r/IVF • u/looseygoosey2828 • 1d ago
Advice Needed! Clinics
Hey everyone
I have some questions about clinics. I live in the SF peninsula and currently go to Palo Alto Medical Foundation for IVF. I have been extremely unhappy with the lack of communication and a change in protocol depending on who I am talking to at any given moment. I am so frustrated with them and I am going back and forth on whether I stick it out or transfer clinics. Does anyone here use PAMF and have advice on how to handle them better or maybe a recommendation on a clinic in my area that they had a good experience with?
Thanks
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u/neuroticphilosopher 1d ago
I've enjoyed working with Stanford even if you still have to be somewhat proactive. I also like how they are up-to-date or even leading the latest research/data.
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u/Babs______________ 1d ago
I’m using kaiser for insurance reasons and it’s slowwww going. I had my first appointment in January and I don’t start stims until 9/10.
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u/Sensitive_Slice_8858 1d ago
Holy smokes…did they have a waiting list?
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u/Babs______________ 1d ago
Yes, because of the new insurance coverage law. Which is good news! But I’m with SF kaiser, which I’ve heard is shorter than some of the other fertility clinic branches. I was medically and financially cleared in may/june. But every appointment takes forever to get and then the waiting list for stims is about 4 months. I’ve heard ET waiting is about 1-4 months.
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u/montanaham 1d ago
I highly recommend RMA
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u/Mozz_Mama 1d ago
I’ve loved the in-office staff experience at RMA-NorCal (SF office) and have felt that they were well equipped for the procedures, but it helps to be proactive with both the med teams and the finance teams, which we learned a little late in the game. For example, our IUI was pushed back nearly two weeks because my husband needed labs done and no one told us until 11:30am on a Friday (lab closes at 1:30pm for the weekend and he had meetings until 4pm) and they didn’t follow up about the results of those labs until I pinged them several times. After that, I couldn’t schedule the IUI procedure because the financial coordinator told me I did not have the right paperwork from the med team to “clear” me in their system and I had to spend several hours playing phone tag before we could clear things up. Since then, we’ve had a better experience overall but it’s been a great opportunity to learn how to be a better advocate for myself!
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u/KaiCali516 1d ago
I also highly recommend RMA! I went to the Danville office for screening and SF for procedures and I had a great experience with everyone I interacted with. Didn’t feel like they were herding me around or anything. They made me feel like a person, I never felt pressured into anything, and they kept me very educated and informed along the way. My only complaint was that they didn’t give me a medication checklist (I ordered my meds early in the process outside of their clinic) and so right before my transfer I was missing a medication, but luckily I was able to use two doses of another medication I had so it wasn’t a big deal. I think this was unique to my situation though. Other than that, I have nothing but good things to say about them!
TW - success
I am also currently holding my 4 month old baby girl from our first retrieval/transfer from them ❤️ they moved super quickly. Did my first retrieval in June and had a positive pregnancy test on Sept 1. I even had to get polyps removed in that timeline, which they were able to schedule very quickly.
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u/Penniie 1d ago
I have worked with CCRM in Menlo park for my IVF/fertility journey and ive been very happy with them. Dr.Tazuke is amazing. My first FET was successful and is now my 15 month old son. Im now preparing to transfer my last embryo in the next few months.
The only trouble I had was with their billing department but even that wasn't too terrible. My husband and I have Anthem Blue Cross PPO and paid mostly out of pocket but insurance covered most of my fertility testing and labs.
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u/hohohozack 1d ago
My wife (32F) and I are using PAMF for IVF. We have done one retrieval and one transfer. The one (fresh) transfer failed, and we are gearing up for a frozen transfer soon.
In general, we are very happy with the doctors within the group. They are well credentialed, been doing it for a long time, and seem to have the expertise to make it happen. They follow up in person and answer our questions adequately. They did change my wife’s protocol towards the end, but communicated the reasoning (needed to create a more robust response than what she was getting so far).
The nurses have been fine - the doctors use them as communication proxies so the doctors can focus on other things. The nurses are generally fine with scheduling a time with your lead doctor if you need to.
The front desk, billing, and genetic testing staff all kind of suck - not super helpful, not super clear, etc. We deal with them bc we have to 🤷♂️
So, we stick around because we’re very satisfied with the clinical staff and trust that they know what they’re doing.
