Columbia University

The clinic actively takes part in research performed at Columbia University, which means that it remains at the forefront of the field. Treatments provided are state-of-the-art. Besides the expertise, sensitivity and kindness of the staff, the clinic facilities provide a welcoming surrounding.

Dr. Forman had carefully read our medical history before meeting with us. On our first visit, a doctor in training attended our consultation, but before leading us into the room, Dr. Forman asked us in a sensitive manner whether this would be ok with us. It was clear that we had the choice to say no and that this would be accepted and respected. During the consultation, he took the time to listen to us, review any medical data we had brought with us, and explain various details of the anticipated procedures to us, weighing different options and providing a clear treatment plan tailored to our specific situation. He directly organized for us to meet with different members on his team to address various aspects of the treatment, and take blood samples for additional diagnostics. Everyone on his team was completely focused on us and our needs, and acted in a calm and efficient, yet supportive manner.

The care coordinator called a week before our first appointment to make sure that we submit our new patient questionnaire ahead of time, so that Dr. Forman would have the time to review our case before meeting with us. The nurse, Christine, was very helpful, providing us with a checklist of additional diagnostic tests required and talking us through the advantages and disadvantages of genetic testing. The nurse who took our blood was very diligent, competent, and friendly.

When we left Dr. Forman's office, both my husband and I felt imbued with confidence that we were in good hands. He had taken the time to carefully review our medical history and data, and explained to us potential treatment paths with their advantages and disadvantages, concluding with the best option for our situation. All the while he was eager to hear our story, and provided us with ample opportunities to ask any questions we might have. He also gave us his e-mail address and answered any e-mail within 24 hours.

We are at the very beginning of treatment. Since my husband has azoospermia due to blockage, the anticipated treatment would require sperm extraction, egg extraction, ICSI, and finally IVF. Dr. Forman suggested not to perform both the sperm and egg extractions on the same day, in order to prevent me from having to undergo invasive treatment should the sperm extraction not yield the desired results. Dr. Forman also suggested some strategies to save both time and money, which was very much appreciated.

Dr. Forman suggested implanting a single embryo only, as he was confident that given my values this should not be a problem. He said that if we were to perform genetic testing on the embryo pre-implantation, this would allow us to determine whether any of the generated embryos might not be good for implantation, thus raising the chances to obtain a successful pregnancy after implanting just one embryo.

I am so glad that I chose to use Columbia when my husband and I struggled to conceive. Dr. McConnell is brilliant and also kind and comforting throughout what can be a very anxiety-producing process. She is patient with me and answers all of my questions, and I never feel rushed. I mainly see her in the Westchester office, but I have been to the new Manhattan location as well and it's amazing!! I had an appointment with Dr. Forman once when Dr. McConnell was out of the office and he seemed great as well. The process of scheduling appointments is seamless, and I adore all of the nurses, secretaries, and phlebotomists I have interacted with.

I am so glad that I chose to use Columbia when my husband and I struggled to conceive. Dr. McConnell is brilliant and also kind and comforting throughout what can be a very anxiety-producing process. She is patient with me and answers all of my questions, and I never feel rushed.

They are very kind and thorough and answer all of my millions of questions;

She is knowledgeable and compassionate. I highly recommend her. I mainly see her in the Westchester office, but I have been to the new Manhattan location as well and it's amazing!! I had an appointment with Dr. Forman once when Dr. McConnell was out of the office and he seemed great as well. The process of scheduling appointments is seamless, and I adore all of the nurses, secretaries, and phlebotomists I have interacted with.

Be proactive. Ask any questions you have.

My insurance covered everything, but the patient financial coordinator is wonderful and helps with every step of the financial aspect of treatment. She responds to emails immediately.

The clinic is beautiful, you’re always greeted. They have coffee, tea and water for you while you wait. They even sometimes play relaxing music. The clinic is always clean. The waiting area, the rooms and bathrooms are well kept. They provide anything you need to freshen up.

My first time meeting Dr. Rudick we went over my fertility records. She asked questions and also listened to me. The first clinic I went to I didn’t get none of that. They barely spoke to me about my failed IUI’s and didn’t even try to see why it wasn’t working.

The nursing staff was amazing. They communicated well and were very pleasant.

Dr.Rudick was welcoming which made me more comfortable since I had a bad experience from my first fertility doctor. She also asked me what I will like to do as far as treatment. She gave me all my options and broke them down to me. She also got a chance to talk with my husband who’s a trans man. She gave us insight on fertility in the LGBTQ community. She’s been nothing but amazing so far.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Dr. Rudick will communicate very well with you. She will even email you if to make sure you and her on the same page.

I haven’t gotten a chance to have a cycle with her yet. She ordered an SHG test which discovered I had Fibroids so I had to undergo two surgeries to remove them. I’m currently recovering now from the 2nd one.

So far I haven’t gotten any fertility treatments because of the surgeries. But I was told the cost if my insurance don’t approve me for IVF.

IVF is a very stressful process, especially when we are using extensive hormones, which could easily make our feeling and emotions swing and tiny little bit of discomfort occurred to us could trigger a big drama. Having gone through numerous consultations and IVF treatments over the past 4 years, The Center For Women's at Columbia University Medical Center has worked best for me. Columbia provides many opportunities to communicate with your own doctor. Most of the time, it’s your own doctor provides the ultrasound, so you know the status. Dr. Rudick impressed me early on as being both intelligent and attentive. She is very thorough and very quick to get what’s on my mind. She made me feel positive and gave me confidence. The process of drawing blood can be uncomfortable, but the staff at Columbia were friendly and compassionate. I love Arula. She made my day when she successfully drew the blood in one shot from my hard-to find vein. Jenny is very patient. Patrice is always smiling and sometimes she does it herself, despite being the lead nurse who assigns tasks. Pam, the most senior staffer, gave us very detailed training. I deeply appreciate advice to avoid google searches, and not to make any guesses. I believe most of us like to read, analyze and formulate questions; Pam pointed out that operating from assumptions won’t do us any good. She encouraged us to directly ask the doctor. The administrative staff is also great, particularly Sofia. She has a passion for her work, despite being relatively new. She takes everything seriously and is focused on the tasks at hand. Without her help, I won’t be so fortunate. The last item I want to mention is the billing department; they made difficult issues very simple. I am able to match their bills with my insurance EOB’s. If I came across any discrepancies, Miriam provided a detailed explanation and an immediate fix. This is in sharp contrast to prior experiences, in which the bills were tough to decipher and help was not consistent.

