ART Institute of Washington

Strengths is they are willing to work with you on certain things and the clinic itself is very clean and kept nicely. Weaknesses is just the staffs attitudes (receptionist Trina) and the attitudes of the nurses, it makes you feel unwelcome and unpleasant. I have personally witnessed the front office staff talk very rudely over the phone with a client and have witnessed the nurses act like they don’t have the time of day to answer your questions during the cycle. It truly feels like a cattle call.

I didn’t see him until I got the bad news of not doing the transfer and he was not very kind during that conversation and then I saw him once right before retrieveal.

The nursing staff is horriable about responding to emails and almost never answer their phones or call back their pts who leave voicemails. I’ve waited days or sometimes weeks to hear back and then had to call and be aggressive to get an a email reply back, not even a phone call. They are supposed to work closely along with the Urology team for Male factor infertility but they often do not have a clue about the processes, procedures or hardly ever communicate with their team for the procedure. The patient truly has to be their own advocate. There were many times I felt I should have gotten care else where.

He seems very knowledgeable I wish he would see his pts during the cycle not just the day or retireveal or if something is wrong. His staff seems rushed, impersonable, and cold at times. They are horrible at responding to emails, phone calls are almost never andwered.

I would just tell her to be assertive and if anything seems off to make sure to ask questions.

I was on 150 of Gonal F and 1ml of Menopur. However my estrogen levels got super high so they took me down at one point to 75 of Gonal F however i was not made aware of this until the day before retrieval. This was devastating news because the ENTIRE time during monitoring I was not warned that my estrogen levels were trending up and I thought we would be going home with an embryo transfered.

It was very much so like a cattle call. You took a number sat for your lab draw, don’t ask questions because that messed up their flow, then sat and waited for your ultrasound which also went very fast and again felt rushed and I was defiantly not getting all the information at that appointment. Hence the reason I was so upset upon finding out there would be no greasy transfer. Because everyone I was coming in intact with kept telling me how “young and healthy” I was..

ICSI $8342 Admin fee $361

None to date

The knowledge behind ART Institute of Washington is great. So the quality of care you are getting is top notch and leading in the field. The downside is the communication behind clinic and patient is not always great. As the patient you find you are doing a lot more of the leg work and planning and unless you’re the one to do the research and ask questions not all doctors or nurses will fill you in. Sometimes it felt as though you were a cattle in a cattle car line up, one after another. However, the clinic does service the entire military infertility family. There are only three in the United States. They care for so many patients at one time and they are cycling through over 40-50 patients a cycle. Once you realize the atmosphere and how things work you become more accustomed to the environment and how to get what you need. That being said I still believe communication could be worked on so that the patient feels more connected with the process and next steps.

This was my second round of IVF with ART at Walter Reed. Though I had never met Dr. Hill before he is one that presided over the REs at Walter Reed. He was there the day of my Egg Retrieval and he was very kind and went over everything with my husband and myself. We did PGS testing due to my RPL diagnosis and Dr. Hill was the one who personally contacted me after our results came back letting us know we had 1 healthy embryo. Dr. Hill did a great job answering all my questions and was very knowledgeable on how transfer would go and what my next steps were. He made me feel more comfortable in an otherwise chaotic slightly chaotic environment doing fertility treatments through military hospitals.

There are three nurses I saw many times during my two IVF cycles at ART. Darshana and Val did all of the blood work and contact in person and email. I spoke with Darshana most often and she was wonderful at returning phone calls and emails. Giselle is the nurse who you saw on day of Egg Retrieval and she was always upbeat and fun to talk to. She always made you feel comfortable and made sure things flowed as they should.

Being treated at Walter Reed’s military ART Institute of Washington is a very different experience from a private fertility clinic. That being said I only had the chance to see Dr. Hill twice in my cycle and they were on the day of Egg Retrieval and soon to be Transfer in May. He was the one who’s name I saw on everything so I knew he was important. We see a lot of doctors throughout our care at ART. On the day of my Egg Retrieval Dr. Hill took his time explaining everything also noting that this was my second cycle with ART and had knowledge of my history. With so many doctors and so many patients to handle this fact meant a lot to me. After Retrieval we did PGS testing on our embryos that made it to Day 5 due to a history of RPL. After a two week wait for the results, Dr. Hill was the one who called me to tell us our results. We got one normal healthy embryo. He was very kind and answered all my questions as well as telling me who would be contacting me with next steps. His tone of voice indicated that he knew how special this was for my husband and myself and that meant a lot.

