership, as well as related licensure and Medicare/Medicaid certification matters, CCRC registrations, long-term care/skilled nursing facility management, operating agreements, assisted living licensure matters, and health care joint ventures.

In addition to his expertise in the health care industry, Mr. Oberman has a nationwide practice that focuses on all facets of contractual disputes, including corporate governance, fiduciary duty, trade secrets, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, trademark and copyright infringement, fraud, and deceptive trade practices, and other business-related matters. Mr. Oberman also represents clients throughout the United States in a wide range of practice areas, including mergers & acquisitions, partnership agreements, commercial real estate, entity formation, employment law, commercial leasing, intellectual property, and HIPAA/OSHA compliance.

Mr. Oberman is a national lecturer and has published articles in the U.S. and Canada.

LinkedIn

Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm has a long history of civic service, noted national, regional, and local clients, and stands among the Southeast’s eminent and fast-growing full-service law firms. Oberman Law Firm’s areas of practice include Business Planning, Commercial & Technology Transactions, Corporate, Employment & Labor, Estate Planning, Health Care, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Privacy & Data Security, and Real Estate.

By meeting their client’s goals and becoming a trusted partner and advocate for our clients, their attorneys are recognized as legal go-getters who provide value-added service. Their attorneys understand that in a rapidly changing legal market, clients have new expectations, constantly evolving choices, and operate in an environment of heightened reputational and commercial risk.

Oberman Law Firm’s strength is its ability to solve complex legal problems by collaborating across borders and practice areas.

Connect with Oberman Law Firm:

Company website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Tagged With: Dental Board Complaints, Dental Law Radio, dental-centric, malpractice, malpractice claims, Oberman Law Firm, patient experience, patient experience/satisfaction, Stuart Oberman

Informed Consent

November 12, 2021 by John Ray

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Informed Consent (Dental Law Radio, Episode 25)

Do you seek to avoid malpractice claims and board complaints in your dental practice? Who doesn’t, right? Informed consent is an essential ingredient of that goal. If you don’t know much about informed consent, or you wonder whether the informed consent form you’re using is adequate, then Stuart Oberman offers critical advice on this episode of Dental Law Radio which might save you thousands of dollars. Dental Law Radio is underwritten and presented by Oberman Law Firm and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, it’s time for Dental Law Radio. Dental Law Radio is brought to you by Oberman Law Firm, a leading dental-centric law firm, serving dental clients on a local, regional and national basis. Now, here’s your host, Stuart Oberman.

Stuart Oberman: [00:00:26] Hello, everyone, and welcome to Dental Law Radio. Today’s topic, risk management. I want to talk about malpractice claims and the board complaints. And, one of the biggest defenses that you could have, and we’re going to talk about informed consent, avoiding malpractice claims, and board complaints.

Stuart Oberman: [00:00:48] First and foremost, I think there’s a misconception from our dental practice owners and associates as to what exactly the informed consent process is. And, it’s very simple. It is a very, very effective tool for malpractice claims and board complaints. And, I will tell you, we are extremely fortunate as a law firm that does a substantial amount of dental work throughout the country. And, by and large, the finest practices that we work with, the finest doctors, the informed consent process is almost nonexistent, which leaves them wide open for a malpractice claim or a dental board complaint.

Stuart Oberman: [00:01:38] So, let’s take a look at some basic things regarding informed consent form. And, I know what you’re thinking, well, you know, well, we don’t really need consent forms. You know, Mary’s been our client for 30 years and she’s never had a problem. That’s great. So, the other 99% of the problems are just waiting to happen.

Stuart Oberman: [00:01:58] So, what is informed consent? I want to make this, you know, our podcast brief. I want to go through a couple of things, but basics. So, the informed consent is nothing more than an educational process to tell the patient in writing and verbally what the benefits are, the risks, the alternative treatments, and to assess the patient’s understanding. You know, the decision regarding process, are you giving your patients and documenting your process and choices to the patient? Most of the time, it’s no. Most of the time it is, well, I don’t really think so. So, it’s basically an open dialogue, written and oral, if you will, so the patient can ask questions.