Dr. Rudick impressed me early on as being both intelligent and attentive. She is very thorough and very quick to get what’s on my mind. She made me feel positive and gave me confidence.

Pam, the most senior staffer, gave us very detailed training. I deeply appreciate advice to avoid google searches, and not to make any guesses. I believe most of us like to read, analyze and formulate questions; Pam pointed out that operating from assumptions won’t do us any good. She encouraged us to directly ask the doctor.

Dr. Rudick impressed me early on as being both intelligent and attentive. She is very thorough and very quick to get what’s on my mind. She made me feel positive and gave me confidence. I also appreciate her attention to detail and willingness to discuss matters openly.

Open your mind, be positive and don't hold anything back.

The Columbia Women’s Fertility Center is awesome! All the receptionists and phlebotomists get to know you and are always welcoming and well organized. Morning monitoring is extremely efficient and runs daily from 7-9am. Some people may not like the volume of people who are there every day, but I appreciate it because they always move efficiently through patients. I rarely wait longer than 10 minutes for morning monitoring and am usually only there about 30minutes so I am able to get to work on time.

Dr. McConnell is very warm and personable and we appreciate her genuine way of communicating. She is never put out by any of the questions we have asked and is always patient with helpful and accurate answers. She also took the time to personally reached out to me about renovations in the office to ensure that my treatment was not effected.

The nursing staff that works with Dr. McConnell is awesome. I have more contact with them than Dr. McConnell herself. Nurse Katrina is my personal care coordinator and she is the one who always calls me with results and information. She is extremely helpful, warm and patient with my questions.

Dr. McConnell is very easy to talk to and extremely knowledgeable. She makes a point to explain the process and also the science behind the process of IUI and now IVF as we have shifted our path of treatment. She is always positive while being honest about potential risks of each medication, procedure or pathway. She has performed one of my IUI procedures and a sonogram personally - although for other procedures I have had various doctors in the clinic. When she doesn’t personally perform the morning monitoring or other procedures she always looks over the results and I get a call a few hours later with her assessment. Dr. McConnell also has a patient, warm nature and I always feel supported and cared for when interacting with her. I have also already recommended her to a friend who is absolutely thrilled to be working with her compared with her last doctor. I feel very lucky that Dr. McConnell is my doctor through this process because it has so many ups and downs, and she is a constant, hopeful and calm presence through it all.

Bring your own questions to appointments- don’t be afraid to ask her anything! She is very knowledgeable and helpful.

Dr. McConnell took time to do a lot of preliminary testing of myself and my partner before beginning treatment. Testing identified that I have a blocked Fallopian tube and my husband has low motility. As a result, She recommended starting with less intrusive methods, so we started with IUI. She will support patients desire to go with more aggressive treatment but would herself recommend the least intrusive care possible given the couple’s issues. I did three cycles of IUI with Chlomid and a trigger shot, which did not result in any positives. After about 3 attempts she likes to meet again with patients to se if they want to continue with IUI or move to a more involved cycle like IVF. We were ready to try IVF, and she walked us through the process, risk factors and more. I asked her if I should have surgery to unblock my Fallopian tube, but she said it wasn’t needed because of the type of blockage I had. This reinforced my appreciation for her because she wasn’t just out to get more money by pushing patients to have more procedures that aren’t truly necessary. We are now awaiting the start of our first IVF cycle, which will be next month.

I have insurance that covers much of the IUI process but not the IVF process. There is usually a co-pay for each morning monitoring visit of $25. This doesn’t apply if just blood work is done. IVF will be more expensive because I don’t have insurance coverage. They gave us a print out of all the various components of care and procedures and the prices so we could get a good idea of what to expect. We are budgeting to need $10-$15,000 for the IVF trials. This clinic also assigns each patient a financial advisor and I call or email her whenever I have billing or insurance questions or issues. She has been very helpful through the process in making sure my costs were properly processed through insurance and also that I understood my coverage.

Dr. McConnell supports a eSET approach in IVF. She stated that it doesn’t improve chances by using more than one at a time.

Strengths: There is hardly a line when checking in, I never have to wait more than 10 minutes for a bloodwork. And they are all friendly. Weaknesses: The clinic can use a little update especially the bathrooms.

Dr. Forman made me feel that I was important and not just another patient. He followed up with me through email, and whenever I had a question, he would respond right away. He was there for me throughout the process.

They were all very nice and they seem to know what they were all doing. They also know your name. They give you privacy. They confirm your name and birthdate. I would say it has gotten better.

I am so proud to have him as my Doctor. I was about to give up on CWRC after several failed procedures. But I gave them another chance and met with Dr. Eric Forman. I told him how I felt about CWRC. He assured me that things were going to change. He spoke with confidence. He took his time to explain everything. And I really wanted to try having another baby and so I gave him a try. And then, our journey began, 4 months later, I was pregnant! Dr. Forman made sure that I had all the medications I needed. He kept in touch with me through email and I was shocked that he responded so quickly. I had so many questions and he answered all of them. He was patient with me. He's just an amazing Doctor, not because I became pregnant, but because I didn't feel like just another patient. I didn't feel like I was passed down from one doctor to another. He is absolutely wonderful!

I would tell a prospective patient to tell Dr Forman everything like what works for you and what doesn't. He listens. Example: if you can't get to a scheduled appointment, let him know and he will make it work. Also to ask questions even if it doesn't makes sense, he will explain everything.

