Simple IVF Centers - San Luis Obispo Fertility Center

Clinic is clean. They recently moved and so they are getting used to the flow of the appointments. Doctor has his office and you go in to talk to him there then are usually moved to another room to complete ultrasound but then asked to go to the waiting room to discuss treatment cost. Sometimes there other people listening to your discussion with nurses regarding personal information.

First appointment was great but after that, every appointment I would go in for, appointment lasted about 10-15 minutes. When I tried to ask questions to better understand procedure or medication or just everything in general, I felt like I was bothering or annoying the doctor. He would then answer my question but I always felt rushed.

When I first went a couple of years ago. Everyone was nice and approachable. They always asked me how my day was. How we were feeling. This year, staff is different. Front desk attendant always loses my paperwork. When I call clinic and ask him about phone called he contacted me about he is always confused and unsure how to answer my questions. As for any other nurse this year, I only passed by the nurses station and they all smiled but I didn't meet with any of them one on one to review medication protocol, treatment or procedures. I have received phone calls only to discussed when will I be paying for treatment.

First visit was great. He was approachable answered all of our questions. Made us feel comfortable. But once a plan was decided and treatment started it became hard to understand what was happening. When it comes to medical procedures I want to actually talk to someone and Dr.Steinleitner mainly communicates by email. Which I understand but when my questions weren't being answered and/or I wasn't understanding something I would call and was instructed to email. Every appointment was different sometimes he was great and other times he was very serious and brief. But, always in a hurry to complete our appointment and move on to the next patient. Sometimes he made me feel uncomfortable. At an appointments after completing a round of clomid and not getting pregnant, he asked me why I wasn't crying. I expressed to him that, even though I was sad I also trusted the process and was kind to myself. He proceeded to tell me that, he found that weird because all the women he has helped always cry when something doesn't go as planned. That made me confused. We took a break after 3rd clomid failed cycle. When we returned a few years later to talk about our options and he seemed annoyed, that we just had questions. That time we didn't move forward. His website was misleading, regarding differen't procedure costs. This year we returned again, hopeful, and first appointment was great with him. He actually answered all of our questions and seemed excited. Went over plan, procedure and cost with us. So will see.

Know your health history. Ask questions and don't be intimidated to do so. He is very arrogant and confident. Take notes. He will look at you like your crazy but do it. Don't be afraid to stand up for yourself.

First time we went we did 3 cycles of clomid. Before we got started he had my husband complete a semen analysis, I completed blood work to check my ovarian reserve, endocrine panel and if I had any infectious disease. I also completed a hysterosalpingogram. He then gave me a calendar to follow for treatment. Before he ever went over any results from test completed. He prescribed 3 clomid 50mg tablets by mouth at bedtime, scheduled me once for an ultrasound told me when to have timed intercourse and told me to take pregnancy test two weeks after. Then I was instructed to email him with results. During the 3rd cycle he added an injection that I would have to administering once he gave me instruction to do so. I ordered and paid $100 to get it, right away. When we had our follow up appointment for an ultrasound. He told us that we needed to again buy a different injection that he had at the office and when I told him about the previous one that he had instructed me to buy, he said that the one he had at the office was better because it was already prepared. But that ultimately it was my choice. Even though we had the other one with us. And so we paid $100 again for the new injection. After that I took a break when 3rd cycle trying with clomid and injection didn't work. Treatment for all 3 where the same. No changes and was only seen once for an ultrasound. Second time we went in to discuss and ask questions about a procedure outlined on his website. He seemed annoyed and disconnected. I asked about a previous email he had send after my husbands sperm function test came back in the abnormal range and so there was a male contribution to our longstanding infertility. But he said that was nothing to worry about. We didn't continue that time. This year we decided to start again, made appointment was seen in January. Talked about mini IVF. What I understood it's like IVF but less doctor visits and smaller doses of medication. At that appointment he completed an ultrasound. Ordered blood work, gave me list of medications that I would be ordering. Asked to complete another sperm analysis and arranged my calendar for treatment. Never asked about my period or gave me results until I bugged by email. I decided to move treatment until he went over all my results from all the test he requested to complete for my husband and myself.