Stuart Oberman: [00:02:51] So, what should happen is you as a dentist should assess the patient’s understanding of the procedure in place. I don’t care if it’s a drill and fill, whether it’s a graph after an implant. Whether it’s an extraction of a molar, I don’t care. But it’s got to be documented. There has to be a process.

Stuart Oberman: [00:03:22] So, what is the process for the informed consent? First and foremost, it’s initial diagnosis. Are you diagnosing the problem? What is the problem? What is the recommended treatment plan? Now, I’m going to tell you right now. Your treatment plan is not the bill you give your patients. That is not a treatment plan. If you’re going to do a full-mouth restoration, if you’re going to do a multiple tooth implant, if you’re going to do wisdom extractions, what is the plan? Are you doing bridge, whatever maybe? Are you giving your patient ultimate treatment options? Are you allowing them to choose? Or are you telling them what they need to do? You’re going to have to evaluate this on every patient.

Stuart Oberman: [00:04:22] Now, our doctors do not know when to get out of trouble. And, many times they can’t get out of their own way. Are you giving the patient the option to refer to a specialist? I’m going to tell you now. Folks, if it’s not in your wheelhouse, get out of it. If you don’t do it every day, get out of it. We’ve run into multiple problems where our doctors will go to a weekend course and all of a sudden they’re an absolute expert in the area of implants. They’re now an expert in finding the B2 canal. Let me tell you, some of the best and Adonis that I know have trouble finding the B2 canal. If you don’t do root canals, stay out of the arena. Refer it out. It’ll be much easier on your life and your checkbook if you do that.

Stuart Oberman: [00:05:27] Outline the potential risks. All this has to be in writing. Okay. You can’t just say, “Well, here it is. Here’s your options I told you,” or, “You know, I made a note and you said, no.” You’ve got to have this documented to the T. What are the risks for not treating? Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Look, Stuart, man, I’m seeing 30 patients a day. How in the world can I do this on every patient?” The question is how can you not do this because it’s going to have one that’s going to blow up on you. So, how you schedule is up to you. How you get this information is up to you. How you delegate this is up to you.

Stuart Oberman: [00:06:10] But you’ve got to do that. Give the patient the opportunity to ask questions. Pros and cons. What are the options? And, I will tell you, all this has to be documented in your charts. If it is not in your charts, I don’t care if you write on a sticky. I don’t care if you have the most complex digital system or your still charts. If it’s not in your notes, it never happened. Options. Again, things go wrong in an operatory. Things break.

Stuart Oberman: [00:06:52] Client of mine sent me a text and wanted to know can a dog come into the operatory and sit on a patient’s lap. How do you make that question up? How do you make that question? You don’t make it up because it happens. And, the next question is, well, it’s, you know, it’s a companion dog.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:20] I’m going to go out on a broad limb here. Folks, I’m going to tell you right now. You cannot have dogs in your operatory. You cannot have dogs on your patient’s lap when you got high-speed drills at one wrong move is going through someone’s mouth, tongue, eye.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:37] So, those are the things that you’ve got to take a look at. And, those are things you’ve got to have a risk assessment on.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:47] So, again, documentation is critical, so in informed consents. Okay. Now, I’ve seen some really bad informed consents. I’ve seen informed consents that are so basic they will never cover anything complex like an extraction, root canal, bridge. They’re too, too basic. So, what should they include? Again, I’m talking to a separate document risk-benefit analysis. One included a doctor’s name, procedure. Do I need an informed consent for every treatment that I do? I think you do. If I’m going to my dentist, who’s fantastic by the way, hope he’s listening, and I’m getting a root canal and then a month later, I’m getting an extraction. I will guarantee you my informed consent will not cover that and it needs to be a new one.

Stuart Oberman: [00:08:47] What are the alternative treatments? What are the risks for not treating? What are the questions? How much time is involved? The date? Witness the informed consent. Place a copy in the patient’s file. “Well, you know, Stuart, I don’t have hard files anymore.” Great. Get a hard file. I have clients that have an amazing digital system, but yet they will still have a hard copy of an informed consent. What are you going to do?

