214-998-4550
mfulton@verifyinternational.com

Healthcare

Measuring Customer Experiences Since 1986

Verify HealthCare – Solutions for the HealthCare, Senior Living, and Health Insurance Industries

Verify HealthCare, a division of Verify International, is dedicated to the healthcare and health insurance industry. We show you how to take better care of your patients, residents, and prospective customers by describing what they experience at your facility or call center. We do this through confidential, real-time, secret patient shopping. With the data collected, we measure the service and care your team provides via our customized, web-based Dashboard Scorecards.

We have over 25 years of experience and have partnered with successful healthcare organizations across the country, from hospice, senior living, and medical insurance providers to medical clinics and major hospital systems.

 Understand the Patient Experience

If you’re not measuring care giver and support staff performance, poor service may occur on a regular basis and you might never hear about it or be able to correct it! In today’s competitive environment, it’s more important than ever to know how you are treating your patients and visitors on a daily basis.

In fact, the AMA’s Ethical & Judicial Affairs report has concluded that, “Physicians have an ethical responsibility to engage in activities that contribute to continual improvements in patient care. One method for promoting such quality improvement is through the use of secret shopper “patients” who have been appropriately trained to provide feedback about performance in the clinical setting.”

Secret patient shopper surveys are performed anonymously by our experienced industry professionals. Our shoppers use objective criteria, based upon client operating standards, to provide a detailed snapshot of the patient/visitor experience. We then post results in real time via our secure, web-based shopper dashboard, which our clients have access to 24/7. We can also schedule interviews with managers and staff to summarize operational issues and concerns, highlight strengths and weaknesses, and provide recommendations for improvement.

Methodologies

1) Secret Patient Site Visits: We show you how to take better care of your patients by describing what they experience at your facility. We do this through confidential, real-time, secret patient shopping. With the data collected, we measure the service and care your team provides via our customized, web-based Dashboard Scorecards.

The benefits of the Secret Patient Shopper include:

  • Understand the patient/customer experience first-hand.
  • Uncover actionable data to close gaps and scale best practices.
  • Improve patient loyalty and advocacy.
  • Ensure regulatory compliance.
  • Increase ROI and reduce risk.
  • Gain an edge on the competition.

Our clinic audits can be implemented in a variety of medical practices and are designed to rate patient service and the physical condition of a facility. The personal attention given to patients by your staff can provide valuable information for decision-making and planning purposes. For example, the mystery “patient” visits the office/clinic under the pretense of being new to the area and expresses interest in either making an appointment or gathering general information.

These shopper visits include detailed assessments of the following:

  • Wait times
  • Interpersonal Skills / Service Etiquette
  • Policy knowledge / Professionalism
  • Appointment Setting
  • Facility Ambiance and Cleanliness

2) Telephone Mystery Shops: Do you think strategically about your phones? We measure what matters in your customer experience, and phone calls are a critical part of your customer’s experience with your brand. We help you ensure your contact centers, locations, and automated phone services are meeting your customer’s needs.

Telephone shop calls are placed to the facility from individual shoppers to simulate a “real” patient, customer, visitor, or even a prospective job applicant. Calls are digitally recorded and scored based upon a set of pre-determined standards.

For example, we can conduct phone shops of the following:

  • Call centers for hospital and medical clinics
  • Call centers for health insurance agencies and brokers
  • Senior living guest services / concierge / sales managers
  • Human resources department (job applicant process)
  • Office receptionist
  • Appointment / reservation calls

Our phone shops assess first impressions via our exclusive internet voice recording technology. Scenarios can be designed to measure operational performance against phone policy standards and can describe access to care as represented by appointment lag. Information gathering techniques used by front desk staff, phone etiquette, automated recordings, number of rings, hold time, returned message protocol, sensitivity to patient, policy and scripting compliance, product/procedure knowledge, and sales skills can all be measured. As an augmentation to the appointment setting call, we can also survey the behaviors of staff when a patient is calling to cancel an appointment.