This time around, by evaluating my previous procedures, Dr. Forman saw that I could take higher dosage but almost the same medication. The only different medication I've received from Dr. Forman is the the pregesterone. Instead of the normal pills, I was given pregesterone in sesame oil. I was also seeing Dr. Forman almost every week during the process and made sure that my bloodwork is all good. I was basically monitored closely which I think helped in the whole process to see how my body is reacting to the treatment.

I had insurance that covered everything except for Freezing of the embryos.

CWRC definitely had a factory feel because they treat such a high volume of patients, but it’s my understanding that all NYC clinics are like this. I had over 30 appointments at the Manhattan location. This location was very hit or miss in terms of the service received. Sometimes I only waited for 10 minutes for an appointment, and the staff was pleasant, other times there were long waits and the staff was curt and rushed. My worst experience was when I waited for 3 hours for my first embryo transfer, which was really difficult. This whole process is so emotionally fraught and my anxiety built with each hour that passed. But the worst part was how it was dealt with - my partner kept checking in with the receptionist, and he continued to assure her that we would be seen in “5 minutes,” which clearly wasn’t happening. When it became clear that she was getting upset he had the Dr on call come out and talk to us. When we complained that we’d been waiting for 3 hours, she replied “yeah, well I’ve been working for more than 3 hours.” It was just an obnoxious comment that was totally unnecessary. After that experience is when we switched to Dr McConell. The staff at her Scarsdale office are all wonderful, pleasant, helpful, and knowledgeable.

I began seeing Dr McConnell after a negative experience with another Dr in the practice. I had just undergone 4 unsuccessful IUIs and it was time to move on to IVF. During our IVF consultation Dr McConnell was very informative as well as warm and took her time answering all of our questions.

Chrissy and Angela are both wonderful nurses. They are both extremely knowledgeable and personable.

CWRC is a large clinic and serves tons of patients at their Manhattan location. Dr McConnell works part of the week there, and spends the other days running the Scarsdale location.If it is at all possible for you to get to the Scarsdale location, I highly recommend it. I went out of my way to come to this location because the one in Manhattan is such a zoo. You will still have to go to the Manhattan location for procedures like IUI, egg retrieval, and embryo transfer. For those procedures you never know which Dr you’re going to get. But all of my morning monitoring was done by Dr. McConnell. She was always upbeat and personable and I never felt rushed, like I did woh other Drs in the practice.

Come with a list of questions.

I did 2 IVF cycles with Dr McConnell. Both times I used injectables (Gonal F and Cetrotide) to prepare for the egg retrieval. For the first cycle I did a fresh embryo transfer using 2 5-day blastocysts. When this cycle was unsuccessful, Dr McConnell had a follow up appointment with my partner and I to recommend PGS testing for the next cycle. We had 4 embryos tested and 2 were deemed chromosomally normal. I transferred one which resulted in my current pregnancy, and the other is still frozen for a future transfer.

Monitoring is done between 7 and 9, and at the Manhattan location there was often a wait. The Scarsdale location had Mich less wait time.

I spent about 20k total out of pocket, because my 4 IUI treatments were not covered at all under insurance. My IVF treatments were mostly covered. However, I needed to have a certain number of failed IUIs before the insurance deemed IVF necessary.

The doctors are one of their strengths. The medical assistants and blood work assistants are a weakness. The front desk staff is pretty friendly, empathetic and helpful although some more than others. One thing I've realized is they have a lot of patients and a lot of people that have done this before but I have to remind them this is my first time with a fertility treatment plan and to explain things a little more. At the initial consultation a nurse explained all the tests I needed to get and she assigned me to a financial counselor. The financial counselor is great- she gets things sent to my insurance for approval right away which I appreciate.

Dr. Douglas is easy to talk to and explains things in great detail. She understands that we have busy lives and wanted to make treatment as easy as possible for us. She seems both "real" and empathetic in her interactions.

I'm a little unsure of the difference between the nursing staff vs. the medical assistants/phlebotomists. I'm fairly confident I've only come in contact with 3 actual nurses. They were all very nice. The medical assistants and phlebotomists are pretty terrible. The call the first name and last initial for you to do blood work. I thought the woman was calling my name so I said are you saying "first last" and she just kept repeating what she was saying and not answering my question. Once we got back there she said "we only say the first name and last name initial" which is totally fine but answer when i tell you my full name. Also, my rubella immunity came back low. I got the booster (and had to sit that cycle out). Two months later they call me back and ask me if I got it. I told them the date I received the booster and said I thought the record should be in my file but could have the doctor's office resend it. Then they went back and forth about whether they needed to draw my blood to test for it again. They were basically asking me if they should. I told them "I got the booster so if I'm not immune at this point there is nothing I can do and I'll have to take my chances. But if you need the blood test for me to continue with my treatment plan then do it." It just felt like they had no idea what was going on. I feel like when you go in you have to already know what should be happening or you might get extra blood drawn or unnecessary ultrasounds. If insurance wasn't covering my treatment I would be really concerned about the confusion if I was the one paying for all these tests.

I only saw Nataki Douglas at my consultation and the appointment after all tests were complete to go over a treatment plan. I thoroughly enjoyed both these appointments. She took time to explain test results, treatment options, potential risks and it never felt rushed. She is very caring and her conversation didn't feel too stiff or clinical.

Obviously the doctors can't work 7 days a week for morning monitoring so don't expect her to be there for all your appointments.

After trying for a little over a year we decided to seek answers. Due to female cycle irregularity and male low morphology Dr. Douglas suggested clomid with better timed intercourse at home or we could go straight to IUI. Due to the low morphology and the fact that we do have insurance coverage for IUI we decided to do that. I started with 50mg of clomid on cycle days 3-7 with an IUI the day following LH surge.