Stuart Oberman: [00:09:26] Regarding the call I got yesterday, client’s buying a practice. Failure on the server. X-rays, charts wiped out. They can’t recover everything. What are you going to do? And, you got a board complaint or malpractice claim, and all of a sudden you’ve got a failure and you can’t find that consent form. What are you going to do? You’re going to be in a bad place. That’s what’s going to be.

Stuart Oberman: [00:09:58] I’m very serious about informed consent form because I see what they can do, I see what they can’t do and I see in the problems. What happens is when you don’t have them, it’s basically damage control.

Stuart Oberman: [00:10:10] Now, for informed consent, it’s going to get a little tricky. But if you have minors and special needs individuals, you’ve got to take the extra steps to getting those done correctly. You know, with special needs patients, we do work guardianships for special needs patients, and that’s a whole different area. But who’s the guardian? Is the guardian signing the informed consent? Have you documented who the guardian is?

Stuart Oberman: [00:10:35] Divorce cases. Can you imagine what it’s like dealing with a divorce case with a minor child in your office? Who’s in charge? Who’s signing the informed consent? Dad, mom don’t even have visitation. Who’s going to sign? Does grandma have the authority to bring the child in the authorized treatment? No, they do not, most of the time.

Stuart Oberman: [00:11:00] So, also in our diverse world that we live in where English may not be our first language and you have a cultural base. Are you drafting these documents to your base, or are you saying I know your English is not good, I know it’s not our first language? Are you curtailing this so they understand? Chances are probably not. You have an obligation to do so.

Stuart Oberman: [00:11:39] What if your patient is blind? How are you doing – how are you working with that? What are you doing if your patient is hard of hearing? It’s elderly and can’t hear. How are you doing it? What are you doing for this? Well, you explain to them. Well, how do you relate that into a board complaint? Where’s the proof?

Stuart Oberman: [00:12:03] So, now you get into this situation where, you know, my patient is refusing x-rays. Let me tell you this. So, if your patient is refusing x-rays because of cost, you have two choices. One, run quickly away from that patient, or, two, absorb the cost, document the file. My thought is run quickly. A patient should never dictate the standard of care because they’re going to be the first ones to say to you, “Oh, you messed up, doc.”

Stuart Oberman: [00:12:41] So, then you got to document the refusal and I mean get them to sign something. “Well, you know, they refused. They told me they refused.” Not good enough. Got to be documented. I don’t care how you document it. I don’t care whether it’s on an iPad, whether they sign a document, get it documented. You should have a process for refusal, and I’m gonna tell you right now, if your patients are refusing treatment, you need to find another patient because that is a problem waiting to happen.

Stuart Oberman: [00:13:11] So, these are just a couple of things on informed consent. I can’t really stress how important informed consents are from a legal standpoint, malpractice, and board complaint wise and how simple they are. If you have a patient that refuses to sign a consent form, you need to move on down the road and not treat them. Because as soon as you treat them, you bought that patient, and then you bought the problems that go with it. So, it’s the little things to avoid problems on the informed consent side.

Stuart Oberman: [00:13:41] Again, the whole topic for another day. You know, I could talk three hours on consent forms, the laws, and what we look at, but it’s critical. It’s critical. It’s critical.

Stuart Oberman: [00:13:49] So, [inaudible], thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Informed consents. Please make sure every patient has one. If you don’t have them, please get them.

Stuart Oberman: [00:14:02] I want to wish everyone a fantastic day. Thank you for joining Dental Law Radio. My name is Stuart Oberman. If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call at 770-886-2400 or stuart, S-T-U-A-R-T, @obermanlaw.com. Thank you, folks. And, we will see you soon.

 

About Dental Law Radio

Hosted by Stuart Oberman, a nationally recognized authority in dental law, Dental Law Radio covers legal, business, and other operating issues and topics of vital concern to dentists and dental practice owners. The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

Stuart Oberman, Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm
Stuart Oberman, host of “Dental Law Radio”

Stuart Oberman is the founder and President of Oberman Law Firm. Mr. Oberman graduated from Urbana University and received his law degree from John Marshall Law School. Mr. Oberman has been practicing law for over 25 years, and before going into private practice, Mr. Oberman was in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 Company. Mr. Oberman is widely regarded as the go-to attorney in the area of Dental Law, which includes DSO formation, corporate business structures, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, advertising regulations, HIPAA, Compliance, and employment law regulations that affect dental practices.