To be persistent with the clinic. Know that you will not always see the same doctor, if ever at all. But know that the doctors do talk and decide on your treatment as a whole. It’s good to have one doctor as a point person but knowing you won’t always see or hear from that doctor keeps expectations in check for a military clinic.

After one failed IVF cycle due to poor response to medication and BC before start, I only two eggs retrieved first cycle. After a consultation with ART they tweaked my protocol and was put on an estrace priming protocol with no BC and Microdose Lupron. This protocol made a huge difference in the outcome. I still didn’t produce as many eggs as other women but I had 11 retrieved and 7 were mature and fertilized. The small change in protocol made a huge difference in my outcome. I now know what my body responds to better which I’m happy with.

It was different because we were military. My husband is In the service so we were able to go to ART Institute of Washington. We paid for the IVF procedure, ICSI, freezing costs and additional PGS costs. The hospital had medication that you are able to get from the onsite pharmacy.

It is significantly more convenient to get to and is well staffed.

I never actually met Dr. Csokmay but all the Dr's I interacted with knew my history

Ms. Zimmer was a wonderful source of information. The only reason I switched to a local clinic (I do not live in Bethesda) was because of ease of access to care, driving down to WRMC fighting 270 traffic was a huge pain and time suck. If I were local then I would have stayed at WRMC. My only other comment is the RE phone is often busy - it can be hard to get a person on the phone but they always return messages.

Never actually met him but all the Dr's I did interact with were friendly, professional, and knowledegable. As a patient at WRMC, I am used to never seeing the same Dr. twice so this was not unusual, what was nice was that each Dr. knew my history so it was clear they were reading past appointment notes before coming in to see me.

Do not expect to meet him.

I used clomid with OPKs at home followed by an IUI after a positive OPK. Once it became clear that OPKs didn't always catch my ovulation time we switched to monitored cycles with an hcg trigger shot followed by IUI. I did one IUI on clomid without success and then had a break of several months where I tracked my cycles more then we changed to clomid + monitoring+ trigger and I got pregnant on my second IUI .

IUI was around 170$, IVF was around 5,000$. Of course these prices are all with TriCare which covered D1,D3,D21 labs, HSG, and medications. I believe if I were married TriCare would have covered the IUI and IVF fees but I am single and these were not covered.

I can not say enough good about the ART institute in Bethesda. My cycle was a hard failure and they took care of me and treated me beyond so well. The results of my cycle were unexpected and ultimately the end of our 1st IVF journey but their caring attitude at the clinic made it somewhat easier. I ended up in surgery afterwards due to complication from IVF and my Drs. followed my care and ensure I was well taken care of even after I left the hospital. I will be returning for a future IVF cycle and can't wait to work the amazing team in Bethesda.

The nursing staff was a remarkable ability of organization and compassion. The staff sees dozens of women each morning sometimes before the sun has even risen and yet they manage to make you feel like this is an individual experience. Using a military clinic does come with its drawbacks but they are easily fixed by the amazing staff at the clinic.

Dr. Csokmay is an extremely compassionate doctor who cares for his patients immensely. Every visit I had with him I left sure of what was happening next and what he was doing in the interim. ART Institute is extremely different from any other clinic I have interacted with but their ability to care for so many couples amazes me. Do not underestimate or cast off the clinic due to practice styles it wont disappoint.

Monitoring appointments were busy but they were efficient. You arrive at the clinic around 0630 and they had me out of the clinic no later than 0715 each day. The clinic has done this for many years and has the practice perfected.

The clinic is set inside Walter Reed Military Medical Center. The clinic is easy to access if you are a military family seeking treatment from the surrounding area. We traveled from Southern VA for treatments. The clinic works closely with the pharmacy at the medical center which was convenient.

The entire team at the clinic knew me by name. I traveled from VA for many of my visits & I was always well informed & treated w respect. I highly recommend this clinic & team.

The customer service from Darshana & the nursing team was amazing. Darshana knows every patient by 1st name during the cycle period. The nurses were always available to take calls & offer advice.

Dr. Csokmay kept me informed every step if the way. Treated me with respect. Took time to explain what was going to happen at the current visit and future visits. Kind & compassionate. Took the time to ensure the patients felt like individuals not just a number within the cycle group.

