Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine--experiences?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have experience with the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine? (principal physician is Dr. William Schoolcraft). They have excellent statistics with women of advanced maternal age and was wondering if anyone around here had used them.

[Anonymous]

No personal experience but there have been several informative threads about CCRM on this board. Just type CCRM in the search box and it should pull them up.

[Anonymous]

I did some research on them (ended up going to Cornell instead). It's very easy to set up a phone consult with Schoolcraft (can't remember the cost). Also, check out the Colorado board on IVFConnections, which has posts from lots of people cycling there.

[Anonymous]

Lots of great info on CCRM is available on the IVFconnections site. You will see that most women had better results at CCRM, also check out fertility forum and look for the CCRM girls thread. For those with AMA, I feel as if they push donor eggs and genetic testing really hard. Schoolcraft is a legend, genius, etc. etc. but other than your consult, you will probably never see him again. I'm with Dr Minjarez, she's a hand holder who you will see anytime you want. She's also amazing, warm, and kind. Everyone there is super nice. You are assigned one nurse who you can communicate with via email.

I just finished up a cycle with them and awaiting transfer. One thing I would like to share that I don't feel is adequately addressed on that site or on this board is the cost associated with CCRM.

As if IVF wasn't a huge time and money committment, cycling with CCRM is an even bigger deal. CCRM does not accept most insurances that most DC area residents carry, with the exception of United Health Care. I actually switched my ins at open enrollment to United because of this. My employer provides fertility benefits of up to $10,000.

I had BCBS when I cycled with Columbia Fertility. I only had to come out of pocket $3400 for testing, 2 IVFs, and 1 FET. Plus, I had about 3k of my 10k max left.

Switched to United. Got another 10K limit to spend on fertility. After workup CCRM requested $2900 from me then maxed out my 10K fertility benefit just on the work up and retrieval. To cover copays and cost of FET, I have been asked me to pay another $4000.

I was given a price list and if I didn't have United insurance or fertility coverage, my entire cycle (excluding drugs and genetic testing) would be $54,000. On top of that, you have to add in cost of hotels and airfare. Sometimes, you buy a ticket and have to change travel plans at the last minute depending upon what's going on in your cycle so then you have to deal with change fees. Fly Frontier out of National and buy their flex ticket which allows you to change flights for $50. Better than United, which once charged me $150.

If I didn't have insurance with fertility coverage, I would have never been able to afford to IVF let alone an IVF cycle with CCRM.

Despite the cost, CCRM has been a dream for me. Higher number of eggs retrieved and AMAZING embryo quality. However, I'll never know whether these results were due to a completely different protocol or the superior lab.

Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether I get pregnant, but at least now I know I gave it my best shot under the best possible circumstances which makes moving on somewhat easier.

[Anonymous]

Also, the blog lastchanceivf.blogspot.com is about someone going to CCRM and might provide some good insight into the CCRM process if you go through the old posts. Unfortunately, the writer of the blog did not get pregnant, but many other women do or their stats would not be so good!

PP 17:36 -- good luck. I really hope your cycle works!!!

[Anonymous]

I just completed a cycle at CCRM. A successful cycle, I might add. Dr. Sch is all he's been built up to be. Very no-nonsense, and he gets results.

I'd add that I found his staff to be a huge pain. Unreturned phone calls, dropped balls, etc. I did not expect this from them and was disappointed with it, especially given the high cost. However, what can I say. I am pregnant, so I am not complaining too much.

[Anonymous]

I have had four unsuccessful cycles at shady grove and did a consult with schoolcraft in december. Although I have MDIPA, which is owned by United Healthcare, when I called MDIPA I was told that they would not allow me to use CCRM and because the medications would be for an unauthorized dr., the medication would not be covered either. Schoolcraft basically told me that he would do the same protocol that I did with SG (microdose lupron) which I think he invented. When I talked to SG candidly about why for over 40 CCRM's rates are double that of ShadyGrove (40 percent instead of 20 percent) I was told that other patients of CCRM had said in the past that if the embryo quality is not that good, CCRM will not put them back in so this is why they look more successful on paper. Who knows. CCRM told me because they believe their lab is better than anyone else's. Because my issue is age, I am really not quite sure what CCRM could do better for me. 50,000 versus 5000 it is just such a difficult decision to make.

