Holly C. Holter, MD

It took 3-​days to get someone to actually call me back from here. Their ability to write down messages to get to the doctors or nurses is pretty bad. probably need to hire people that have a basic high school diploma that understand english and can write down messages to get to the nurses or doctors accurately. they won’t take messages sent in via email that they can pass on — because they might make sense and they may need to actually call a patient back! good job it wasn’t a huge emergency! but to have to call in 2 — 3 times a day for 3 days to actually speak to someone is pretty bad. i’ll be switching docs — just because of this seriously bad patient care! they obviously don’t give two hoots about their patients or needs!
I think Dr Holter is good, the staff on the phone however are RUBBISH!

Long story short. I knew something wasn’t right in my womanly parts so I made an appointment with Dr. Holter. After a short exam, she prescribed me an antibiotic for a «yeast infection». I told her I thought it was more than that. I ended up getting another opinion and that resulted in further testing which included an MRI. The MRI found tumors that were suspicious for carcinoma. I ended up needing surgery to have the tumors removed.
She is a nice woman but
Find a different doctor.

I have been with this office (Hagbom and Holter, and Guelich) through 3 births. Have been treated with utmost care and attention through a span of 10 years. (This includes doctors care as well as office staff)
I Always feel very welcome.
I had complications during my last birth (due to a syndrome) and I am not sure I would have survived without the expertise and calmness of Dr Holter and Dr Guelich. I feel very fortunate to have had them on my team.

A friend recommended Dr. Holter to me and I have to say I absolutely think she’s incredible. She’s knowledgeable, experienced, patient and you can reach her when you need. I never feel rushed when I’m in her office, she somehow makes you feel at ease and trusting. A lot of doctors are on the clock and you know they just want you out of there so they can see the next patient but not with her. I would highly recommend her.

Dear Fellow Unilocalers,
Please avoid Dr. Holter’s office at all costs. There are plenty of better OBs out there, including in the very same building.
Dear Dr. Holter,
You should be ashamed of how your office treats its patients. Prior to my experience at your office, I’ve always thought that doctors could be separated from their office staff, but now I know otherwise. I am 6 months pregnant, and due to my company recently switching insurance carriers, I had to select a new OB in the middle of my pregnancy. I studied several and eventually chose Dr. Holter’s office despite many negative reviews on Unilocal.Most reviews were about your staff, so I figured that was something I could overcome as long as you were top-​notch. I scheduled an appointment that I had to wait over 6 weeks to get, despite the fact that I am supposed to be seen by an OB every month. I was hopeful your office could make an exception and get me seen prior to 6 weeks from when I called, but I had no such luck. Fine, I decided to just wait the 6 weeks since my pregnancy has been very normal. By the time the 6 weeks was up, I was anxious to be checked on by a doctor and hear my baby’s heartrate. I took a taxi to the appointment, arranged to miss 2 hours of work, and had a friend meet me there since my husband could not make it. When I arrived, I was dismayed to learn that my appointment had been cancelled and that no doctor could see me because the doctor I was supposed to see was in surgery. I asked why the office staff didnt call to let me know, and they said it was because they’d just found out 15 minutes prior. Even 15 minutes prior could have saved both me and my friend money and a lot of headache, and I think that alone is egregious. Any competent office should notify a patient the minute they find out the doctor is unavailable for their appointment. What’s worse is that they didnt have any opportunity to reschedule me for weeks, which after I’d waited 6 weeks just for that appointment was beyond upsetting. Most of all, I was extremely anxious just to hear my baby’s heartrate, and apparently not one doctor or nurse in their office of six doctors was able to sit down with me for 5 minutes and check the heartrate with the many monitors they have. On top of all that, the entire staff was rude, unapologetic, and short with me. I politely told them I would not be rescheduling my appointment for another few weeks out, and I promptly found a new, much better doctors’ office for my prenatal care.
I sincerely hope that pregnant women in the future will be spared the awful, stressful experience I was exposed to as a result of your unprofessional and discourteous staff.
Sincerely,
Mary
The doctors that comprise this practice need to make an immediate change to the way their staff deals with patients, particularly in regards to issues like surgery that come up last minute.

I was very hesitant to find an obgyn here because of the reviews I read about the receptionist office and staff. But both Dr Holter and the office have been really helpful. I’ve had to call the dr’s office several times on questions I had about prenatal vitamins, getting a massage (I read you want to check with your dr before having it, especially in the first trimester), etc. And the staff was very helpful and patient over the phone.

Dr. Holter has been my OB/​gyn for over 12 years and I’ve referred many friends to her practice. Likewise, a friend referred me to Dr. Holter a dozen years ago.
Dr. Holter is very Earth Motherly and calm and her staff, particularly at the Hyde Street location, is excellent — especially the wonderful Portia.
Dr. Holter also has another office at 3838 California and it is usually slammed — so my advice is to go to the Hyde Street location which is also convenient to downtown SF.
Dr. Holter was my OB through my entire pregnancy which, thanks to her and her wonderful staff, sailed me through the 39 weeks easily and with great care.
My highest recommendation for Dr. Holter and her staff!