In addition, Mr. Oberman’s expertise in the health care industry includes advising clients in the complex regulatory landscape as it relates to telehealth and telemedicine, including compliance of corporate structures, third-party reimbursement, contract negotiations, technology, health care fraud and abuse law (Anti-Kickback Statute and the State Law), professional liability risk management, federal and state regulations.

As the long-term care industry evolves, Mr. Oberman has the knowledge and experience to guide clients in the long-term care sector with respect to corporate and regulatory matters, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). In addition, Mr. Oberman’s practice also focuses on health care facility acquisitions and other changes of ownership, as well as related licensure and Medicare/Medicaid certification matters, CCRC registrations, long-term care/skilled nursing facility management, operating agreements, assisted living licensure matters, and health care joint ventures.

In addition to his expertise in the health care industry, Mr. Oberman has a nationwide practice that focuses on all facets of contractual disputes, including corporate governance, fiduciary duty, trade secrets, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, trademark and copyright infringement, fraud, and deceptive trade practices, and other business-related matters. Mr. Oberman also represents clients throughout the United States in a wide range of practice areas, including mergers & acquisitions, partnership agreements, commercial real estate, entity formation, employment law, commercial leasing, intellectual property, and HIPAA/OSHA compliance.

Mr. Oberman is a national lecturer and has published articles in the U.S. and Canada.

LinkedIn

Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm has a long history of civic service, noted national, regional, and local clients, and stands among the Southeast’s eminent and fast-growing full-service law firms. Oberman Law Firm’s areas of practice include Business Planning, Commercial & Technology Transactions, Corporate, Employment & Labor, Estate Planning, Health Care, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Privacy & Data Security, and Real Estate.

By meeting their client’s goals and becoming a trusted partner and advocate for our clients, their attorneys are recognized as legal go-getters who provide value-added service. Their attorneys understand that in a rapidly changing legal market, clients have new expectations, constantly evolving choices, and operate in an environment of heightened reputational and commercial risk.

Oberman Law Firm’s strength is its ability to solve complex legal problems by collaborating across borders and practice areas.

Connect with Oberman Law Firm:

Company website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Tagged With: Dental Board Complaints, Dental Law Radio, Informed Consent, malpractice, malpractice claims, malpractice lawsuit, Oberman Law Firm, Stuart Oberman

Employee Embezzlement

November 5, 2021 by John Ray

EmployeeEmbezzlementDLREpisode24Album
Dental Law Radio
Employee Embezzlement
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Employee Embezzlement (Dental Law Radio, Episode 24)

While industry statistics indicate about 40% of all dental practices are embezzled, Stuart Oberman believes the actual number is 60% or more, based on his work with clients and his conversations with other industry experts. So what are the most common employee embezzlement schemes, and how do you protect your practice? Stuart has answers in this episode. Dental Law Radio is underwritten and presented by Oberman Law Firm and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, it’s time for Dental Law Radio. Dental Law Radio is brought to you by Oberman Law Firm, a leading dental-centric law firm, serving dental clients on a local, regional and national basis. Now, here’s your host, Stuart Oberman.

Stuart Oberman: [00:00:26] Hello, everyone, and welcome to Dental Law Radio. Today’s topic is not a pleasant topic, but we are seeing a rise. Now, I have not talked about this topic in probably a couple of years because there has not been a necessarily need to but now it is rearing its ugly head.

Stuart Oberman: [00:00:48] Employee embezzlement. That’s right, folks. Employee embezzlement. And, the reason why I have not talked about this in a couple of years is because [inaudible] COVID-19. Our guys got hit number-wise. But we’re seeing an enormous rebound in our practices. Many, many, many of our practices, I’m going to say about 80% of our dental practices, had a record year. They’re busy. They’re having staff problems. They can’t keep up with the work. And, what happens is they’re simply losing track of what in the world they’re doing internally. I don’t have any other, I had no other explanation for it, is that they have no idea and can’t keep track what they’re doing internally.

