Snapshot
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Client Industry: Healthcare / Multi-Practice Medical Group
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Engagement Type: Recorded Telephone Mystery Shopping
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Locations: Multiple physician offices, various specialties
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Program Scope: Appointment-setting behaviors, wait times, friendliness, and pre-appointment patient service quality
The Challenge
For medical practices, appointment setting, wait times, and friendliness shape the patient’s first impression — and often determine whether they follow through with the visit.
A large group of busy doctors’ offices wanted clear insight into how associates handled incoming appointment requests. The physicians needed answers to critical questions:
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Do associates make new patients feel welcome on the phone?
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Are long appointment wait times communicated clearly and empathetically?
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How many days or weeks is the first available appointment?
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Are staff aligning with the organization’s patient care standards?
Leadership suspected gaps in tone, professionalism, and consistency. They asked Confero to conduct a pre-appointment doctor office service evaluation to uncover the truth behind the patient experience.
The Objective
The doctors’ group engaged Confero to:
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Measure appointment-setting behaviors across multiple practices
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Evaluate tone, friendliness, and professionalism
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Assess clarity around wait times and appointment availability
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Identify whether associate behavior supported or discouraged new patients
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Provide recorded calls for manager coaching and accountability
The goal was to strengthen patient experience from the very first touchpoint.
Why Pre-Appointment Doctor Office Service Evaluations Matter
A patient’s journey begins long before they walk through the door.
If the first call feels rushed, unfriendly, or frustrating, patients may:
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Delay care
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Choose a competing practice
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Arrive already dissatisfied
Evaluating appointment-setting calls helps practices ensure that every patient feels welcomed, supported, and confident in choosing that provider.
The Approach
1. Customized Surveys for Each Type of Practice
Confero partnered with the group to design targeted evaluation tools:
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Each specialty received its own survey tailored to patient expectations
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Guidelines instructed shoppers on what insurance they “had,” what condition they were calling about, and how to respond naturally
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Calls were designed to sound like genuine patient inquiries
This ensured evaluations reflected realistic patient conversations.
2. Recorded Telephone Mystery Shops
All calls were recorded, allowing managers and physicians to:
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Hear tone and manner firsthand
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Confirm appointment-setting accuracy
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Understand how wait times were communicated
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Identify where friendliness or helpfulness fell short
Hearing actual examples made coaching more effective and grounded in real interactions.
3. Identifying Gaps in Patient Care Standards
Mystery shop results revealed several issues:
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Some associates did not communicate appointment availability in a welcoming way
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Tone varied widely across offices and staff members
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Long wait times were sometimes delivered with no empathy or context
These findings enabled targeted retraining and praise for associates handling calls well.
The Results
Improved Consistency in Patient Care
Using mystery shop findings, practice leaders were able to:
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Recognize and reward associates delivering excellent patient service
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Retrain staff whose tone, clarity, or helpfulness did not meet expectations
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Standardize appointment-setting behaviors across offices
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Improve communication around wait times and office availability
Over time, recorded calls showed measurable improvement — with associates demonstrating more warmth, clarity, and consistency.
Stronger First-Impression Experience
The practices achieved:
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More welcoming initial patient interactions
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Reduced caller frustration
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Better alignment with care standards
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Increased confidence in the appointment-setting process
Improved appointment setting, wait times, and friendliness enhanced patient experience from the first contact forward.
Key Takeaway Box
Recorded telephone mystery shops revealed tone, friendliness, wait-time communication, and appointment-setting behaviors — enabling practices to improve consistency and strengthen patient care.
Looking Forward
Medical practices rely on phone interactions to shape trust, access, and patient confidence. Confero supports healthcare organizations with:
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Appointment-setting evaluations
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Patient service and tone assessments
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Wait-time communication measurement
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Multi-specialty call center audits
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Recorded shop programs for coaching and training
Want to understand how your appointment-setting experience impacts patient care?
Contact Confero to explore a targeted telephone mystery shop.
