Medical mystery shopping has become more and more necessary and common with the health reform changes underway. The increased need to see more patients because of decreased reimbursements means that patients may potentially end up shortchanged when it comes to quality of care. It is important for medical practices to include mystery shopping in their medical marketing plans to optimize the opportunity for achieving growth goals while maintaining a high patient satisfaction rating.

35% of patients are lost because of how they were treated by the receptionist.

Medical Mystery Shopping provides the medical team with an in-depth view of the overall patient experience like no other report can because the source is from an outside perspective.  Mystery shopping often begins with an initial phone call into the practice and ends with a completed office visit. Medical shoppers are well trained and educated consumers who examine the medical practice on key points during their visit. They then rate these details to provide the medical practice with valuable insight into what changes are needed for positive growth. Knowing how your medical practice is perceived is one of the most important things you can do to better market your medical practice.

Medical Mystery Shopping has come a long way because of the improvements in data transmission and information sharing. Most shoppers have a specific set of checkpoints to rate the medical practice on. They know what to look for and will engage the staff to get the information they need to accurately grade the practice. Video and audio recording devices can easily be implemented to back up the findings of a mystery shop. The detailed, often real-time findings provided in a mystery shop report act as a catalyst for change. They provide the leadership team with the tools needed so they can work together to create meaningful solutions to any discovered problems.

It is important to leave mystery shopping to the professionals. While it is less expensive to have someone in house perform the duties of a mystery shopper, the results are less than ideal. The reason for this is that staff members will not have a truly objective perspective of the practice. In addition, mystery shoppers have access to a arsenal of reporting tools to provide the medical practice with the firm findings needed to facilitate change.

Taking a proactive approach to your medical practice marketing begins with measuring the overall patient experience. Mystery shopping takes patient surveys to an entirely new level. Don’t risk the success of your medical practice by ignoring the patient perspective. Take the steps needed to enhance the overall patient experience and position your practice as leaders in both patient care and patient experience. Your community will than you.