Stuart Oberman: [00:01:33] So, employee embezzlement, and I will make this general statement. If you think your employees are not stealing from you, you are grossly mistaken. I’m going to give you some statistics, then I’m going to give you sort of what I think the real world is. Statistically, 40% of all dental practices are going to be embezzled, 40%. I’m going to tell you right now I believe it’s 60 to 70%. From what I’m seeing, from what I discover, when I talk to our consultants and industry experts, it’s about 60%. So, the average embezzlement statistically is about $110,000.

Stuart Oberman: [00:02:18] Now, I will tell you that statistically our average embezzlement that we handle is about 200,000 and has actually gone up to $500,000. Folks, if you don’t know where $500,000 is going, you’ve got a huge problem. You got a huge, huge problem.

Stuart Oberman: [00:02:46] So, the question is, you know, how, again, this is a relatively short podcast. This is a two-day seminar on the how’s, the why’s, the what’s, the reasons, and what you are not doing for employee embezzlement.

Stuart Oberman: [00:03:04] So, let’s take a look at some basic things here, without getting into white-collar crime to a great extent, numerous ways employees may embezzle. Take petty cash, [inaudible] you just shouldn’t have, you just shouldn’t have cash laying around. Altering deposit statements, where your deposit ticket is going. Do you even know what is being deposited in the bank?

Stuart Oberman: [00:03:32] Practice writing checks. Your practice writing checks for personal expenses. Your employees are paying their own credit cards with your money. Your office manager is writing fictitious invoices and diverting payments. And, let me tell you this, I will not give this speech, this podcast, this information to any organization that has dental office managers in it. Because that’s, I’m going to go very broad on this statement, but that is where most of the embezzlement is taking place on the management side because of the trust. So, I am not going to give this speech to that kind of audience.

Stuart Oberman: [00:04:21] So, you got phony bank accounts in a practice name and diverting payments, issuing fake refunds and taking refunds, paying their own medical expenses, bills, labs, supplies, drugs under the patient’s name. Do you even know what is being issued check-wise? So, those are just a few scenarios.

Stuart Oberman: [00:04:47] So, you know, how do you prevent this? You got to have a system in place. First and foremost, you have to have a system in place. The days are gone where you’re just running willy-nilly, you’re not paying attention and you’re trusting everyone under the sun that they’re not going to steal you blind.

Stuart Oberman: [00:05:08] So, how do you prevent it? First and foremost, you’ve got to screen your employees. In today’s world, in today’s tight labor market, our doctors are hiring bodies. Now, there are some agencies that will allow you to post for employment. Our doctors will go on those websites. And, I will guarantee you that if you pick 10 names today, and in a year you go back and say, I wonder what those employees are doing. Probably a good percent of them are going to be back looking for a job because our doctors don’t screen employees. They don’t have a hiring package. They don’t do background checks, which you have to have. For $100, your life can be very, very easy as far as background checks. They don’t check credit references. That’s a whole another area of fraud. You don’t verify information.

Stuart Oberman: [00:06:14] Good friend of mine has a recruiting agency for dental staffing. Amazing statistic, 70% of all application information, résumés are fraudulent. Seventy. You got to have procedures in place. You’ve got to implement internal controls. That’s going to vary practice to practice. But I would urge you to take a look at your system.

Stuart Oberman: [00:06:44] So, how do we prevent this? One thing you have to start doing is you’ve got to encourage employees and mandate employees to take days off for vacation because what happens is employees who are embezzling do not want to take time off because that’s where problems develop. They don’t take vacation days because that’s when problems develop. That’s when it seems to hit the proverbial fan if you will.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:10] Rotate jobs among your employees. You want to cross-reference job descriptions. You want to have multiple people. Now, you’re going to have everyone under the sun have access to confidential information, your financials for sure, but cross-train. Enforce your regular hours. Why in the world is a team member in your office coming in at 6:00 in the morning and leaving 9 o’clock at night on a Friday or Monday through Thursday? And, why is your employee coming in on Saturdays and Sundays? And, are you checking your alarms for access? Are you checking your logs? Who’s coming in, who’s coming out? You may want to cross-reference and divide your financial responsibilities.