Our operators can also contact your customers to gauge customer satisfaction & loyalty. Your customers will appreciate the personalized attention and the opportunity to provide positive feedback or convey a problem. Many of our clients have discovered that their customers’ loyalty is hard won and worth preserving. Getting a true assessment of your relative strengths and weaknesses can have a significant impact of your market position and customer retention.

Telephone Mystery Shopping helps determine the number of potential new patients/clients you may be losing. Our experienced healthcare mystery shoppers present a detailed scorecard with a detailed supporting narrative.

3) Sales Proficiency / Compliance Shops: These are random or targeted phone calls or visits conducted by our professional shoppers to help determine how effectively your sales team responds to inquiries from someone interested in health insurance or transitioning to a senior living community.  Typically, these are performed for health insurance agencies, senior living communities, memory care / assisted living facilities, private treatment centers, and nursing homes. We present as a potential insurance customer interested in purchasing a policy, or a family member of a loved one in need of special care or a place to live.

We evaluate the chronology of the sales cycle to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in the following:

  • First Impressions
  • Building Trust/Empathy
  • Listening Skills
  • Determining Needs
  • Relating to Prospect
  • Presenting Solutions
  • Determining Sales Accuracy / Policy Compliance
  • Closing / Making a Purchase
  • Follow-up
  • Lasting Impressions

4) Web Site Shops: The client’s website is audited for its functionality, navigability, accuracy, and responsiveness to general inquiries.

Access to Critical Information

Combined with our assortment of cloud-based measuring tools, our shopper program can help you answer the following questions:

  • Are our operators/clinical receptionists/sales reps handling phone inquiries promptly and efficiently?
  • Are our clinics and waiting rooms clean and well-maintained?
  • How long is the wait in the ER?
  • How can we better recognize and reward our outstanding employees?
  • How knowledgeable and friendly are our agents/customer experience representatives?
  • Are our way finding procedures efficient and visitor friendly?
  • Do we need additional sales or patient experience training?
  • Is our sales team effectively promoting the community to maintain high occupancy rates?

Our secret patient shopping program for healthcare facilities is designed to be a positive reinforcement tool for continuous improvement, giving clients critical insight into operational strengths and deficiencies. All questions on our shopper surveys are tailored to reflect your organization’s standards of performance, so that the final scorecard is accurate. Our software allows complete customization with ability to aggregate scores and graphs for multiple locations.

Facility & Environmental Services Inspections

Our housekeeping audits and inspections rate cleanliness and sanitation levels, maintenance, and overall staff performance. We help you pinpoint areas that need improvement. For hospital administrators, vendor performance can be monitored to ensure compliance to contractual obligations.

We provide objective, accurate appraisals from multiple perspectives, including patients, visitors, and staff. Plus, our new ATP rapid hygiene testing procedure detects residue and bacteria that’s invisible to the naked eye. This testing can help to reduce HAIs (hospital acquired infections), which can limit risk and save the hospital money.

Additional Services

Support Services Shopper Audit

Are non-medical support services consistently performing at a high level to enhance the facility’s reputation for quality and create a positive impression for patients, visitors, and staff? We shop all ancillary services, including valet parking, guest services, way finding, food service, room service, concierge, retail outlets, etc.

Human Resources Shopper Audit

Is your HR staff handling incoming calls and job applications in a timely fashion? Are they treating applicants as potential customers or future valued employees? Are you satisfied with efforts to recruit excellent employees? If not, then perhaps you should consider auditing your hiring process. Verify International can assess HR performance and help you determine if changes are needed.

Security / Safety Dept. Surveys

How is your Security Department staff performing? Are they proactive and quick to respond to emergency situations?  We will rate security performance by surveying hospital staff who work directly with security personnel. Our tried and tested survey procedures will identify potential problem areas and initiate dialogue for improvement.

For more detailed information regarding our healthcare auditing services for hospitals, clinics, senior living, and healthcare insurance, please call us at 972-699-0424. Or, email us at info@verifyinternational.com.