I don't remember the previous appointment cost. But my current cost so far for a "mini" IVF treatment is: Husbands lab work $212.00 Husbands semen analysis $250 <specimen mailed in> My blood work for foresight carrier screening $349.00 Blood work for me: $363.10 Medication (Menopur, Ganirelix Acetate and leuprolide): $1, 206.00 Medication (doxycyline tablets, dexamethasone, HCG injection and estradiol tablets): $141.10 Consultation with ultrasound: $175.00 Mini IVF: $ 3,400 Basic IVF Laboratory services: $1,050 IVF anesthesia: $400 ICSI Sperm microinjection: $1,000 But doctor gave me total of cost for procedure, financial personnel gave me different cost and my online portal gives me a different cost.

Dr's are nice and available. Opening multiple offices and providing more services to couples and individuals. Provide training to staff and nurses on humility, cultural and empathy and the emotional process we as client undergo. Its hard enough to accept the infertility journey and if Dr. Steinleitner's staff can make these changes they would be a great clinic.

The two Dr's were nice however their staff were un-pleasurable. The nurses and office staff were not empathic, warm or hospitable . Ultra sounds were really quick with no explain of outcome. When cycles were unsuccessful or set backs, you were simply given a new calendar and see you on the next ultra sound.

Rude, and at time argumentative when I was not feeling good with moving forward and demanded I continue medication. Given our emotional mental health during this time and in our brokenness. One would except to have a nursing staff who is empathic, compassionate and willing to explain the next steps to any infertility process within their scope. Not expecting us to know what is the next step ( i.e.order medications, donor sperm etc).

-Was able to be seen within a week and he was quick to respond to emails. -Was responsive to app via text message. _Was always gentle and showed compassion during face to face visits. -A better transition between Dr. would be recommended so that confusion with who is the Dr would be helpful.

Request documents of every procedure and ask questions.

Using the app was very helpful remind you when to take medication and what was next.

Consultation, lab work, medications, egg retrieval and transfer fee, embryologist fees

My doctor had strong feelings about transferring more than one embryo.

The clinic isnt the most beautiful but it has everything you need, i believe it is a temporary clinic while they move into there new one. I am very picky when it comes to doctor offices and there clinic can use some decor but it didnt affect the service so thats all that mattered to me

At times i felt like i was treated like a number when i recieved news of my chemical pregnancy and wanted to ask a various amount of questions and felt like i would get shutdown. But overall i felt i was treated like a human the staff was always nice to me

I was always seen by Tamar or Darlene and they are absolutely amazing! Super coordinated and know there stuff!

Dr. S is very straight forward with treatment and is always confident with each step, he gave me hope when i had 0 hope left, although he isnt one to be super compassionate you must go in with a thick skin knowing he wont be sugar coating anything. He didnt make me feel overwhelmed with anything and he didn’t make me spend money on extra things where he didnt see fit.

Go in with thick skin and ask all questions before treatment

My husband was diagnosed with azoospermia, so we did an micro tese a day before my egg retrieval followed by ICSI. To prep for egg retrieval we did menopur and ganirelix with a trigger for approximately 10 days. We did a frozen embryo transfer and got a positive but end result was chemical pregnancy, for our 2nd transfer we finally got our BFP and are waiting for our first ultrasound

Our treatmebt was roughly 15,000 and another 5,000 & up in medications/labfees/embryologist etc...

We decided to do 2 embryos for both transfers but doctor let us be the decision makers for that

I mentioned it before, but I think they are just spread too thin between the various offices in SLO, Santa Barbara, and Fresno, and now doing INVOCell right out of his SLO office. He's likely trying to do too much, and so everything suffers - patient care, communication, information, results, overall quality of care, time with patient, all of it. Then, when you try to question things he gets rude and angry real quick. When we started out it seemed like a good fit and trustworthy practice, but it went downhill quickly

They always remembered my name and were very nice/personable, however, they were very disorganized, forgot things, and often had to wait long periods to hear back.

Some were better than others. They were extremely disorganized. Often gave me incorrect medication orders, calendars, and information. They were very kind, but way disorganized and often took forever to get responses back. It did not make you feel like you could get the info you need nor rely on it when you got it. I think though it's the doctor's fault for spreading them so thin. He works in several offices in different cities managing multiple cycles at once, and I believe that's the root of the problem - juggling too much and making mistakes just everywhere. Such a shame.

While Dr. Steinleitner was personable, empathetic, and compassionate during consultations, and even helped us out with some of the pricing here and there, he was quite misleading and dishonest along the way. If you had a question he'd give a very confusing, quick, 1 sentence answer that left you with more questions. And if you pressed for more questions he'd get elusive, even angry. I never felt that I got the full amount of information necessary at each stage. Bad news was not delivered by him, and not always delivered at all, I found out that eggs he said were frozen were not and were actually deemed unusable! My last hopes were "just kidding - not actually there" and no one bothered to tell me! Finally, after 2 failed cycles, with no proposed change to treatment, additional testing, or explanation of his thought process, we asked some relevant, reasonable questions. He became hostile and refused to treat us or communicate with us further!

