What questions to ask? Regarding service at clinics? And financial transparency?

[Anonymous]

DH and I are moving on to IVF and are new to the area so are looking for a new clinic. Friend has recommended Columbia Fertility and maybe GIVF. We have consults coming up. Besides all the medical questions, what should I ask regarding how they treat patients? We're looking for a very straightforward, transparent clinic that is excellent at anticipating how much this process will cost us. Previous clinic we worked with drove me crazy because they nickeled and dimed us for thousands here and there. I'm hoping that isn't the culture at clinics here.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

If you want straight forward, see Dr. Abbasi at CFA. Not sure if you'll find a place where you won't feel nickel and dimed, but CFA does show a price sheet upfront. You just need to go over it item by item with your doctor and ask which services she thinks you will need.

[Anonymous]

CFA's administration is an absolute mess. Be forewarned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CFA's administration is an absolute mess. Be forewarned.

I have not had this experience. I'm in the waiting period post transfer with IVF and have had a great experience. We did several cycles of injectables & TI plus one IUI, so I've had quite a bit of experience with them.

[Anonymous]

I did 7 cycles of IVF over a two year period. The only time it wasn't a hassle was when I paid out of pocket. All one needs to do is search this forum: my experience is far more common.

[Anonymous]

I second the advice of 11:45 and 12:52. I loved Dr. Abassi and appreciated the clarity of the rate sheets, but I had endless frustration w/ the administrative side of things.

I'm a success story in the end, and that's what matters most, but there were some seemingly unnecessary aggravations along the way.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did 7 cycles of IVF over a two year period. The only time it wasn't a hassle was when I paid out of pocket. All one needs to do is search this forum: my experience is far more common.

No need to be argumentative - I was simply stating my very good experiences with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did 7 cycles of IVF over a two year period. The only time it wasn't a hassle was when I paid out of pocket. All one needs to do is search this forum: my experience is far more common.

No need to be argumentative - I was simply stating my very good experiences with them.

Stating a counter example is simply that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did 7 cycles of IVF over a two year period. The only time it wasn't a hassle was when I paid out of pocket. All one needs to do is search this forum: my experience is far more common.

No need to be argumentative - I was simply stating my very good experiences with them.

Stating a counter example is simply that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did 7 cycles of IVF over a two year period. The only time it wasn't a hassle was when I paid out of pocket. All one needs to do is search this forum: my experience is far more common.

No need to be argumentative - I was simply stating my very good experiences with them.

Stating a counter example is simply that.

Why the eye roll -you started off countering my experience by directly quoting my first response to OP. Then, I simply said that if the OP searches the forum she will find that hassles at CFA are far more common. Then you claim I am being argumentative. I was giving counter examples, that is all. It's great that you have had a hassle-free experience. Please do not turn this into a pissing contest. With thousands of dollars and empty arms, my experience is not an argument.

[Anonymous]

Hassle free experience at CFA, too (new poster.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did 7 cycles of IVF over a two year period. The only time it wasn't a hassle was when I paid out of pocket. All one needs to do is search this forum: my experience is far more common.

No need to be argumentative - I was simply stating my very good experiences with them.

Stating a counter example is simply that.

Why the eye roll -you started off countering my experience by directly quoting my first response to OP. Then, I simply said that if the OP searches the forum she will find that hassles at CFA are far more common. Then you claim I am being argumentative. I was giving counter examples, that is all. It's great that you have had a hassle-free experience. Please do not turn this into a pissing contest. With thousands of dollars and empty arms, my experience is not an argument.

I am not engaging you further on this thread, and I am sincerely sorry for your pain.

[Anonymous]

Shady Grove has a fixed price, transparent shared risk program that is about $20k for up to six cycles or your $$ back if it doesn't work. Can't get more transparent than that. I can't speak to experience for those w insurance bc sadly I had none.

[Anonymous]

Well, I also found GWU and Shady Grove to be very up front with costs information. I think they all try to be--they have financial counselors who can talk to you--but the truth is, since you don't know now if you'll get pregnant on the 1st or 5th try (or 110th!) it's not really possible to know what you will pay in the end. The shared risk programs help with that risk aspect.

[Anonymous]

I had a horrible experience with billing doing IVF at CFA. A couple hassles, but IUI there was not so bad. The worst with my IVF experience was the billing dept refusing to submit my approval paperwork the day before my D&C for a missed miscarriage because I had an unpaid bill (that I had never received or known anything about). I was literally crying on the phone and getting no sympathy at all. Otherwise, I felt like I got so-so treatment there. I don't know that I felt nickel-and-dimed, but I did feel like I didn't get a good rundown of costs and unexpected bills (albeit legitimate in retrospect) kept appearing.

I switched to GW, and billing there was a world of difference. Brian, financial manager, has recently left there, so I don't know if things have changed. But he was very up front about costs etc. And when my insurance didn't cover something GW said it would, GW wrote off the cost. I also felt like I got much more personalized care, and I'm now a month from my due date.

In terms of questions to ask, something you should ask (and decide if it's important to you) is who does your monitoring and procedures. At CFA, it's generally your RE, and they'll let you know in advance if they won't be doing one of your procedures. By contrast, GW (and I think SG) has morning monitoring done by technicians with a follow up call from either nurse or RE. Procedures are done by whomever is on call that day (when I was there, Dr. Frankfurter was the only doctor, but that's no longer the case). If there is something unusual, your doctor may insist on things being scheduled so they perform them, but it's not otherwise guaranteed.