So I've done a whole bunch of mystery shops for Baird Group. They specialize in medical shops, which means you're contacting and visiting hospitals and clinics. They've always been reliable on payment and reimbursement.

Most of the time you'll be doing phone shops. They give you a specific scenario (such as you need to make an appointment for your mother) and you call up the number and see how it goes. This isn't recorded, so you'll need to take notes. You then fill out a survey that asks you rate how friendly the attendant was, how knowledgeable they were, and so forth. You sometimes have to write a narrative at the end, while in other cases you just write short blurbs for each section. The work level is quite reasonable.

The best shops are the walkthroughs and patient visits. This is where you get to visit an actual medical center and report back. They pay well and are pretty straightforward. For the walkthroughs, you simply sit in the waiting area for 30 minutes and observe what it's like. If anyone asks, you're meeting someone there for their appointment. You also take some photos of the exterior and the interior of the place.

For the patient visits, you actually make an appointment and go to it. It's just like a normal visit to the doctor, only you're observing what happens and reporting back. One of the great things about this is you can often go there for legitimate medical concerns. I had an issue with a persistent cough and did a doctor visit for that. I then got paid for the mystery shop and was reimbursed. Even if you don't have a current medical issue, they can give you scenarios for why you might want to come in.

I know they need people from all over the U.S., because the job board often offers shops in Maryland, Ohio, California, Texas, and so on.