Do NOT see this doctor. Seek better care elsewhere!!!

First did 6 rounds of OI treatments. After they all failed he recommended IVF We did a "normal" round of IVF and out of 23 eggs only had 1 to transfer. After this he recommended INVOcell which was new to his practice. I had 4 embroyos, transferred 2, they failed. Then after that found out the other 2 were not actually viable as he said they were.

About $4000 for all OI cycles, about $15000 for "regular" IVF cycle + around $3000 for meds and about $4000 for INVOcell cycle + around $2000 for meds

He recommended 2 embryo transfer for us due to age (38) but first time we only had 1 to consider, second time we did do 2 embryos at day 3

I had Dr. S cell phone number. During our appointments we never felt rushed. We were always encouraged to ask questions.

I was referred to Dr. S by a friend who is a local OB/GYN and has also experienced infertility firsthand. He had just opened a satellite office in Fresno and it was good to have another option as we had already been to the only other fertility doctor in town. His pricing was very fair and reasonable. Based on our tax return he offered us a discount on his fees. Because we had been dealing with fertility and other health issues for quite some time we were able to convey to Dr. S. that we needed him to be straightforward with us at all times and he respected this wish. His bedside manner is unique. If you want someone to hand hold and comfort you then you'll be disappointed. He did show compassion. There were 1-2 instances where I felt like the communication could have been clearer. For example, at some point we only had 1 viable embryo. I'm not sure when this changed from 2 to 1 but we didn't find out until we were on our way back to the clinic to have the embryo transfer. Unfortunately, I ended up having a chemical pregnancy. The calls from the person in the office were very vague and disconnected. I took the first blood test on Christmas Eve and received a call stating I was kinda pregnant (I'm paraphrasing). I repeated the test a few days later and received another call indicating my number had dropped to zero. I understand the doctor was very busy but I believe we should have been asked if we wanted to schedule a follow up or if we at least knew how we wanted to proceed. There was no communication from the office after that call. In all honesty I felt like a number at that point but I don't know if that was just standard protocol. If I had not scheduled a follow up and asked specific questions I would not have known that I had a chemical pregnancy. If we were to move forward I'd feel comfortable working with Dr. S. again.

Hold everyone accountable. If someone says they will call and they don't, call them. Ask questions.

I don't remember the specifics of the protocol that was used. I don't have anything to compare to.

The protocol was in line with our wishes and everything was explained to us well in advance.

Alex is extremely accommodating. He was willing to travel to the facility of our insurance's choice to get the procedure costs covered by insurance. He takes his time to discuss the situation and creates a customized plan for your care. He was willing to fit us in on weekends and after hours when necessary for our treatment plan. He even gave us his cll phone number for weekend calls due to my cycle.

I was a complete emotional trainwreck when we started our cycle. The nurses showed my husband how to give my shots and make the syringes. However, I wasn't paying attention and when it came time to start our shots, I wasn't comfortable allowing him to give them to me without knowing what he was doing. The nursing staff told us to come on in without an appointment and they would teach us again. When we arrived, I was crying and upset. They were so kind and understanding. They assured me my husband knew what he was doing and they watched him administer my shots. They reminded me he is here to help me and I'm not alone in this process. They told me to let him help me and to trust him with the process. I felt so much better when we left and my husband was very confident in his abilities after our appointment.

Alex is a doctor who is quite obviously passionate about his field and practice. He is very thorough with us and answers all of our questions in a respectful and easy to understand manner. He is very accommodating and traveled 4 hours to the clinic of our insurance's choice so our procedure would be covered. He also adjusted our treatment plan as needed when I was developing eggs slower than anticipated. When I had issues obtaining my medications through my insurance on time, he was so sweet and allowed us to get our medications in his office for free, and replace them with the drugs we received from my insurance the following week, so we wouldn't have to move our cycle dates. His prices are average to the industry and we are so happy we chose him to be our RE. I would HIGHLY recommend him to anyone looking for an RE on the central coast or central valley. He has 2 offices. One in Fresno, CA and the other in San Luis Obispo, CA.