Stuart Oberman: [00:07:58] For goodness sakes, check your bank statements. If you are a solo practitioner, recommendation would be to have those sent to your home. After you look at them, then you could give them to the team member, or if you’re a small practice, you’re the sole owner, maybe multiple locations, have them sent to your house or your P.O. Box.

Stuart Oberman: [00:08:19] I said before eliminate petty cash. So, we could just question, you know, Stuart, you know, how do we know? What are the signs that employees may be embezzling? Flag giveaway. Failure to receive financial information in a timely manner. Let me tell you this. It’s not your employees are too busy, they don’t want to give you information. You’re asking, you’re asking and you’re asking for information, you’re not getting it. There’s a really good reason why in the world you are not getting your financials.

Stuart Oberman: [00:08:53] Employees resist change to an accounting system. Bingo. Accountability. We run into this a lot when our younger doctors who are all tech, all tech, are buying well-established practices who are not as tech. The well-established employees in those practices are kicking and screaming to change the accounting system. Why? It’s not because they don’t like you. It’s because they’re stealing their doctor blind.

Stuart Oberman: [00:09:30] Unexplained accounting adjustments. Let me tell you this. You better check, you better audit your files once a month. I don’t care if it’s 25 or 50. You better understand adjustments. Why are adjustments being made or do we make it for? Is it because Aunt Sarah was a great customer or is it because your employee, the front desk, is stealing you blind by adjustments?

Stuart Oberman: [00:09:55] In today’s world we used to say, well, you know, our collections have slowed if you’re drilling and feeling like no tomorrow, and all of a sudden you’re figuring out where your revenue’s at. Your billing cycle is good, you’ve got a huge problem.

Stuart Oberman: [00:10:10] So, what do you do? What do you do? What do you do? What do you do? First and foremost, you never, ever, ever confront the employee. You’re going to say, are you stealing from me? What are they going to say? Yes, I’m stealing you blind. So, you never confront the employee. First and foremost, hire a counselor who understands employee embezzlement on the dental side. And then, get a forensic accountant that understands auditing, that understands the Dentrix, that now understands open-source systems under today’s technology world. Do they understand the software? Do they understand Eaglesoft? So, those are just things you have to keep in mind.

Stuart Oberman: [00:11:00] Spot audit if you suspect there’s employee embezzlement. Take 25, take 30 files. Audit those files like there’s no tomorrow. Where’s the money going? Where’s the money staying? Is it coming into credit card accounts? Do you even know where your money is going? Are you looking at your EOBs? Are you reconciling your day sheets, your credit cards? What are you doing? How are you looking at it?

Stuart Oberman: [00:11:24] I will tell you, your CPA has absolutely no clue regarding embezzlement. If you think that you’re relying on your CPA to catch your embezzlement, you are grossly and sadly mistaken. Your CPA, on average the general CPA that does dental work has absolutely no clue regarding employee embezzlement or how to handle it.

Stuart Oberman: [00:11:48] So, what do you do? First and foremost, again, obtain legal counsel. Get a strategy. Work with an outside CPA or on a forensic audit. Figure out what you have, what you don’t have, and then confront. If you suspect embezzlement, everyone in your office is in play including, I’m going to say this and I’m sorry ladies and gentlemen, but your spouses. Your spouses. That is right, your spouse.

Stuart Oberman: [00:12:19] I will never forget. One of our doctors was missing about 60 to $80,000 in funds. Come to find out, the doctor was having an affair and the wife was stealing off the top to build a war chest for divorce. And then, that’s where our doctor’s 60 to $80,000 went. You can’t buy this information. So, everyone is in play, including your partners, spouses, partner’s spouses, the longtime assistants. You cannot believe who will be stealing from you.

Stuart Oberman: [00:13:00] So, overall, if you suspect that there is employee embezzlement, chances are you’re probably correct. Start with an internal audit. Start with what don’t I know. Get help immediately. Get access to information quickly. And then, formulate a game plan before you confront the employee who’s never ever in their life going to tell you, yeah, I’m stealing you blind.

