Background: Consultations with CFA (DC office) Fall 2012; First cycle started Jan 2013 at CFA; second cycle March 2013; we were discharged to OB in late May and are due in December.

We changed insurance companies from Blue Cross to MDIPA and the financial counselor Kimberley Gardener was always responsive and made sure that I had the appropriate authorizations before we started a cycle.

We did not have any billing issues, even navigating insurance payments. Having read prior stories from the past on DCUM and expecting the worst, before making any payments to CFA, I asked for a detailed bill that showed what insurance paid for each round prior to giving them our credit card. Each time, everything was right on. So, we were quite happy with Dr. Sacks and our experience with CFA and will go back in the future for implanting our other embryos in the freezer

I was impressed with Shady Grove K street and Rockville. I was successful this time and have to say when I returned to my OBGYN's office I was surprised at how ineffecient the office was. I know people have issues with SG but honestly it's the most well run dr's office I've been to. I imagine the fact that you have to pay a lot of money for IVF means that customer services is higher.

We now go to Shady Grove in Leesburg. It's a MUCH better experience than we had at GIVF in Fairfax.

My vote is for Dominion Fertility. Runs well, no issues with nurses, billing, etc. AND everyone is nice. (my doc was Gordon)

2 successful IVFs at SGF with Dr. Levy. Don't expect anyone to hold your hand or be your friend but they are organized, well oil smooth running machine.

I'm currently on my 5th IUI cycle at CFA in DC and I've had no issues. My doctor is Dr Sacks (who is wonderful) but I've also seen Dr Sarhan and Dr Butler for scans. They were both fine, maybe a little curt, but for a CD 3 scan who really cares? The nurses have all been wonderful, especially Juliana who is so sweet and gives you all the info you need without you needing to ask for it.

I have had very little face time with the finance department because not ONE SINGLE THING is covered by my insurance so that makes things easy (I guess?). I just pay and go about my cycle. We'll be moving onto IVF this fall (if these last two IUIs don't work) but I do not feel pressured by them at all to make the next step. I will still probably have a consult at GW or Shady Grove though before moving forward with IVF at CFA.

Anonymous wrote:I know you prefer DC or MD but Dr. Sharara at VCRM in Reston is amazing. He is the only doctor and you see him every visit. It is worth the drive. His clinic is extremely organized and well run.

Yep. I never had to wait more than 5 minutes for an appointment, even if I was early or late. Saw him every single time. Nurses are awesome. Everyone there knew my name after the first appointment. No issues with billing. Even he knew things about insurance coverage, which doctors usually never do. Now that I'm going to the regular OB (because Dr. Sharara is good) I realize how spoiled I was there.

I had a great experience with Shady Grove's DC office. Dr. Widra and my nurse were on top of everythin for my IVF cycle. I had one very minor billing issue for OB ultrasounds but one phone call took care of it. Cleveland is a bit of a disaster but you just have to pester him and he will do what he needs to. I think a good nurse is key and mine was excellent.

Anonymous wrote:I think Cleveland is not getting a fair response. I had a great experience with him. He was always kind, spent all the time I needed to ask questions and always responded to my phone calls. Ok, so he did not respond as fast as he could have, but I think that is SG fault, for being under staffed! not his fault.
SG is like IKEA, please people, get with the times.

I'm glad you had a good experience with him, but it's not just a function of SG. The finance people in Rockville and other offices are competent and don't have the issues he has. At one point they had me go to another office to meet with the finance person there. She printed out my entire financial history, and we went through it line item by line item. It took forever but we eventually got everything straightened out. Sorry to derail the thread.

I think Cleveland is not getting a fair response. I had a great experience with him. He was always kind, spent all the time I needed to ask questions and always responded to my phone calls. Ok, so he did not respond as fast as he could have, but I think that is SG fault, for being under staffed! not his fault.
SG is like IKEA, please people, get with the times.

Well, OP, I would say that CFA is out! Good luck and let us know who you choose.

I think the CFA issues being aired are mostly about the DC office.

The issues tend to go beyond billing and insurance and extend to staff communication and coordination of care, unfortunately.

I'm surprised at all the horror stories about CFA. Aside from finance, what are the issues?

I've been going to the Arlington office for several months now and love all the stuff, including the tech who draws my blood, the receptionist, and the nurse who does my monitoring. They are all organized, competent, and kind.

It would not surprise me if the medical billing person in the Arlington office was a night mare to work with, as when my husband and I met with her we could not understand what she was trying to tell us. Also, at least half of the time I am there, I hear her wandering around talking non-stop. There was even a time when she had a 20+ minute long personal call using a phone at the front desk. Just poor behavior. We haven't gotten to the point where any complex insurance billing issues have arisen yet though.

Gosh all these posts about Brian have me missing him! he was really great. I am the poster who was at GWU under Gindoff and decided to go to SGFC for my IVF. I agree with all the comments about Cleveland and in fact - I have started dealing directly with a number of people in the Rockville main finance office which has helped greatly. That would definitely be my advice for folks cycling at the K street office of SGF.

To the poster who said they need to bring Brian chocolates - honestly - yes you do. He is golden. If my next/second IVF cycle at SGFC doesn't pan out then I will be going back to GWU and trying to see Dr. Frankfurter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is 9:54, and I was a patient of Dr. Sacks. Billing was awful. They essentially told me I hadn't been paying my co-pays, some almost a year later. Then after I spent a long time digging up receipts, writing a letter and sending everything to them, they said things like "oh, the payment you made on June 1st was applied to the missed payment on May 30, and thats why you still owe us money." It was a never ending cycle until I finally lost it on them and had DH call Dr. Sacks, which helped, but it took hours and hours of my time and LOTS of stress. Their finance dept. does not know what they are doing and do not care about the stress it causes.

This was exactly my experience.....except I was with Shady Grove in DC (K Street office, Cleveland was financial person). Rockville personnel were helpful when I could get to them, but they'd usually say, oh, you need to deal with your financial counsel, Cleveland. Like PP it took hours and hours of my time to sort it all out and was extremely stressful. I was paying out of pocket, so it was a lot of money at stake.

I am the 6/18 9:06 poster. Glad to see that SG is still employing incompentent Cleveland (he was my finance person in 2012). SG even had to eat a procedure as I had the emails reminding Cleveland to get authorization (conversion from IVF to IUI) which he never did. That is why Brian at GW was a such a rockstar after SG!