What would happen if someone used your professional identity as a doctor or healthcare professional to participate in research for their own financial gain? What if the research results were then used to make informed decisions about medical treatments, patient care, and healthcare needs? It is vital for every research panel to safeguard their panel members’ personal information, the collected data, and the quality of their research. Here’s why and how M3 panel member verification impacts patient safety.
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Our reliance on digital devices and technologies is increasing at an unprecedented rate. Today, almost anything can be accessed and accomplished online, from scheduling doctor’s appointments to accessing medical records or participating in healthcare market research. The pace of technological innovation and development is changing how we live, work, and communicate.
Digital transformation comes with its own set of challenges, including identity theft, cyberattacks, data breaches, and online scams. These issues underscore the importance of cybersecurity measures and the need to protect identities, personal information, and data integrity.
This is especially critical in the healthcare industry because the stakes involve personal privacy and the safety of individuals. Handling sensitive health information and research data requires utmost diligence and security measures. In healthcare, data integrity and confidentiality are paramount because they directly influence medical treatment plans, research outcomes, and patient safety.
Maintaining rigorous cybersecurity protocols, adopting a vigilant stance in protecting sensitive personal information, and safeguarding the quality of research data are indispensable actions to ensure the reliability of healthcare services and patient safety. As a leading healthcare market research company, we are taking all possible measures to ensure this is achieved. One of which is panel member verification.
What is a Market Research Panel and Why do Members Need to be Verified?
A market research panel in the healthcare industry refers to a group of individuals involved in healthcare. This includes doctors, specialists, nurses, dentists, administrators, pharmacists, and many more. These professionals have been brought together and selected for the common purpose of participating in healthcare market research studies.
In the M3 Global Research panel, members have access to paid market research studies specifically focused on their profession. In these studies, they provide expertise and perspectives on industry-specific products, services, and trends.
Panel member verification in our market research panels is crucial for maintaining the integrity, accuracy, and reliability of the research process and its outcomes. This is particularly important as the results of these market research studies drive healthcare decisions and future developments.
Here are five reasons to why we verify our panel members:
- Accuracy and Reliability: Verification ensures the panel members are who they claim to be, providing credibility to their responses. This is crucial in sectors like healthcare, where expert opinions significantly impact product development, policy-making, and patient care strategies.
- Fraud and Identity Theft Prevention: Verification helps in preventing fraudulent activities. It ensures participants cannot falsely claim identities or qualifications for incentives, thereby protecting healthcare professionals from identity theft and ensuring reliable research outcomes.
- Quality of Data: Verified members contribute to the high quality of research data. Knowing that responses come from qualified and genuine participants helps in making informed decisions based on the research findings.
- Targeted Insights: In market research, especially in specialised fields like healthcare, it’s essential to gather data from specific demographics or professionals. Panel member verification ensures the insights are coming from the right source, making the research more targeted and relevant.
- Compliance and Ethics: Especially in healthcare, where sensitive information and impactful decisions are involved, compliance with legal and ethical standards is paramount. Panel member verification supports adherence to these standards by ensuring that only authorised individuals have access to sensitive questions or data.
Verification Manual: How Does M3’s Panel Member Verification Work?
M3 Global Research is the world’s largest panel of verified healthcare professionals. Every time a healthcare professional wishes to register with our panel, they must undergo a verification process. The process includes 5 steps as outlined below and takes about 10 minutes. To verify your identity as part of the registration process, we use a recognised verification tool called Yoti, which is widely adopted and regularly used within the British healthcare system.
Yoti is a digital application that enables you to securely confirm your identity and later helps us ensure safer future payment transactions. Your personal data is kept completely secure, and Yoti will delete your data 180 days after the verification process is complete. For further details on how Yoti protects your data, please refer to their privacy policy.
As an M3 member, your personal information and identity are confidential and protected at all times through SLL encryption and never shared with anyone.
Our 5 Step Verification Process Takes 10 Minutes:
1. Fill in Personal Details
TIP: For steps 1 and 2, we recommend you have your identity card, and medical license for physicians, at hand to go through the verification process even quicker. If your residential address and your work address are in two different countries, please make sure to fill in the address where you work.
2. Fill in Professional Details
TIP: You’re able to go through this step without submitting your medical licence number (as a physician) or profession documentation and do it at a later stage. However, we recommend you provide it directly, as you won’t be able to access paid surveys until this has been provided.
3. Verify Your Phone Number
TIP: You’ll need to place in a verification code sent to your mobile, so make sure the number you use is correct and accessible to you.
4. Confirm Your Identity With Yoti
TIP: You will have a choice to skip this step and confirm your identity later. However, we recommend you do it directly, as the verification will take longer and you won’t be able to access paid surveys until this has been provided.
5. Fill in Your Address
TIP: If your residential address and your work address are in two different countries, please make sure to fill in the address where you work.
When you complete the registration, it will take a few days for us to go through the verifications and verify your identity and profession. In the meantime, please do the three following steps in order to gain access, receive study invitations, and get paid for completing surveys.
- Confirm your email address by clicking on the link sent to your email
- Start building your M3 Profile so we can match you with relevant paid studies
- Participate in market research studies and get paid via your digital M3 Wallet
Verification and Data Quality Impact on Patient Safety
If someone were to misuse a healthcare professional’s identity for conducting research, the repercussions could extend far beyond the individual, affecting entire healthcare organisations and patient safety. Life science organisations rely heavily on accurate and ethical research to inform their decisions regarding the development and distribution of medical products and services. If the foundation of these decisions is corrupted by bad data, the integrity of medical products and services could be compromised.
The consequences of decisions made on the back of bad data can be severe. Healthcare organisations could unknowingly invest in ineffective medical treatments, allocate resources inefficiently, or adopt healthcare practices that do not align with the needs of patients and healthcare professionals. Not only would valuable time and resources be wasted, but it can also jeopardise the trust placed in these institutions by the public and the medical community.
At the heart of this issue are patient safety and outcomes. Medical treatments and healthcare services informed by compromised data can lead to ineffective medical treatment plans, exposing patients to unnecessary risks without the promise of effective outcomes.
The ripple effects of decisions influenced by identity theft or data breaches underscore the critical need for vigilance in verifying the authenticity and integrity of panel members conducting market research. To prevent this from happening, we not only apply panel member verification but also take several security measures to prevent this from happening. Here are some of them:
Panel Member Verification
- Identity validation via photo ID and facial recognition technologies
- Re-verification of panel members prior to every survey to ensure continuous accurate data collection
- Automatic flagging of erratic member behaviours
Deduplication
- Relevant ID flags based on device digital watermarking and fingerprinting
- Name/address matching
Fraud Control
- Bot detection (reCAPTCHA + Relevant ID)
- Geo-IP validation
- Relevant ID Fraud Score (with M3 customisation for healthcare)
- AI-based IP reputation flagging
- Auto-capture survey start/end times
- Automated survey complete confirmation process
Survey Data Quality
- Automated checks for speeding, flatlining, poor open-end responses, inconsistent answers, and ‘red herring’ responses
- Data is centralised and incentive payments are blocked
- Reinforced with scripted data checks customised for each project
To all current and future panel members, thank you for taking the time to go through the entire verification process, ensuring that the healthcare market research conducted with us is always of the highest quality.
Please take the time to share this article with a colleague on social media and let us know what you think about panel member verifications and how we treat personal information in the comment section below.
Continue reading about the best ways to identify fake survey sites.
Interested in Improving Future Medical Treatments?
Join the M3 Panel Today. Your personal information is strictly confidential thanks to our panel member verification, which enhances patient safety.
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