Mystery Patients

Do patients feel welcome in your medical office, hospital, clinic, nursing home, or assisted living community?

Do they recommend your services to family and friends?

Mystery patients can find out what is really happening!

Who are Mystery Patients?
Benefits of Mystery Patients
Organizations we Serve
Areas of Evaluation
Levels of Service
Post-Mystery Patient Skills Building

Who are Mystery Patients?

Mystery patients are highly-trained evaluators who provide insights into how well everyone in the practice, hospital or other facility is treating them and meeting their needs.  Everyone is evaluated from the receptionists to the physicians.

The mystery patients come prepared with a scenario (e.g., chief complaint of allergies) and list of questions to ask. They are very prepared, yet come across as any other patient visiting your office.  The scenarios are customized to your specific needs. For example, we would have different scenarios for a plastic surgery practice than we would for a dermatology practice.

Benefits of Mystery Patients

Surveys only provide limited information. Patient satisfaction surveys give you only glimpse as to what is actually taking place in your medical center, practice or other facility. Our mystery patient program will give you an in-depth look at what is really happening!  Patients have little motivation to give you detailed feedback on surveys. However, our well trained mystery patients can provide valuable information.

Find the issues. Studies estimate that over 90% of people who have an unpleasant customer service experience never say anything. They just go elsewhere.  Your patients may be going elsewhere and you do not know the reason(s).  A mystery patient program is an excellent method of determining what your patients are experiencing.

Customer service as a deal-maker or deal-breaker. When all other factors are relatively equal (e.g., location, pricing, medical tests), customer service is often the key to patient success. Our mystery patient program can help you identify what is working and what needs improvement. The focus is on retaining current patients and creating great impressions on new patients.

Monitor employee performance and compliance with guidelines (e.g., HIPPA).  Our mystery patients provide detailed information as to employee understanding of procedures and following privacy and other regulations.

Gain new patients. Good news for you! Many mystery patients become your real patients!

Organizations we Serve

• Medical Practices
• Dental Practices
• Hospitals
• Long-term care facilities
• Assisted living communities

(We also work with other types of facilities, please call for more information.)

Areas of Evaluation

The mystery patients evaluate every aspect of your organization, including the following areas:

Physical environment

• Exterior appearance
• Interior appearance (e.g., waiting rooms, exam rooms)
• Cleanliness
• Maintenance

Staff interaction

• Following compliance rules (e.g., HIPPA)
• Not discussing personal matters in front of patients

Customer service

• Friendliness of administrative and clinical professionals
• Communication skills
• Service / product knowledge
• Ease of making appointments

Levels of Service

Telephone Experience. This service evaluates a patients' first impression, which is critical.  We closely analyze the experience for friendliness, telephone etiquette, hold times, scheduling and knowledge of services. You may be losing patients at this point at not even know it! After our mystery patient has completed the call, a complete and highly detailed evaluation is presented to your organization.

Initial Office Experience.  The mystery patient will visit your organization and interact only with administrative staff members at the front desk. Clinical professionals are not seen. They are prepared with a credible story. Their observations will include the reception staff's communication skills, response time and policy knowledge. The mystery patient also evaluates the environment, such as the waiting room. After our mystery patient has completed the visit, a complete and highly detailed evaluation is presented to your organization.

Comprehensive Experience. This package includes both the phone and initial office experience. This package also includes the additional feature of information on the interaction with clinical staff. This package provides the complete picture, such as an issue with a physician who would need skill building. After our mystery patient has completed the visits, a complete and highly detailed evaluation is presented to your organization.

Post-Mystery Patient Skills Building

Mystery patient programs are effectively combined with employee training and coaching of administrative and clinical professionals. After we have provided the results from the mystery patient program, we can follow up with training and coaching to enhance the areas that need improvement.