Stuart Oberman: [00:13:33] And, if you think for one second that your local police department is going to help you recover 2 or $300,000, guess again. One, they’re under enormous pressure. Our police departments on a local level are under enormous pressure. They’re understaffed. During a working environment that I’ve never seen before in my life, they’re dealing with gangs, murderers, rapists, large-time thieves. Do you think they, I’m not going to say they don’t care but they don’t have the time to worry about a dentist who’s had a couple of $100,000 stolen from them.

Stuart Oberman: [00:14:19] So, again, it’s a five-hour broadcast that I could talk with all day. Take a look at what you have. If you suspect you have embezzlement, your gut instinct is probably right. Take the steps on what you need to do to get it under control and move forward.

Stuart Oberman: [00:14:36] Folks, thank you very much for joining the podcast on employee embezzlement. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to give us a call, Oberman Law Firm. My name is Stuart Oberman, 770-886-2400, or email me at stuart, S-T-U-A-R-T, @obermanlaw.com. Thanks for joining us and have a fantastic day.

 

About Dental Law Radio

Hosted by Stuart Oberman, a nationally recognized authority in dental law, Dental Law Radio covers legal, business, and other operating issues and topics of vital concern to dentists and dental practice owners. The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

Stuart Oberman, Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm
Stuart Oberman, host of “Dental Law Radio”

Stuart Oberman is the founder and President of Oberman Law Firm. Mr. Oberman graduated from Urbana University and received his law degree from John Marshall Law School. Mr. Oberman has been practicing law for over 25 years, and before going into private practice, Mr. Oberman was in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 Company. Mr. Oberman is widely regarded as the go-to attorney in the area of Dental Law, which includes DSO formation, corporate business structures, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, advertising regulations, HIPAA, Compliance, and employment law regulations that affect dental practices.

In addition, Mr. Oberman’s expertise in the health care industry includes advising clients in the complex regulatory landscape as it relates to telehealth and telemedicine, including compliance of corporate structures, third-party reimbursement, contract negotiations, technology, health care fraud and abuse law (Anti-Kickback Statute and the State Law), professional liability risk management, federal and state regulations.

As the long-term care industry evolves, Mr. Oberman has the knowledge and experience to guide clients in the long-term care sector with respect to corporate and regulatory matters, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). In addition, Mr. Oberman’s practice also focuses on health care facility acquisitions and other changes of ownership, as well as related licensure and Medicare/Medicaid certification matters, CCRC registrations, long-term care/skilled nursing facility management, operating agreements, assisted living licensure matters, and health care joint ventures.

In addition to his expertise in the health care industry, Mr. Oberman has a nationwide practice that focuses on all facets of contractual disputes, including corporate governance, fiduciary duty, trade secrets, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, trademark and copyright infringement, fraud, and deceptive trade practices, and other business-related matters. Mr. Oberman also represents clients throughout the United States in a wide range of practice areas, including mergers & acquisitions, partnership agreements, commercial real estate, entity formation, employment law, commercial leasing, intellectual property, and HIPAA/OSHA compliance.

Mr. Oberman is a national lecturer and has published articles in the U.S. and Canada.

LinkedIn

Oberman Law Firm

Oberman Law Firm has a long history of civic service, noted national, regional, and local clients, and stands among the Southeast’s eminent and fast-growing full-service law firms. Oberman Law Firm’s areas of practice include Business Planning, Commercial & Technology Transactions, Corporate, Employment & Labor, Estate Planning, Health Care, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Privacy & Data Security, and Real Estate.

By meeting their client’s goals and becoming a trusted partner and advocate for our clients, their attorneys are recognized as legal go-getters who provide value-added service. Their attorneys understand that in a rapidly changing legal market, clients have new expectations, constantly evolving choices, and operate in an environment of heightened reputational and commercial risk.

Oberman Law Firm’s strength is its ability to solve complex legal problems by collaborating across borders and practice areas.

Connect with Oberman Law Firm:

Company website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Tagged With: Dental Law Radio, dental practice management, dental practices, embezzlement, Employee Embezzlement, employee theft, Oberman Law Firm, Stuart Oberman

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