Don't think you can't get IVF because you can't afford it. While there are some upfront costs, Dr. Steinleitner's office is able to set up monthly payments for those who don't have insurance coverage and can't afford upfront costs.

Strengths: compassionate staff; convenient location; reasonable fees and fee schedule; lots of face time with the Doctor; doctor is very willing to answer questions Weaknesses: overall disorganized; unprofessional staff; lack of attention to detail

Dr. Steinleitner was a father himself, so he seemed to care passionately about his work and spoke openly about that fact. He gave hugs and was very kind.

I don't even remember if we had a nurse; the office manager, who was responsible for a lot of the disarray, seemed to take on a lot of "nursing" responsibility.

Dr. Steinleitner was a nice guy, but as a doctor he seemed a little careless. I never felt that he had read my chart before entering the room to see me. He would walk in and say "ok, what are we doing today?" I wiuld answer "today we are doing a baseline ultrasound," or whatever, but in my head I was always thinking "why don't you tell me what the hell we're doing today?" Also, he didn't pay close attention to detail. I did three IUIs with him, and the first two were very painful because he used the wrong size speculum and got flustered that it wasn't working. On the third IUI, I had to remind him beforehand what size speculum to use and what do you know, that one went super smoothly. But perhaps the biggest issue I had with Steinleitner was that after a poor response from my first IVF cycle, he didn't try a different protocol. He put me on slightly stronger stims, but overall still pretty mild. I ended up having to cancel the second cycle, too, and he recommended we seek a second opinion. After going through an IVF cycle with a new doctor, Steinleitner's lack of attention to detail became even more apparent. The new doctor had me doing blood tests almost daily during the stims, and I didn't do any blood testing during the stim cycles with Steinleitner. Maybe if I had, he would have been able to detect the poor response sooner and course correct. Instead, thousands of dollars of meds went down the drain. The good thing about Steinleitner is that he was very sympathetic and he seemed to generally care and feel bad that he couldn't get us pregnant. His office has a policy where you pay half of the fee upon start of treatment, and you only pay the other half if you achieve a pregnancy. We didn't even make it to a retrieval so he ended up generously refunding almost our entire payment, save for the costs of ultrasounds. It was astounding, and we were incredibly greatful.

Dr. Steinleitner is great if your needs are simple and straightforward. But if your case is a bit more complex, it might behoove you to seek an expert from San Francisco or LA.

I did one natural cycle IUI and two femara IUIs with an ovidrel trigger. In all three cases, I had one dominant follicle. I also did two IVF cycles with the long lupron protocol, and 10 days of stimming with menopur. The cycles seemed to be going well and I had approximately 12 follicles measuring around 11mm each that were visible on the ultrasound on day 7ish of stimming. But on the day of the final ultrasound (day 11ish), only 2-3 follicles had fully matured, measuring 17-18mm. Both cycles were canceled. I was tested for ovarian reserve after the first cancellation and it was discovered that I actually have very good ovarian reserve, so the doctor was stumped and recommended I get a second opinion.

The clinic as a whole is extremely disorganized and chaotic. Appointments are changed and they don’t notify you or notify you right before. Medications, doses and calendars every time were incorrect and if you weren’t on top of it you could ruin an entire cycle. As a whole it felt like you were bothersome and they just had too much going on to spend talking or answering questions.

There was so much disorganization and mixed up medications that it seemed like they just used generic calendars and didn’t really cater to the patient. Only a few staff members had a good bed aide manner but most did not.

There was so much chaos and stress and it felt like they were over worked. The chaos of the office was the worst! The biggest culprit was the office manager who happens to be dating the doctor!

Poor communication and somewhat condescending. He groups patients together so sometimes you wait 3+ months just to complete a cycle. He would sometimes seem annoyed at questions but said in the beginning he welcomes them and that we’re a team. It seems he’s is trying to get too big and can’t handle the load he has.

Consider another practice even if you have to drive a bit more. This is what stopped me from initially switching but so glad i did. It is so much less stressful and so much quicker and easier than what I had thought! Wish i would have done a switch sooner.

He didn’t really discuss strategies nor a lot of results. It was like pulling teeth to get information.

$50,000

The clinic is small, clean, and more affordable than other places we looked into. Everyone there is friendly and they use an online portal to comminate and share documents which I like. Their hours seem a little inconsistent and there have been some lapses in communication, especially in regards to next steps that need to be taken, etc.

He is friendly and frank, with a dry sense of humor. He never seems in a rush when meeting with us and takes the time to explain things. He remembers us each time we see him, even if months have passed.