I think the initial consultation was $550 if not covered by insurance. They were very up front about that. Our insurance covers all treatment associate with IUI but won't for IVF if we get to that point. I would definitely work more closely with the financial counselor if we were paying for treatment to make sure I was getting what I needed for treatment and no additional blood draws or ultrasounds.

The experience was a nightmare, and my treatment was unsuccessful. The set protocols made everything easier for the clinic/doctors but weren't successful for me and often left me with negative side effects for several extra days before my procedures. I could barely get a callback, and the clinical staff don't use email. Even though the clinic claimed to have a lot of experience with same-sex couples, they often had to make up the process along the way. Because they didn't have updated consent forms for same-sex couples, we had to solicit external legal council and advocate for changes to the forms in order to protect of our parental rights. The lead social worker was also highly unprofessional and shared obvious details about the identity of famous patients.

After each failed cycle, Dr. McConnell just recommended the same protocol without additional testing. I'm not sure if it's Dr. McConnell's preference or the clinic's, but she doesn't individualize or alter a protocol even when it fails or the patient has an adverse reaction. The oral estrace that they use for FET cycles made me very sick, but she refused to let me do another FET protocol or consider one of the many alternatives forms of estrogen.

The only slight positive was that the support staff including the nurses were very kind. That said, I was frequently given misinformation and strange instructions by the nurses, who seemed overwhelmed and unorganized. One told me to avoid yoga/light exercise even before my frozen transfer because it would bounce my uterus!

I had a horrible experience with Dr. McConnell. She regularly failed to explain procedures or recommendations and lied to me. Dr. McConnell said that one couldn't stop birth control pills mid-pack--apparently, it was easier to lie than share her reason for wanting me to continue the medication. She also made an error during an exam and said my uterus was retroverted; it's not and she had done ultrasounds on me previously. Most significantly, I went through with a surgery that Dr. McConnell recommended for me, and unfortunately she failed to mention that it could have a significant negative impact on my ovarian reserve. She also did not help get me an appointment with a surgeon.

Go elsewhere if possible. Otherwise, advocate heavily for yourself: push for answers, follow up repeatedly, and make sure you stay on top of every detail of your care.

unsuccessful medicated FETs with the same standard protocol each time (estrace, antagonist, progesterone suppositories, low dose medrol before transfer)

They tried to have us pay out of pocket rather than use our insurance benefits. Luckily, insurance covered treatment. However, they routinely tried to bill me for covered procedures or at higher prices than I was told in advance. Sorting it out was almost impossible.

We went into the process knowing that we wanted eSET, so there wasn't much if any discussion about it with Dr. McConnell.

Not suitable for someone who needs treatment that extends beyond their standard protocol e.g. estrogen priming in my case

She did not ask about my goals or manage my expectations. I was told we would get pregnant quickly and without any issue. Even after the first failed embryo transfer did not take, she did not discuss any possible changes to our protocol. I distinctively remember that in our follow up appointment to discuss our failed transfer, she sat back cross her fingers and asked "what can i do for you?" That question struck me as uncaring and cold. All she suggested was to follow the same protocol and transfer the next embryo. We did as we were told for the next 2 embryos (makes 3 total transfers) using the same protocol and received the same negative results each transfer.

I can remember only 2 individuals who were our lifelines during our treatment there. 1) Michael worked the front desk and was always friendly, kind and efficient. 2) Erica was a blood tech there and is now at Sher NY. She was always friendly and efficient - uplifting and important qualities to help patients navigate this stressful time.

Communication skills are poor. Next steps were spoken about in broad strokes. She dictated the next steps without asking for my input and paid little attention when we provided input/shared concerns. It always took a very long time for her to get back to us (by phone) - we resorted to carrying the phones with us into bathrooms etc. so as not to miss her calls. There are far better and faster ways to communicate today e.g. email

Do not expect any compassion or customized treatment. This is not a doctor I would recommend unless you know (and who does?) you only need to go through this once to be successful and you have no need for customized treatment/protocol.

Results of my STIM cycles were very poor - I had very few follicles to work with. I requested adjustments to my treatment protocol to improve my chances e.g. estrogen priming but was told a flat no because I don't ovulate regularly and wouldn't fit into one of their standard protocols (I actually went on to have success with priming at another clinic). On another occasion, I was stimmed with a dominant follicle which ultimately resulted in a cancelled cycle. In summary, I was encouraged to keep repeating the same standard protocol even though the monitoring sessions revealed low follicle count and in some cases a clear dominant follicle.

Monitoring started at 7 am. I had to get there by 630AM to be the first few patients in line. I have literally run to the front door of the building to rush to be the first few in line. Consequence of not being the first 1 to 3 is waiting untill 745 am to be seen by the doctor. After seeing the doctor for monitoring, it could take another 20 mins to meet with the nurse. That means spending 1.5 hours for a 3 minute monitoring appointment is my best case scenario.

At my first appointment, Dr. Rackow was more than 2 hours late. She apparently had an emergency at the hospital. I understand OB emergencies happen and as a health care provider myself, I know it happens. What I don't understand is the front desk staff, they knew she was running late when I checked in but never said anything. It was only when I overheard the front desk telling other patients to either wait or reschedule that I went up to the front desk myself to inquire, since I had waited nearly an hour by now. At this point they told me that I actually hadn't been waiting that long because they allow 45 minutes of the new patient appointment for us to fill out paperwork. I'd never heard of this and I've never needed 45 minutes to fill out new patient paperwork. They then basically said I could come back another day or reschedule. Dr. Rackow's schedule is not very frequent and I had already canceled my patients for the day to see her so I opted to wait, I got lunch at Whole Foods and then came back to the appointment. The entire time the front desk seemed to not care and never bothered to inform me that she was going to be in late. I stayed to Columbia against my better judgement (I also trained there so I guess I felt some sense of loyalty), but after the cattle-call morning monitoring visits where I without fail would have to wait nearly an hour and a last minute appointment cancellation by Dr. Rackow, I left the clinic after finishing the infertility/RPL workup. I could not even get a follow up to discuss the results because Dr. Rackow is just never there. I had it with Dr. Nataki Douglas. I made the appointment for first thing in the morning to minimize wait time. At 20 minutes past my appointment time, I saw Dr. Douglas and some staff roll in the office with coffee and doughnuts, apparently they had gone out to get coffee and no one seemed to care that there were patients on the schedule. That really solidified it for me. Since I was paying fully out of pocket, I felt I couldn't do treatment at Columbia because it just seemed like no one cared at the office. To me, fertility treatment is quite individualized and when I finally saw Dr. Douglas, I could tell she just read my chart right before the appointment and offered standard treatment options without taking my medical history into consideration.

