Secret shoppers can scope out your customer service

When you're with patients, you still need to know what's going on throughout your office. While you're the most important person the patient talks to, you probably aren't making the first or the last impression.

Satisfaction surveys are good for emotional feedback, but some physicians also use secret-shopper techniques. Whether it's hiring someone to grade your staff on how long they let the phone ring or keep people on hold, or calling on your own to gauge responsiveness and accessibility, it's just another way to anticipate issues patients may have.

With satisfaction grades becoming a vital element of physician scorecards and patients consistently proving they are willing to go elsewhere, doctors need to be conscious of the practice's overall image, consultants said. Sometimes, though, that feedback can come too late.

"I'm a big believer in going to your customer and finding out what you're doing right or wrong," said Barbara Reich, a health care marketing consultant in New York City. "[Secret shopping] is a tactic a lot of doctors can use."

Others may already be using it. For example, Cleveland-based Medical Mutual of Ohio used to make secret shopping a regular way to test accessibility of the 15,000-plus physicians in its network. The insurer still makes after-hours calls to test answering services.

Accessibility monitoring is one piece of Medical Mutual's overall quality improvement program, and the measurement process has helped physicians concentrate more on those issues, said Robert Rzewnicki, MD, chief medical officer.

"To have people improve, we need to tell them what we expect," he said. "I think almost all physicians take this information, and that stimulates them to look back at their own experiences in practice."

The 80 clinics in the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System have been tested through secret shopper phone surveys and mystery visitor programs. Callers to the practices simply ask for directions, but they grade the staff on many facets of customer service, said Debbie Justis, RN, nurse clinician for ambulatory care.

"We're assessing their level of concern," she said. "We see how many times we're transferred, how long we're on hold, how many times the phone rings, [and] if the staff is rude or polite."

Checking phone etiquette or open appointment slots can be easy and inexpensive. A spouse or a friend can do it in a matter of minutes, and some physicians make calls themselves to check on staff responsiveness. Others make a point to check on how employees interact with patients.

Joseph Yellin, DO, a neurologist in Brooklyn, N.Y., said since his office is close to the reception desk, he can keep an ear on conversations with patients. He also realizes how difficult that job can be.

"I say this as a joke, but if it wasn't for my secretary's patience with the patients, I probably wouldn't have much of a practice," he said.

After anticipating potential problems and making corrective changes, a practice can still gauge its progress through patient feedback. While questionnaires work, consultants also suggest focus groups, where eight or 10 patients are invited to offer comments about their experiences at the office.

"When you do things like that with people who are sincere, you get great feedback," Reich said. "Patients are so flattered to be a part of it."