In person my nurse is very friendly, but her communication outside the office is less effective. She answers detailed questions with one word answers, but she is quick to respond in most cases.

I like the doctor himself. He can be blunt, but I appreciate that. He's friendly and warm, but doesn't sugar coat things and his confidence makes me feel more confident too. He offers a lot of information- it can be a little overwhelming, but I'd rather have too much info than too little.

Don't expect to be coddled. He tells it like it is.

I haven't started my protocol yet, however I have been prescribed a lot of medications: Menopur, gonal-F, Lupron, Pregnyl, Omnitrope.

So far, I've spent $3000 on medication, $1000 on blood work, and $3800 for Mini IVF. I'm still going to have to pay $1000 for ICSI, and $400 per embryo for PGS testing, and $3000 for a frozen cycle transfer and more meds.

I'm not yet sure of his approach.

Sometimes I feel like Dr Steinletner is really wanting to help, he made me feel like I was making the right decision picking him as my doctor. He told me the story of his struggle to conceive while in the same breath hurried me in and out of his office. I think more so then him his staff really make you feel like a number and the slight inclination of hesitation on the quotes giving they are quick to shut down and almost just want to cut off the call or emai.

Dr Steinletner is a nice man who is quite serious and to the point. He listens and is quick to correct you when your wrong about what you think you know about your procedures or medicine. But I think My experience with the doctor is just that my experience. I would love to share in hopes that I can help someone as others did for me. I read his reviews the good with the bad and still choose him. I feel like as much as we relate in our pain to one another our experiences defer. To be completely honest I found he was the most affordable in our area and my choices were very limited with my financial resources as well as where I live.

Let him know how you feel stand your ground and don’t let him intimidate you just because he’s the doctor. You know your body best if you have a concern let know.

It’s a small clinic so it’s very personalized. Easy to get in touch with people and you are always in contact with the same people. Everyone starts to know you personally and it makes for a smoother process. Everyone is on a text system so you can reach them at any hour.

He teaches you to have faith that this can work. He is there 24/7 to answer any question. He cares about how treatments affect you and your husband emotionally as well as physically.

Everyone was very kind.

He is the only doctor at his office so everything is very personal. He cares about you as a person not just medically. He is incredibly smart and proactive. He suggested tests other RE never did BEFORE any transfers to not waste embryos on knowledge we could have known. (Ex. ERA before our first transfer, DNA fragmentation of husbands sperm, endometrial marker testing). He is kind and genuine and we are very lucky to have him as our RE.

Trust him. Have faith it can work!

I did an antagonist protocol. Because I have Diminished ovarian reserve, he started me on his highest protocol.

They are hard to get into initially. Be prepared to wait for an appointment. Once you have your protocol then appointments aren’t as hard to get into. They also use an app to communicate with you. I enjoyed that.

The Dr was warm and welcoming. He has a sense of humor, which was helpful during stressful conversations. He was very thorough and explained things well.

I saw different people at different times. It’s hard to describe them as they are all different.

He is very thorough and wants to make sure you understand all aspects of your treatment. He was very comprehensive with the testing her performed which gave us a lot of good information. I felt listened to and understood.

He can be a bit blunt but that is his manner when explaining things initially.

I was on so much. I don’t remember it all.

My monitoring appointments were scheduled at a regular time but I always had to wait in between other patients.

Around 7000 for one cycle of ivf and the testing that was done to prepare for it.

We haven’t done our transfer yet but he shared that he would only implant one embryo at a time.

Not great at returning calls, although always friendly and helpful. Clean convenient location and knowledgeable staff, always ready to help me with questions or concerns about my care and treatment. I trust they have my best interest at heart

He cried with me when we sadly had to make the decision to use donor eggs

Caring and friendly

Great honest doctor, candid about potential outcomes. Knowledgeable and compassionate. He had a good bedside manner and was respectful. I felt I could trust him. I’m thankful to have someone like that to care for me. The office is close to me and convenient, and prices are fair.

Be ready to be flexible with appointments

We used injectables as well as pills to stimulate my ovaries

Pricey but they offer package deals

No info on this one

Beautiful clinic, staff seems confised

Dr S is not a hand holder... He is busy and does not have much time

Jayran and Debbie are the best! Erica then new MA is great as well

Strengths: knows his science and does not lack confidence. Weakness: pot bedside and communication

Go in with thick skin

Antagonist

The doctor, facility, anesthesiologist, meds, pgs