Patient satisfaction is one of the most important factors in growing and maintaining a successful practice. How satisfied are your patients/clients with their experiences with your organization? Are their interactions with your staff positive ones? Are new patients likely to return, or will they choose your competitors instead?

From the first phone call to your facility to follow-up visits, patients/clients have multiple points of contact with your staff. Every interaction has the potential to be a positive moment-of-truth—or leave patients frustrated, bewildered or angry. Mystery shoppers provide insights that complement the results of patient satisfaction surveys, providing valuable qualitative data that better substantiates your ratings. Through mystery shopping, healthcare organizations, physicians and staff are able to see themselves and their practice through their patients’/clients’ eyes, which could reveal facets of your business that you normally would not see.

Examine Your Practice®, a TrendSource service, has successfully completed thousands of healthcare service evaluations nationwide. Our rated Medical Mystery Shoppers are specially trained to identify staff development needs and recognize service enhancement opportunities. As a result, our clients enjoy an increase in patient/client retention, referrals and treatment acceptance. In addition, Examine Your Practice® Mystery Shopping solutions experts can design and develop a customized Healthcare Mystery Shopping program that:

• Delivers actionable data that can drive patient/client satisfaction initiatives
• Measures performance and monitors compliance with government regulations and insurance directives
• Monitors manufacturers’ guidelines on standards of practice, product and procedure knowledge
• Ensure accuracy of information provided to patients
• Enhances profitability and identifies cross-sell opportunities

The Gold Standard In Mystery Shopping Examine Your Practice® is recognized as the nation’s leading expert in Healthcare Mystery Shopping. TrendSource has conducted Mystery Shopping for over 20 years, and is a founding member of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA). We are one of the few companies in the industry that is certified by the International Organization of Standards, more commonly known as ISO. ISO measures documentation and standards with regular audits. Our proprietary ETHOS ™ method ensures Ethical Healthcare Observations that comply with the highest industry standards. We offer customizable Healthcare Mystery Shopping solutions for every budget, from single-practitioner offices to the most complex medical group, healthcare system or provider. Find out how your organization is perceived through one of these flexible programs

Our most comprehensive evaluation begins with the phone call to schedule the appointment, and continues during the first visit. Our Healthcare Secret Shoppers evaluate the front office staff, clinical staff and doctors’ interpersonal skills, as well as exterior and interior office ambience. We do not evaluate clinical skills. The patient presents with a non-emergent complaint or for a new patient consultation. Clients receive a comprehensive evaluation with detailed section narratives and actionable areas for improvement.

Our Medical Mystery Shopper will visit the facility and interact with front office staff. Our Mystery Shopper presents a believable scenario, then evaluates key variables including the reception staff response time, interpersonal skills, procedure and policy knowledge, first-available appointments, and overall facility ambience, exterior and interior. Walk-In Healthcare Secret Shoppers are not seen by the clinical staff. Clients receive a three-section questionnaire compilation with detailed section narratives and actionable areas for improvement.

Under your direction our Secret Shopper will accompany your bona fide patient throughout their experience. We observe and report in detail the patient’s customer service experience and interactions with clinical staff. Accompanied Patient Observations provide valuable, accurate information to improve patient satisfaction for your organization’s emergency departments, intake, ambulatory services and the inpatient experience.

Telephone Mystery Shopping provides an unbiased evaluation of a caller’s first impression of your organization. Our Healthcare Secret Shoppers evaluate phone etiquette, hold times, scheduling, automated systems, compliance with your policies, scripting and procedures. Phone Mystery Shopping will help determine the number of potential new patients/clients you may be losing. Experienced Healthcare Mystery Shoppers will present a detailed evaluation with an extensive narrative and actionable areas for improvement. Clients have the option of receiving the call reports, with or without recordings.

With prior written consent, a TrendSource representative will call the bona fide patient at various intervals during their course of treatment or shortly following their visit to your organization. Patient Surveys may be provided prior to their visit for review. Patients are then better prepared for our call. For patients, the time involved is kept at a minimum because our team records the information provided during a simple phone call. If our clients’ prefer, we will strictly protect the identity of patients, respecting the relationship between the patient and provider. This allows for a completely candid interview.