I don't know if Dr. Rackow is really familiar with many of her patients' cases/treatment progress. She was seldom available and I only managed to see her once. Again, I feel that fertility treatment protocols are quite individualized and it is very hard for me, as a patient, to just see whomever is available that day and you can tell they just literally just flipped through your chart moments prior and are now going to decide the course of your treatment. It might be okay with some people, but since I was paying fully out of pocket I was not going to take that gamble.

My insurance only covered up through diagnostic testing. I left after the diagnostic testing. Did not start treatment at Columbia. Little did I know I would be haunted by billing issues for another 9 months. PLEASE CHECK YOUR BILLING STATEMENTS!! I will highlight 2 issues: 1.) On my first visit with Dr. Rackow, as you see from above, was delayed greatly, and Dr. Rackow spent approximately 30 minutes with me going over my medical history and then suggested some lab tests. I was then shuttled off to speak with a nurse who went over when I was supposed to come in for baseline bloodwork, since I was an IVF newbie. Imagine my surprise when I then got a bill from Columbia for $404 for a 60-minute office visit with Dr. Rackow. They billed under code 99205, look it up if you're curious but I guarantee you the criteria under which the clinic was allowed to bill under that code did NOT happen at my visit. Obviously I did not "clock in" or "clock out" the visit but honestly the least amount of time I spent at that office was the actual appointment with Dr. Rackow. When I called the office to inquire, the billing department said they would speak with her and get back to me. They actually did call me back, only to tell me that Dr. Rackow said she had spent a significant amount of time that I was definitely there for an hour. I'm not even sure if Dr. Rackow remembered me as a patient and I thought it was pretty impressive that she remembered how long she spent with me. The ironic thing is when I had another new patient consult with my current RE at another clinic, I was bracing myself for another $400 visit. My new RE saw me on time, ACTUALLY spent over an hour for the visit, and the office only billed my for a 45 minute visit, which was only $118 out of pocket for me. 2.) I was double billed by Columbia for lab tests. Columbia did the blood collection but the analysis gets sent to another lab, typically Enzo Labs. There was a lag by Enzo labs for some genetic tests since they had to verify some things with my insurance so I got the lab bill from Enzo almost 9 months (yea....) after the date of service. I cross referenced it with the bill from Columbia for the same date of service, which came shortly after the office visit to draw blood (sending out bills is one thing they are not slow about), and noticed that Columbia had billed for the blood collection, as well as for the analysis of 3 hormones, under the same code as Enzo Labs, who actually did the analysis. I could not believe I had to call Columbia... again. I thought I was done with them. Spoke with Sara in billing, who told me that she would call me back in a couple of days to let me know what the credit owed to me was. I never got a call back, and when I called after a week Sara no longer worked there! They then transferred to me Sofia Papaderos, the financial services manager, who actually was pretty good about emailing me back at first. However, I found it strange that the manager could not give me a timeline of when or how the credit would be processed (apparently the credit needs several approval signatures prior to issuance of a refund check, again, something you would expect the manager to know about). She then proceeded to tell me that an amended claim needed to be filed with the insurance prior to me getting the refund, but Columbia never sent this amended claim, and again, her exact words were "Not sure on the time frame unfortunately". Then I stopped hearing back from her all together! After over a month of back and forth, I finally somehow just received a refund check in the mail, without needing this so-called amended claim.

I have no issues with a clinic that is a cattle call. I understand that a cattle call isn't always a bad thing - it can show that the clinic is organized and efficient in how they see patients. This is not the case with Columbia. The waiting room is extremely uncomfortable and outdated. The chairs are lined up to face a television set that blasts HGTV very loudly every single day. I visited the clinic at all hours of the day and this was also the case. The exam rooms are extremely outdated and felt dirty to me. The walls were covered in marks and desperately needed fresh paint. The sterilizing machines would be left on and beeping non-stop for 10+ minutes at a time until someone would finally come in and turn it off. They do not have many lab techs to take blood work. I would estimate 3 techs at a time. The doctor's do not review your chart or paper before entering your exam room. I had several ask me why I was there today and one incorrectly said, "you're here for X today, right" - which was 100% incorrect.

I saw Dr. McConnell during my consultation. She seemed friendly and was very positive about us succeeding. She indicated that the tests that my GYN ran were thorough and that our only issue was morphology (male factor). She believed we could easily get pregnant using IUI with no drugs. We were obviously excited to hear this and immediately signed up. Unfortunately, we never saw Dr. McConnell again - EVER. We did 3 IUIs at the clinic and never once saw OUR doctor after the consultation. This is shocking to me as I had A LOT of visits over the course of 3 IUIs. I felt like a number and not a human.

The nurse telephone line goes directly to voicemail. That is fine. The problem is, their voicemail numbers don't match the correct nurses with their corresponding doctors. I mentioned this several times and was met with deaf ears. Also, I would receive a call back only 80% of the time from the nurse. In one instance, I called 5 times over the course of 3 days pleading with them to call me back as my prescription hadn't been called in correctly. I never received any reply. I'm still waiting for that call back (haha!)

