I want a guarantee program for sure. I think that's where Shady Grove has the best prices. . . but RBA is not too far behind ($30K for 5 cycles) so that is where I will go if this cycle at SG doesn't work.

Obviously, if I have a DE failed cycle behind me, I'm going to want the money-back guarantee even more.

I don't know ORM's guarantee price, at all. $18K sounds like a GREAT price, but again, without a guarantee, I am too scared to shell out that kind of money--BTDT with my OE.

Shady Grove's Plan B Shared Risk 1:3 (for the Guarantee) is $18,600, then $5K per donor. So after two cycles, you'd be caught up to the $29,000 all-inclusive price, for which you do not pay donor fees. Most people will deliver after two cycles, so you risk the $5K donor fee per cycle if you fail, but if you succeed the first time, you come out ahead, the second time, you're even with the all-inclusive guarantee.

NP who also used ORM. I agree with PPs who say to go out of town for DE. The stats are extremely high at the best out of town clinics. I got pregnant the first cycle with a singleton using single embryo transfer.

I'm surprised at the figure of 18,000 for ORM. We paid more. I want to say it was about 30K excluding travel. That was for meds for me, donor, donor fees, everything.

The resources that you are able to devote to this will be a big part of the decision, as well as whether or not you have underlying issues. In my case all signs pointed to simply bad eggs. I also stopped trying with my own eggs pretty early - my local RE recommended I continue, but I had so many miscarriages, and I had to move on. Because I had not spent money on a large number of OE cycles, I felt good really going for it with the clinic that was the best match for me and that also had very high live birth rates per cycle. We are thrilled with our decision, and we have several very high quality blasts on ice should we decide to try for more.

I didn't find the travel to be too bad, but again, I quit fairly early with my own eggs so I hadn't already drained my PTO and my finances with OE efforts. We turned the travel to ORM into family vacation time.

I'm the PP who used ORM. We paid 18,000 for the whole thing (donor fee, testing, meds, transfer, etc.), excluding travel and local monitoring. Local monitoring was minimal and covered by insurance (80%) even though I don't have fertility coverage. We had to pay for airline tickets and two nights in a hotel for me and one for my husband. We could have saved a little more money had my husband done his part locally and then shipped the frozen sperm, but we chose to pay the extra money and have him do his part in real time.

BTW...RBA uses use frozen eggs and your DH's or partner's sperm (or any other sperm you want to use).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RBA is $16,500 a cycle, total. local monitoring was minimal, and for me covered by insurance.

OP here - so did this cover your donor egg fees, screenings, as well as transfer costs? I'm guessing you used frozen embryos.

Thanks for the information.

Not the PP, but RBA has a frozen donor egg bank.

Anonymous wrote:RBA is $16,500 a cycle, total. local monitoring was minimal, and for me covered by insurance.

OP here - so did this cover your donor egg fees, screenings, as well as transfer costs? I'm guessing you used frozen embryos.

Thanks for the information.

Anonymous wrote:I never did DE at SG, only OE. But when it came time for the move to DE, I took one look at SG's donor pool and had a couple of dealings with the awful donor liaison and knew SG wasn't the place I wanted to be anymore. I switched to RBA and am now 7 1/2 weeks pregnant. Dr Shapiro is my doctor.

18:28/29 here - I had Dr Shapiro, too. Loved him, just delivered my beautiful baby.

I never did DE at SG, only OE. But when it came time for the move to DE, I took one look at SG's donor pool and had a couple of dealings with the awful donor liaison and knew SG wasn't the place I wanted to be anymore. I switched to RBA and am now 7 1/2 weeks pregnant. Dr Shapiro is my doctor.

I've had nothing but very positive and supportive interactions during my cycles with SGFC. All of these negative responses I'm reading on this site seem surreal. I go to the Fair Oaks office and am treated like gold.

Anonymous wrote:RBA is $16,500 a cycle, total. local monitoring was minimal, and for me covered by insurance.

PS did it in one 5 day trip to Atlanta which was relatively inexpensive ($79/night hotel, $179 for flight)

RBA is $16,500 a cycle, total. local monitoring was minimal, and for me covered by insurance.

I used SGFC for DE and had a great experience there. Although the donor was through a private clinic, SG put me into the shared risk program, which was very helpful. I ended up doing two fresh cycles with a donor - no success. Switched donors and donor agencies - pregnant with 5 preserved cryos.

May I ask PPs what the total costs were for DE apart from travel? Monitoring, donor screening, etc?

Anonymous wrote:For DE, you really should consider traveling. There are so many far superior DE programs elsewhere in the country. You are really limiting your options by cycling locally. Of course, you can still be successful, but it will likely take more time AND money. I'd look at SDFC, ORM and RBA.

+1
I traveled to ORM and it was easy. Dominion provided the necessary monitoring and were very accommodating. I spent a total of 3 days in Portland and my husband spent a total of 2 days there. Everything else was done remotely.

I think RBA is probably the most convenient option since they use frozen eggs (RBA wasn't doing this when I did DE). Frozen eggs means cycling when its convenient for YOU. No synching. They also have a guarantee program.

For DE, you really should consider traveling. There are so many far superior DE programs elsewhere in the country. You are really limiting your options by cycling locally. Of course, you can still be successful, but it will likely take more time AND money. I'd look at SDFC, ORM and RBA.

Seems like there are a lot of negative experiences with SGFC. Are there any local clinics that are alternatives and better in terms of care and results. I looked at Dominion and the SARTS for donor egg looked about the same as SGFC. What are the options? I've checked out websites and at first glance, a lot of the local clinics seem the same in terms of outcomes.

Some constraints for us are:

- We'd like some sort of Shared Risk package (for which we are considering doing at SGFC - the 1:3 DE Shared Risk Program)
- We cannot travel out of town for care, so we're looking locally.