[Anonymous]

17:34 poster, were you at the lone tree office? things seem to be more higher paced over there due to the sheer volume of patients. i went to the rose medical center office and didn't have any issues. My contact with Lone Tree was minimal, just went there for a 2 monitoring visits that fell on a weekend and of course the retrieval. overall, i found the staff and nurses there to be head and shoulders above where I was in DC.

[Anonymous]

I have had two failed cycles at CCRM. So it's not everything I had hoped for..albeit I am older (over 40 now). The cost is robbing us dry also. Sadly despite having two cycles there I have never met my RE yet. Can you believe that???

[Anonymous]

" Sadly despite having two cycles there I have never met my RE yet. Can you believe that???"

No - did you ask to meet with your RE? I cycled there last year and meet with Schoolcraft 3 times in the one week I cycled there, plus had several calls with him.

I didn't have a successful cycle, but the experience was far better than cycling with SG - every one was so nice and I actually felt like they were tying to provide a high level of customer service.

I paid out of pocket and it was about 18k including drugs - would have been 21k if I'd done the genetic testing. I'm not sure what the poster quoting 50k was doing - that sounds like too much even for their donor egg program.

My one complaint is that I think they do push DE more than other clinics. But they are also willing to give women with bad stats a chance to cycle. I disagree with the SG claim that they won't transfer the bad embryos - their cancellation rate is much lower than SGs because they do go to transfer more often.

[Anonymous]

14:13 - would you do it again at CCRM if you could? How was it different, besides customer service, which i truly believe makes the process so much less stressful. Was the protocol different?

[Anonymous]

17:34 here. Yes, I used Lone Tree and in retrospect it was a huge mistake. Too much commotion and too many people. During the course of my cycle, I had FOUR separate nurses assigned to me at various times, and none of them were familiar with my protocol, my meds, or my situation. I constantly felt like I was the only one keeping things from slipping through the cracks. If I could do it over again, I would have gone to the Rose office which as you know is much much smaller.

However, despite the customer service issues I would use CCRM all over again. Their results simply speak for themselves, and I was lucky to have United Healthcare, which is one of the few (if not only) insurance company both they and their lab will direct-bill.

I have to say, had I NOT gotten pregnant I would be a lot more irate about the crappy experience with the nurses and staff. I might even be blaming that hypothetical non-pregnancy on the crap nursing care I got following the transfer. Thank goodness I am not in that alternate world though.

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP. For the older posters who cycled at CCRM---do you mind sharing what types of protocols were you on and how they may have differed from anything you had done before?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:" Sadly despite having two cycles there I have never met my RE yet. Can you believe that???"

No - did you ask to meet with your RE? I cycled there last year and meet with Schoolcraft 3 times in the one week I cycled there, plus had several calls with him.

I didn't have a successful cycle, but the experience was far better than cycling with SG - every one was so nice and I actually felt like they were tying to provide a high level of customer service.

I paid out of pocket and it was about 18k including drugs - would have been 21k if I'd done the genetic testing. I'm not sure what the poster quoting 50k was doing - that sounds like too much even for their donor egg program.

My one complaint is that I think they do push DE more than other clinics. But they are also willing to give women with bad stats a chance to cycle. I disagree with the SG claim that they won't transfer the bad embryos - their cancellation rate is much lower than SGs because they do go to transfer more often.

.
Expenses have to include ALL expenses, including hotel, airfare, loss of time from work. And these are things that are not included in the cost of going to SG. So our expenses per cycle at CCRM were well over $30K. And yes, of course I did ask to meet with Sch but was told that he was out of town, and that all the doctors cycle so sometimes I might not see him. They are getting big and so nowadays you often see your nurses and other RE's and that is not uncommon. Yes, they do push DE quite a bit but are also willing to give women with bad stats a chance too. I can also attest to the fact that SG transfers bad embies. I had one transferred and it resulted in a m/c.