Dr. McConnell seemed like a warm person and she was positive about the treatment she was prescribing for me. However, she was not proactive. After having 2 failed IUIs with no drugs, I had to call the clinic myself and ask whether I could start taking clomid. I never heard back from her after my failed IUIs or after my request to start taking clomid. The nurse called me back and said OK. How is that acceptable behavior for a doctor? After 3 IUIs failed, I simply never called the clinic again and Dr. McConnell never reached out to me. I can't adequately review her personally as a doctor as I only saw her once during my consultation.

Don't expect to have easy access to this doctor or even her nurses.

My husband had low morphology (1%). That was our only known issue. Dr. McConnell did not believe morphology would impact our success and she strongly suggested we try natural IUI (no drugs at all). We did 2 failed natural IUI cycles before I grew frustrated and called the nurse asking to be allowed to do an IUI w/ clomid cycle. The nurse said OK. I never heard back from Dr. McConnell so I don't even know what her rationale was for saying OK.

My insurance company paid for IUIs and visits associated with it as part of my coverage. I needed pre-authorization before each IUI.

The wait time, very often, is excruciating. 4 hours for iui in not unusual. You are treated like a number. Noone will tell you why or how, they just draw your blood, or take you for a sonogram, however they will not explain what they see (on a sonogram screen). The billing department will NOT response to your calls. I paid the balance every time I was there and somehow they still managed to send some bills to "collection" even though I never got a bill for it. A year later there are some amounts disputed: after calling multiple time for an explanation or bills it is still unresolved. You cannot just talk to the billing department. You may only leave a message.

The visits were very rushed. Any questions I had Dr. Rackow explained fully, however she did not volunteer to give me any information by herself. I learned more about my procedures from the internet than from my own doctor. It takes a month to schedule an appointment (which doesn't last more than 10 minutes) because she is in the office only once a week for half the day. You cannot contact your doctor with questions. Instead, you need to call the office and talk to the nurse. If you have a question for the doctor then the nurse takes the question and it is supposed to be answered in 24 to 48 hours. However when I left a message with the nurse - my call was never returned. If you need immediate response then I think there is a fee for that. Doctor never followed up on the results. Dr. Rackow"prescribed" 3 cycles and then asked me to return for "follow up" visit which also took less than 10 minutes where she suggested I do another 3 cycles without changing the protocol.

Nurses and staff do what they are supposed to but without explaining why. Waiting time on average was 2 to 3 hours. But sometimes 4 hours. For one nurse it took 10 minutes to draw blood. She was not schooled at assembling the equipment so she wasted 6 needles before she got it right. I don't believe she had a proper schooling. Other nurses were just ok.

I think I spend more time reviewing Dr. Racow than she spend on my case. When I had a follow up appointment she was searching through her computer data for the information about my case as she was unprepared. Most of the visit she was staring at the computer instead of giving us advises or talking about our case. After unsuccessful treatments she wanted us to continue with the same treatment without adjusting anything. Getting questions answered while in a cycle was challenging. There was no email or phone for Dr. Rackow. I left only one message but it was not returned. It felt like you have no one to turn with your questions.

Have as many questions ready as possible. Write them down and go through them. Don't get rushed answers as satisfactory.

Treatment strategies: 50mm clomid, iui, check for pregnancy. result: negative

$4,600 per IUI cycle

N/A

The only real weakness is that for the check-ins with the bloodwork/ultrasounds you are not likely to see your physician, which isn't preferable as I would have liked my physician to be the one doing the ultrasound check-ins.

Dr. Guarnaccia is an excellent, thoughtful and sensitive physician. When I started my first cycle for the egg freezing, when I came in on day 6 for my first ultrasound with the doctor on call to see whether the follicles were maturing, the results were negative - and I was instructed by that doctor to stop the fertility shots. I was in tears and Dr. Guarnaccia so happened to be in the office that Saturday, and purposely went out of his way to find me to calm me down and explain that we are not robots--we are human beings and one regimen of shots that works for one patient does not necessarily work for another. He strongly urged me not to give up and encouraged me to do another cycle for the egg freezing and advised that we would do a different regiment of shots. I appreciated his feedback and ultimately agreed, and while that cycle did not get as many eggs as hoped, we did get through the whole cycle and froze six eggs. I was advised to do another cycle to maximize the number of eggs but my finances (and well-being) decided against it for the time being.

Very friendly and dedicated, hard workers.

Dr. Guarnaccia is an excellent, thoughtful and sensitive physician. When I started my first cycle for the egg freezing, when I came in on day 6 for my first ultrasound with the doctor on call to see whether the follicles were maturing, the results were negative - and I was instructed by that doctor to stop the fertility shots. I was in tears and Dr. Guarnaccia so happened to be in the office that Saturday, and purposely went out of his way to find me to calm me down and explain that we are not robots--we are human beings and one regimen of shots that works for one patient does not necessarily work for another. He strongly urged me not to give up and encouraged me to do another cycle for the egg freezing and advised that we would do a different regiment of shots. I appreciated his feedback and ultimately agreed, and while that cycle did not get as many eggs as hoped, we did get through the whole cycle and froze six eggs. I was advised to do another cycle to maximize the number of eggs but my finances (and well-being) decided against it for the time being.

Dr. Guarnaccia is a straight-shooter and will not beat around the bush. If you're looking for someone to sugarcoat it, he's not the one. He is diligent and will ask questions of you--and welcomes questions from you as well.

The monitoring timeframe was always set very early in the morning, which was convenient given my work schedule.

Everything involving egg freezing.

It was a nightmare, and my treatment was unsuccessful. The set protocols made everything easier for the clinic/doctors but weren't successful for me and often left me with negative side effects for several extra days before my procedures. I could barely get a callback, and the clinical staff don't use email. Even though the clinic claimed to have a lot of experience with same-sex couples, they often had to made up the process along the way. Because they didn't have updated consent forms for same-sex couples, we had to pay for a lawyer and advocate for changes to the forms in order to protect of our parental rights. The lead social worker was also highly unprofessional and shared obvious details about the identity of famous patients.

