One way to confirm that Medicare beneficiaries are receiving accurate & compliant information during marketing events and personal appointments, is to utilize secret shoppers.
CMS secret shoppers measure quality of service and compliance with Medicare regulations as a way to gather specific information about products and services.
Most of the time, secret shoppers don't find anything wrong. In 2014, 85.5% of the events that were secret shopped by CMS were found to be compliant. But the concern is still one that we hear about— "What do I do if a secret shopper attends an event or schedules an appointment with me?"
While the concern is valid, it shouldn't scare you. Secret shoppers may ask you a lot of questions, but they aren't trying to trick you into giving incorrect information. Every CMS secret shopper fills out the same survey and are looking for the same things. View a previous survey.
If you take your time and answer the questions compliantly, you'll avoid a bad score or the threat of a CMS complaint. If you are unsure of the answer to a question, be honest. It's better to tell the beneficiary that you are not sure of the answer than to give them incorrect information.
We've created this Secret Shopper Checklist to help you remain compliant during your appointments. Whether the appointment is with a potential secret shopper or a returning client, this checklist can be used to help you go over all the information to make a compliant presentation.
If you have all the correct product information and if more than 85% of events can pass without compliance issues, so can yours.
Do you have other questions about secret shoppers or presentations? Fill out the form below to ask questions or let us know what other compliance topics would you like to hear about.
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Cannot find the secret shopper checklist