Go into treatments with an open mind & open heart. Dr. Csokmay will assist as he can and work with you in hopes of the results you want.

I was sent home with a slew of medications and detailed instructions. The staff kept in contact on how the medications were to be administered, dosing, & my reaction. Egg retrieval occurred then ICSI & the embryos were frozen on day 5. Our embryos underwent genetic testing for C.F. before completing frozen cycles. Dr.Csokmay & his team kept us informed as they spoke with the genetic team (off site), we initially had to delay our cycle because our c.f. screening had to be built. Dr. Csokmay & his team did not hesitate to get us in outside of a normal cycle window for our 1st transfer.

I was worried monitoring apoinments would be difficult & nonpersonable, this was not the case. It was appointments by 1st come 1st serve but the team got patients in quickly & efficiently.

I think in total we paid out of pocket Approx. $15,000 due to being active duty military family

A new patient would want to know about the single embryo transfer policy, the way the clinic does cycles every other month (it's not continous so you have to wait a month or two in between treatments.

Even though I was treated at a Military Hospital, I felt like all of the nurses and doctors were very in tune with my progress, they made me feel very comfortable, and they were very compassionate. They were also very attentive to any of my concerns and questions.

WONDERFUL!

I would describe my experience at Walter Reed as GREAT. Dr. Csokmay was very knowledgeable and his team and him mitigated all risks for me. I couldn't have asked for a better experience there. They really took wonderful care of me. All staff, nurse and doctors included were great.

No specific advice. If you have any questions regarding any part of your treatment or specific issues you want to know more about.. definitely bring everything up. Ask all the questions you have! And concerns!

My protocol was the antagonist protocol, BCP for 4 weeks, stims with menopur and gonal-f and ganirelix to prevent ovulation. During my cycle I had about 30 follicles growing and they triggered me with Lupron instead on HCG. I ended up with 26 eggs retrieved and 25 were mature! The lupron trigger saved me from OHSS. Very greatful for that.

For a fresh cycle of IVF with ICSI it was around 6300$ this price included my medications Embryo freezing is 600$ additional FET is around 2400$

The doctors only allowed me to transfer ONE embryo, due to my age, and having a fully developed blastocyst. I understand the risks with multiple pregnancies and I also understand the reasons why they do not allow multiple embryos to be transferred unless there is a specific need or previous IVF failures.

Once you get through the initial process, which can feel like being herded cattle, the staff is really caring and interested in your care. They are sometimes hard to get on the phone, but also respond to emails.

Dr. Csokmay did his best to personalize care and even now, four years later, he is always willing to answer a question if one arises. The clinic itself, especially during the earlier visits, literally asks you to take a number and wait to be seen.

I had two very opposite experiences with the nursing staff. The first was horrible, unprofessional and downright mean. After requesting not to be seen by that nurse again, I had an amazing experience with nurses who took their time dealing with my needle phobia and were quick to answer questions and genuinely caring.

Dr. Csokmay was gentle and kind when speaking to us about the reason behind our infertility. He respected and honored my fears and even some of my strange requests. I think the way that he treats patients is very rare in today's medical setting but much appreciated.

Do not be scared to ask him questions.

When I arrived at the clinic I would sign in and take a number. Luckily, I lived and worked nearby and was able to be there very early. I never waited very long, usually a few people ahead of me.

We were warned about the risks of multiple embryo transfers by Dr. Csokmay but in the end he ultimately left the final decision up to us.

When dealing with the doctor I was treated like a human, but the system going through a cycle was significantly less personal.

The doctor was excellent at explaining what was going on within the cycle and addressing concerns that arose. The down side was that he was not always the doctor involved with the day today screenings.

Read all of the documentation that the clinic gives you and ask as many questions as you can in preparation of a cycle.

The antagonist protocol was used with a Lupton trigger and an HCG shot after retrieval. I used suppositories for my progesterone. ICSI was used for fertilization. The clinic has a strict single embryo transfer policy, so only one embryo was transferred. This has produced a healthy singleton pregnancy with 3 embryos frozen.

It was a first come first serve, during the allotted time period. It wasn't always convenient but it was at the same time everyday.

The clinic had strict guidelines for embryo transfer because of this I was only able to transfer a single embryo. I felt that this was a good policy which explained a lot of the risks to myself and any potential babies. It also made the decision of how many embryos to transfer a lot easier to make.