After each failed cycle, Dr. McConnell just recommended the same protocol without additional testing. I'm not sure if it's Dr. McConnell's preference or the clinic's, but she doesn't individualize or alter a protocol even when it fails or the patient has an adverse reaction. The oral estrace that they use for FET cycles made me very sick, but she refused to let me do another FET protocol or consider one of the many alternatives forms of estrogen.

The support staff including the nurses were really nice but overworked and unorganized. I was frequently given misinformation and strange instructions by the nurses. One told me to avoid yoga/light exercise even before my frozen transfer because it would bounce my uterus!

I had a horrible experience with Dr. McConnell. She regularly failed to explain procedures or recommendations and lied to me. Dr. McConnell said that one couldn't stop birth control pills mid-pack--apparently, it was easier to lie than share her reason for wanting me to continue the medication. She also made an error during an exam and said my uterus was retroverted; it's not and she had done ultrasounds on me previously. Most significantly, I went through with a surgery that Dr. McConnell recommended for me, and unfortunately she failed to mention that it could have a significant negative impact on my ovarian reserve. She also did not help get me an appointment with a surgeon.

Go elsewhere if possible. Otherwise, advocate heavily for yourself: push for answers, follow up repeatedly, and make sure you stay on top of every detail of your care.

failed medicated FETs with the same standard protocol each cycle (estrace, antagonist, progesterone suppositories, low dose medrol before transfer)

They tried to have us pay out of pocket rather than use our insurance benefits. Luckily, insurance covered treatment. However, they routinely tried to bill me for covered procedures or at higher prices than I was told in advance. Sorting it out was almost impossible.

We went into the process knowing that we only wanted eSET, so there wasn't really a conversation.

Terribly long wait times, difficulty getting in and out for even just a blood draw. Very difficult to get in touch with doctor by phone, even after days of calling and leaving messages. Didn't like seeing a different doctor every time

Things began okay- he was warm, informative, and thorough during the initial consult. Unfortunately, as time went on it was clear that he did not remember who I was no matter how many times I called or returned for an appointment. On one occasion he forgot something he had advised and we had discussed directly regarding my course of treatment and on another occasion I discovered (from his nurse) that he had forgotten to tell me about an additional test I needed which nearly interfered with my next planned IUI. He was never rude or impatient but my impression over time was that he couldnt keep track of all his patients and just went with a "one size fits all" type of approach.

Some were more informative, friendly and patient than others but all were relatively warm

He was kind, intelligent, and informative- particularly at the initial consult. However, as time went by I found it more and more difficult as I rarely saw him when at the clinic and had an extremely difficult time reaching him by phone and he never seemed to remember who I was or the details of my case/treatment. On one occasion he forgot to include his DEA number on my prescription causing me to waste extra time as I had to return to the clinic to get a new prescription. And ultimately I felt he just followed a "one size fits all" approach. I lost my first pregnancy (due to a chromosomal abnormality) which was the result of my second natural cycle IUI (no medication). Despite this, Dr. Zimmermann strongly advised that I take Clomid for any subsequent IUIs. I followed his advice once however, the Clomid caused significant discomfort and did not result in a pregnancy. I then got a second opinion from another reproductive endocrinologist who indicated that would not have been his recommendation due to some adverse effects of Clomid and due to the fact that I had already gotten pregnant with a natural cycle, had no known documented fertility problems and good ovarian reserve. Against Dr. Zimmermann's advice, I decided to go back to a natural cycle (no Clomid) on my next try which resulted in a healthy pregnancy.

You probably have to stay on top of him by calling or going in constantly otherwise things may get missed.

Advised Clomid after a miscarriage even though I had no documented fertility problems and had gotten pregnant on my second natural cycle of IUI because he said that at my age (39) it would improve my chances.

Most were covered by my health insurance

1. You will never see the same doctor twice. Make sure your comfortable with that. 2. You will be told the worst case scenario. It might make you panic. However, I'm glad I was prepared for the worst. 3. The front desk people are the most helpful people around. They know everything and they are really willing to work with your schedule to get you in.

She spoke to me pleasantly for sure, not condescendingly. However, I felt like she wasn't really paying attention to my own personal history. For example, she said something several times about my endometriosis and... I don't have that! At all! I had to keep correcting her because she had read some letter wrong. I could have been mistreated because of that.

They were all kind. They seemed knowledgeable and understanding.

I really only saw her twice I think. The first visit was the initial intake. As previously mentioned, she seemed to briefly scan my paperwork and misinterpreted a letter. I had to keep correcting her. She was nice and all but she also didn't really care to diagnose me properly since "whatever it is, we'll be treating it the same way".

Assert yourself. If it seems like she's missing info don't be afraid to speak up. She won't get annoyed.

I was lucky. I only had to go through one cycle of IUI. She said I had unexplained infertility and there was no particular reason I wasn't getting pregnant. She said because of that it would just be best to stimulate more egg production with clomid. I started clomid on cycle day 3, I went in for daily ultrasounds to check on the egg development. I had 2 good ones developing. At mid cycle I was told to check an ovulation stick daily and once I saw the surge to come in the next morning for my IUI. If it didn't happen by Thursday, I was to use an injection to stimulate ovulation. Luckily, the surge hit Wednesday night and I did not need to inject. (I really hated that because they don't work on weekends, I would have had to buy an expensive drug and inject it). I went in with my husband for my IUI, after they told me to lay down for 5 minutes. I had read that laying down for 15 minutes produced better results... so I stuck around for 15 anyway.

I had a 1k deductible for my insurance. I already met that for 2014 before I even showed up at the center. Everything was covered in full by my insurance. My actual IUI cycle in 2015 cost around $450- I only know since it was January and it the first thing to hit my deductible. The sperm was handled separately and I think it was around $100.

Strengths - they are not as expensive, accept more insurances (this wasnt an issue for us but we have heard this from others) Weaknesses - they are a research institution with zero incentives or motivation to get high success rates with SART. And this will show in every aspect of their operation - from the doctor's knowledge of personal history, to the way billing works to the time it takes for them to return a phone call even for pressing issues (BTW, they dont know the concept of email based communication).

