Pre-appointment Doctor Office Service Evaluations Needed
When you run a medical practice, appointment setting at the doctors’ offices, wait times and friendliness are a vital part of your business model. A group of busy doctors’ offices wanted details on how associates sounded on the phone when setting appointments. Did they make the new patient feel welcome? Or was the call discouraging to the caller due to the long wait for an appointment? How many days or weeks was it for the first available appointment? These questions and more were of interest to the doctors in the office.
The team suspected that the associates were not meeting organization’s patient care standards in these areas and others. Confero was asked to investigate this on behalf of the patients they served.
Recorded Telephone Mystery Shops Conducted
Investigating pre-appointment doctors’ office service evaluations of patient care was their goal. Confero’s telephone mystery shops solved this information need.
We worked with the group to devise a survey that was customized for each type of practice. Each type of office also had its own guidelines with information on questions shoppers would be asked (For example, “What insurance do you have?”) and answers to provide, so that mystery shoppers sounded like typical patients.
Additionally, the calls were recorded, allowing managers to hear for themselves the associates’ tones and information offered. In some cases, the shops revealed that an employee’s tone was not welcoming and the wait times were long for an appointment.
Results =Consistent Patient Care Service
When the calls revealed how appointment setting, wait times and friendliness standards were met and by which staff members. Then, the doctors’ offices used the mystery shop information to compliment staff on phone calls that were well done. Additionally, it used the information to retrain associates when the call was not satisfactory.
Over time, the recorded phone shops showed improved associate behaviors, resulting in more offices offering consistent patient care service. Appointment setting at doctors’ offices wait times & friendliness improved their patient care from initial contact.
Learn more about Confero’s telephone mystery shop capabilities.