Such a kind doctor! Totally deserving of my first Unilocal review ever! I am lucky to be her patient.

i agree with posts; dr. holter is great but the staff are horrible

Dr. Holter is wonderful. She really cares and she knows what she’s talking about

Dr. Holter is really wonderful. She doesn’t have the warmest bedside manner, but initially comes across as brisk and efficient. I recently had some feminine issues though, and Dr. Holter was wonderful. She was extremely sensitive on the phone, took good care of me during my treatment and was very thorough in her explanations.
That said, I would only go see her at her 3838 California office, the other one has an office staff that doesn’t return calls and with nurses that aren’t quite as warm.
The California office is much better, if you can get on the phone with them.

I went to Dr. Holter based on the Unilocal reviews and was really disappointed. It was very hard to get an appointment. Once I saw Holter, she was clearly bored and indifferent and rushed through the appointment. Not that awesome.
As the other reviewers have stated, her office staff is the worst I’ve ever seen. I am always on hold for 7 – 10 minutes. After that, I am usually hung up on. It takes three calls before I can talk to anyone. I’ve only had two appointments with that office and then I transferred my file to another doctor. That should take three phone calls, right? Try at least ten.

All these reviews are pretty right on:
Dr Holter= Great
Dr. Holter’s office= Bad
I’ve been going to Dr. Holter for 3 years now. I think she’s great. Takes time to answer my questions and really listens and is also super sweet and professional.
However, her office is horrible. One particular instance I had a horrible bladder infection. I called the office multiple times throughout the day saying I needed a prescription. They 1– did not return my calls and thus, I had to keep calling and they 2– kept saying they were going to fax the prescription over as soon as they had the doctor sign it which would be soon. They NEVER faxed it over that day and I had to wait a whole other day in pain for a prescription. The next day I talked to Porsha (the only capable person working in the office) who dearly apologized about the treatment by the other staff members.
One complaint I had, is for a bladder infection they charge you to come in and have a pee test. Is that normal?
So, once again, love Holly, but can they please hirer better staff? When I call now, I just ask for Porsha because she’s the only competent one there!

I have been seeing Dr Holter for years and think she is the best.
I have never had trouble with her staff, although they aren’t the warmest people I have ever met.
Don’t let that stop you from seeing Dr Holter.

Dr. Holter is nice enough (though whenever I call with a serious emergency she seems to be out for the week), but her reception and nursing staff are rude, impatient, and all around terrible. One of her nurses botched an injection and then had the nerve to yell at me (!) and tell me that it was my fault (in actuality, she jammed the syringe into my arm so forcefully that the needle bent).
There are much better ob/​gyns in the city. Warm speculums aren’t worth being treated like an inconvenient nuisance — or being put on hold for an hour while the cranky receptionist takes a coffee break.

I have never seen Dr. Hoter and was excited after her great review on Unilocal to schedual an appointment with her. I am new to the area and called her office when I was refered by my primary care doctor. Much to my surprise I was acosted by a rude and unfriendly receptionist who told me there were no appointments for new patients until April (which I understood) and then she hung up on me when I inquired further. If the receptionist is any indictation about how the practice is run, I’m glad I didn’t get an appointment.

Dr. Holter is just about the sweetest and friendliest doctor I have ever been to and has an exceptional staff. All of her employees seem to enjoy working at her office, and I was made to feel comfortable immediately during my visit thanks to Portia (who is just lovely and wonderful!). I would definitely recommend this doctor, and will probably go to her during my pregnancies if I decide to have children. She works out of California Pacific Medical Center, (one of the best hospitals in Northern California), and lives right across the street from the hospital. She’s extremely patient centered, and has a very caring bedside manner. I feel extremely fortunate to have found this doctor, and I strongly believe other women who choose her will feel the same way.
Update: 12/​18/​2008
8:30 a.m. appointments are the best if you can get them! The wait is about 2 minutes! And again, I cannot reiterate enough how wonderful Dr. Holter is; just the best! :)

Okay y’all, raise your hands in the air if you’ve got the pink between your gams!
Say yay!
I actually found my obgyn on Unilocal.She’s perfect. She’s close to my house and the cold, cold, duckbilled clamps even feel warm in her office.
When you are hysterical after you find out that your boyfriend has been cheating on you for the past year and you’re convinced that you have chlamydia, the clap, herpes, hpv, gonorrhea, syphilis, and the flu, she will test you for them all and tell you that you don’t. I love her.

I am new to the city and needed to find a new OBGYN, which is never an easy or fun task. Dr. Holter’s office is professional, efficient and nice! I can’t say enough good things about her and her staff. As a new patient Dr. Holter met with me in her office to talk about my medical past and ask me if I had any specific concerns. It was nice to have a conversation before I was sitting on the table with the paper clothes on, honestly what girl can think of any specific concerns when she is wearing a paper gown (that opens in the front)?
I have called since my appt with some specific concerns regarding the morning after pill and she was quick in getting back to me and never made me feel like I was an idiot for calling. Her staff pulled through for me when I called at 2:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon needing a refill on BC, with no Dr. in their office Teresa found me a Dr. and called in the prescription ASAP and even called me back to let me know it was taken care of.
They also keep the HPV vaccine in their office and administer it right there, no going to a separate blood work place!
Basically they are awesome and I am so happy Unilocal helped me find them!