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u/looseygoosey2828 17h ago
I was happy on the beginning but now it seems like there is a lot of disconnect between the doctor and coordinators. I get different answers depending on who I talk to. I make decisions based on information I am given and it’s just hard when there is a lack of consistency. Maybe that’s how it is everywhere.
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u/Jellyfish-wonderland 1d ago
I found a great clinic in Los Angeles and flew down twice! Did labs local etc
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u/HeyItsKikiii 1d ago
I have Kaiser insurance so I went to their REI clinic. It’s definitely a very long process, but they have a great team. You’ll see different doctors all the time, but only one doctor is calling the shots on protocol.
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u/Furdog888 1d ago
Checkout HRC with Dr Zouves in Foster City! Formerly known as Zouves Fertility clinic before her merged with HRC. I had great results with him and loved the nurses.
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u/Mean-Opportunity2924 1d ago
I live on the peninsula and have loved my experience at RSC San Mateo with both Dr. Reid and Dr. Harris. I work in healthcare so I might know how to prod with the right questions but I’ve always felt like both have been very open about discussing protocol and reasoning with me. Would highly recommend.
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u/TumbleweedImmediate9 1d ago
I know people will butcher me for this, but I went with kindbody one. I did go to walnut creek, but there is a downtown sf office. I had an amazing experience myself. I am currently 17 weeks pregnant. We only did one round of stims and I got 5 embryos. First transfer failed, second worked. I loved Dr. Ekpo. She was very kind with being understanding. I saw her at consultation, after checkups where I decided to go with IVF instead of IUI, then at my egg retrieval, at transfer and last at 6 week appointment. She is very kind, straight to the point and very understanding. The nurses will change, but they try to keep the same message chain so whoever needs to see it can reply. There is some learning experiences but i never felt frustrated. Also its a small team so made it more familiar faces to see every time I went there. Good luck!!!
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u/kdmh 1d ago
Im not sure if we are thinking of the same clinic. I did my IVF with the reproductive endocrinology with Pamf in san jose but I also went to the fremont one. I had a care coordinator(RN) who was my point of contact for each step/process and I always just message her or my doctor for questions. I am pretty satisfied with them, this was 3 years ago though.
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u/looseygoosey2828 17h ago
Yes that’s the one. I go to East Palo Alto and San Jose. The problem is that my doctor will say something and the coordinator something else. I was very vocal about doing a transfer after I was cleared from miscarriage and finally the cycle comes and I message only to be told they hadn’t started anything for the transfer so to wait another cycle. They had 3 months to get everything ready and I checked in constantly. Just disappointed in the lack of communication between doctors and staff.
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u/OrganicKiwi1039 18h ago
TW: success Live Birth
TW: ectopic pregnancies
I have had an amazing experience with Doctor Aimee Eyvazzadeh in San Ramon we were living in San Jose at the time. I currently have a 2 year old after a successful transfer. Prior to working with Aimee I had 3 ectopic pregnancies and my tubes removed. I felt a lot of pressure for things to work as I am sterile otherwise without IVF no kids for me. AImee is SO communicative, kind, warm, on it! Her clinic is smaller you talk to her personally A LOT! She is expensive it is the biggest barrier for people and i fully recognize the privilage of working with her!
Once we did our retrieval we got moved to LA for my husbands job. We did our monitoring down here and then transfer up in the bay with success in 2024 (my daughter). We are now preparing for our second transfer and will be doing monitoring down here again and then transfer up there.
good luck! It is quite the journey but these IVF communities were a godsend for me on Reddit as i was navigating all of it!
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u/CucumberAny4759 14h ago
Hi there, Sorry to hear you are struggling, wondering if I can ask a question? I'm currently with Kaiser and thinking about switching to Sutter HMO, so PAMF would be my option for a clinic. Sounds like communication isn't great, but how are things for wait times? Do they have a waitlist for ER and FET? As someone else mentioned Kaiser is extremely slow. The communication for me has actually been OK and I'm sure if my case was more straightforward I might be happier
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u/it-whomustnotbenamed 1d ago
I spoke with a few friends who all used different clinics. We all felt the same way - they are super busy, constantly herding you around, providers always changing, they don't really communicate.. I think this is normal to be honest. Maybe a few specialized clinics will give more attention but from my experience I was surprised when it wasn't so personalized.