The concept of mystery shopping is not new, it originated many years ago in the retail industry.And, it's a form of market research.

As the industry continues to focus on the patient experience, similar to a 5-star hotel experience, mystery shoppers can be a great way to provide direct feedback on their experience with a health care business.

However, mystery shoppers come with some controversy.Below is a snippet taken from the the attached article,

https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/secret-shoppers-and-conflicts-interest/2013-02

What if you were the clinic manager and found out that you were going to have mystery shoppers or what if you didn't even know until after the fact?Does a process like this really improve healthcarequality?