From the beginning Gee Eye Care as a practice, and I as the owner and doctor of this practice, have always been here to set customer service as the first priority.  That is never going to change no matter what.  And so along the way some things may have to change in order to maintain that level of service.  We take pride in being able to provide an exceptional experience for our patients and we are trying our hardest to do so.  There are things that drag us down, we are all human after all, and there is only so much positive reinforcement and encouragement that can be shared to maintain morale in the building.   That lack of morale can easily affect and degrade the patient experience that we are trying our hardest to provide.  After months of consideration, factoring in different things I reflect…

I reflect on why my team and I exist for our patients.  We are here to provide services, medical services, optical services, arrange your appointments, send your prescriptions and, for our culture, provide a great experience for you when you visit with us.  What drags things out and drags us down, either on the phone or in person, is the confusion about insurance.  This has a lasting effect in the sense that we are not able to concentrate on the above mentioned to the fullest extent.  I must reiterate that I have been observing and measuring this for a number of months. The amount of time it takes for my team to verify insurance, explain insurance to patients and at times to the end result of not even seeing the patient or the patient getting upset because of the insurance.  One can imagine how this is a kick in the gut when you have worked at least 20-30 minutes (and sometimes up to an hour) on these tasks.  It adds up and it takes away from what is most important, taking care of you—the patient.

I understand that many people view insurance to be beneficial but some are finding it to be just as laborious as we do and share the same thoughts and sentiments.  Once again, insurance is not what we are in the business of doing, it is a courtesy that we provide but ultimately we exist to take care of eyes and eye health.  Insurance has increasingly presented a barrier for that and it has become more and more difficult to work with over the years.

I want to be very clear that I have spent hours and months thinking about what to do because this one facet has started to change our culture of customer service—and that I will not tolerate. I continue to look for ways to maintain our patient experience and customer service as the top priority with excellent care…please stay tuned.

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