Why We Care – Heather

In our continuing series on keeping the care in patient care, we spoke with Heather Osier. Heather wears many hats at Genstler Eye Center, and her work includes billing, human resources, and working as an administrative assistant. While her many roles don’t often interface directly with clients, Heather is a great example of how throughout all levels and roles at Genstler, our staff work to create a caring experience for all patients.

Heather shared loving the size of the Genstler clinic, because employees are aware of every step of the process making the experience seamless for patients. “If we’re not familiar with something, we can easily get to somebody who is.”

“Being connected like that is important to me and to everyone. If a patient calls, leaves a message, and gets to the wrong dept it’s super important to get back to the patient that same day. It doesn’t matter that I work in billing–if they want to pay a bill, change an appointment, or have a medical issue my goal is to get back to them ASAP. We’ve all experienced medical issues, it’s frustrating when a provider doesn’t get back to you. If I have to run back downstairs, if I have to run back in the clinic, I’ll figure it out because I don’t ever want to leave a patient in a lurch.”

“I really, really, like talking to people whether it’s on the phone or in person. And when patients are upset, they want to be heard. I listen to patients calmly and respectfully, and it’s especially important even when they’re wrong to respond respectfully.

“I can think of a recent example of a gentleman who had a balance on his bill. He was calling to see if it was correct and hoping it wasn’t. After we talked it through, we had a lengthy conversation about his personal circumstances. Did we need to have that discussion to answer his billing question? No. But he felt like he needed to tell me why he couldn’t pay his bill today. So of course I listened and I believe most compassionate people would. I tried to come up with as many ways to help him as I could including payment plan options and financial hardship. You could tell that no one else had listened and he was so grateful he was in tears. He even called back later to make sure he said thank you and to let me know that I was helpful. That meant a lot.”

“It’s important to me to work at a place where people are being treated well. It’s important in my personal life, and at work. I try to give the kind of experience I would want my mom or someone in my family to have if they were calling a doctor’s office. I want to know people are being taken care of.”

With questions or for more information contact Genstler Eye Center at (785) 273-8080.