Arrogance among physicians and other healthcare providers may contribute to errors in medical practice. The use of “secret shoppers” to uncover medical errors is an untapped strategy to reduce their occurrence, as the primary focus of secret shopping, both in the retail industry and in medical settings, has been service -not quality-  oriented. A new, robust role for secret shoppers in medicine will require specialization in the principles and practices of quality management, and physicians rather than consumers may be best suited for the job.