TrendSource is dedicated to providing superior service and offers a 100% client satisfaction and completion guarantee. We maintain a national database of over 40,000 qualified Field Agents specially trained in Healthcare Mystery Shopping. Our Secret Shoppers are educated on the specific needs of each client and tested on their project knowledge before completing a given assignment. Compliance with HIPAA regulations, safety, confidentiality and the provision of objective observations are our top priorities when fulfilling client assignments.

TrendSource offers comprehensive web-based reporting capabilities to clients. Our proprietary technologies provide access to online reports “real time” as data is submitted. Clients can log on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year via a dedicated web server using a confidential username and password. Website reports include statistical and/or numerical data, as well as visual charts and graphs to aid in understanding the data. Immediate email alerts are sent to report any noncompliant activity. Telephone Mystery Shopping clients also have the option of receiving the call reports, with or without recordings. Both recordings and questionnaires are delivered via our secure client web site.

Our proprietary ETHOS™ method ensures Ethical Healthcare Observations that comply with the highest industry standards for the use of our summarized findings. Our reputation is based on the philosophy that:

• Ethical Healthcare Mystery shopping requires specific knowledge and expertise; we guarantee both. TrendSource and Examine Your Practice work closely with our clients to create a custom program that satisfies their objectives and provides viable patient satisfaction enhancement solutions. We recommend that feedback is used exclusively to monitor and improve service and ambience. It may also be a valuable tool to reward and recognize exemplary employees. We believe that mystery shopping programs are well received by all staff members when they are made aware prior to implementation. Information is never released to unauthorized third parties and our Field Agents (mystery patients) are committed to confidentiality.
• Healthcare Mystery Shopping is a specialty unto itself. Practitioners, Organizations, Manufacturers, Long Term Care and Assisted Living Facilities trust Examine Your Practice and Jodi Manfredi to provide Medical Mystery Shopping with professionalism, accuracy and consistent best practice. Leading the health care team, Jodi is considered the nation’s foremost expert in the field of Healthcare Mystery Shopping. She is the go-to spokesperson for national media seeking articulate, accurate industry information.
• Observations are provided by our carefully selected Field Agents, also known as Healthcare Secret Shoppers. They undergo a stringent application and training process, are rated and held accountable for the quality of data that they provide. Our Healthcare Mystery Shopping is performed in compliance with industry safety recommendations. We ensure Patient Safety by educating our Field Agents to recognize true emergent patients and will reveal their identity so not to take precedence over a bona fide patient. Field Agent Safety is essential; they will not undergo invasive procedures or accept treatment that is not in the scope of their assignment.
  Please contact us us to learn how you can increase patient retention, grow new patient referrals and enhance the profitability of your business.
  

"We have been extremely pleased with the mystery shopping service we have received from Examine Your Practice. The information provided by their mystery shoppers is a valuable tool for us to consistently monitor and improve patient relations."

Janelle Emery
Director of Operations
Tenet Healthcare Corporation
Frisco, TX

"Examine Your Practice has provided us with exceptional service on a continued basis for over a year. The information gathered by their mystery shoppers has been an extremely helpful means to monitor and improve customer service and the environment of the multiple Nursing Homes to which we provide consultative services."

Sandy Deakins, MPH, NHA
Director of Facility Compliance
Care Centers Management Group
Johnson City, TN

"We have had great success with the implementation of a mystery shopping program for the cosmetic surgeons, dermatologists and other physicians that have purchased our laser equipment. The evaluations provided by Examine Your Practice have proved to be an excellent aid for staff sales and customer service training."

Lauren Asplin
Practice Support Coordinator
Syneron Inc.
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada

"Mystery shopping our practices provided extremely valuable patient insight. We were immediately able to recognize areas in need of improvement and what truly drives patient satisfaction. I highly recommend Examine Your Practice a TrendSource Service; the “mystery patients” sent to our practice were professional and delivered accurate, detailed evaluations as promised."

Dr. Danny Song
Pain Care of San Diego