Not once did she know the history of our records. The last consult was the last straw for us. She had absolutely no idea about our history and spent the entire time searching for her records on her computer in fits and starts, and ended up spending hardly any time discussing our case history or customizing a plan for us.

Its a faceless factory, so there isnt a concept of a specific nurse you work with.

Another cog in the CWRC machine with zero personal knowledge of our case or any real motivation to pull off a successful pregnancy. To give an idea for how bad it was - here is our last visit's description (at which time we decided we are never setting foot again in CWRC) - we had completed 6 IUI cycles by then, with no adjustments made to our medication or plan (we constantly got only one follicle with each clomid cycle) - We setup time with her to figure out if we should move on to IUI. - She spent a good 15 minutes telling us curtly that we should have caught a billing/insurance screw-up that had happened with a blood test earlier in the day (nurse made a mistake with some code, we didn't catch it). - She then proceeded to spend another 10 minutes searching cluelessly through our records and complaining that someone had not organized the records properly. - when we asked for her opinion on whether we should do ICSI and whether we should do PGS with our IVF cycle and she point blank refused to answer, saying it was a decision we should make (we only asked for her expert opinion) - the consult ended at that and we didnt step foot in CWRC after.

Avoid CWRC at all costs. The only reason you go there, and i repeat, the only reason you go to CWRC is if your financial situation requires it (they are not as expensive and accept more insurance plans). If you do have to go to CWRC, avoid Dr. Rackow at all costs. She also btw, only visits CWRC in mid-town once a week for half a day - which means getting time with her for a consult is next to impossible.

Did 6 IUI cycles with Dr. Rackow and was on clomid (though they switched to a different one for a few cycles because of vision side effects). Always got only one mature follicle - never more than one - but she made no changes to the plan.

We didnt have any problems with billing

Operated like a factory due to the number of patients in the waiting room at any given time. But it was necessary to maintain a constant flow of moving patients . They only called u by ur first name to maintain privacy . There was never a long wait from when u were called to when the dr arrived. I do think they need to change the billing window procedure. There’s not enough privacy

As Columbia has a massive fertility dept and I saw several drs during the year and a half of IUI and IVF attemps, dr rudck always treated me as if I were her only patient. She remembered my personal situation everytime I saw her she never sugar coated anything but was never doubtful or negative either. When I conceived at 43 after one IVF treatment she told me to play the lottery! That was the only time she expressed that the odds had been against me

Fast knowledgeable warm caring encouraging

See previous comment. She is direct, stays neutral, is forthcoming, fresh, progressive, supportive, takes her time and talks to you, feels like a friend, routes for you. She recommend that I deliver ya NYC Langone due to my location and because they are an educational hospital

Don’t expect a dr thatsugar coats the facts. She gets to the point but with a softness because she is compassionate. She has children and with that comes empathy for the desire to want a baby. She made me feel comfortable, laugh, and stay excited

My insurance covered up to 30k in fertirky treatments and 10k per lifetime if IVF meds . My out of pocket for 8 IUIs and 1 IVF was about $13k. I did use donor Sperm so a portion of that was for receiving storage and thawing

I had 9 eggs retrieved 7 survived by day 5 only one healthy embryo was viable

While Dr. McConnell was sometimes in a good mood I also found her to be moody and sometimes curt to me when I asked questions at consultation appointments. After my first round of IVF i had 6 mature eggs and only 2 fertilized and they transferred one day 6 embryo. I did not become pregnant and Dr. McConnell was prepared to do the same treatment all over again. Instead, she should've suggested ICSI and a day 3 transfer (which Columbia apparently does not do). Overall, I did not feel that Dr. McConnell gave my treatment a lot of personal attention.

I was not happy with their responsiveness. If i had a question about my treatment it would take 2-3 days to get a call back, and sometimes I never got a call back. They also did not communicate clear instructions with IUI and it was very stressful.

I was not happy overall with Dr. McConell or Columbia U. There were several steps we had to go through in order to do IVF, and we were not told about all of the steps up front and so it took longer to begin IVF treatment which was stressful. There was a long wait in order to enroll in the IVF class. It turned out my estrogen priming would begin around the time of the start date of my IVF class and when I asked Dr. McConnell for instructions she refused to give them to me and suggested that I wait another month to start. While Dr. McConnell was sometimes in a good mood I also found her to be moody and sometimes curt to me when I asked questions at consultation appointments.

estrogen priming & aggressive protocol (450 gonal f with 150 menopur) - it did work for me in that i was diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve and i had 6 mature eggs. however, it did not result in a pregnancy.

there was usually a long wait; the wait was shorter in the westchester office

It is very efficient and it is clear it works, but it does give off a Factory feeling. You go from one place to another and everything is very routine. If you are new you may feel a bit lost and confused until you figure out how the system works. For example you sign in and walk to billing first and then you have to wait to be paged into the section you are scheduled for.

He was very honest and open about what needed to be done. As an SMC he made me feel accepted and did not judge based on my circumstances or age.

Although I saw different nurses, I felt That they all were efficient and communicated well what was expected. Many of them were friendly and would remember their patients.

He was very experienced and took the time to explain the next steps and answer questions. He was not judgmental and very encouraging. Whenever I left a message he responded in a timely matter. Although he didn't perform my procedures he did make sure to walk me through every step and process before it occurred.

I would say that although the clinic is big and it seems like a factory being run, Dr. Zimmerman will be there to help you if you reach out.

He first did a blood test and discovered I had Beta Thalasemia trait. That helped me to pick a sperm donor that did not have that. I also had to do an HSG to make sure the Fallopian tubes were clear. I also had blood tests and ultrasounds to track and time ovulation. Finally I did the iui. After I became pregnant, he continued to monitor my hcg with bloodwork and had an ultrasound at 6 weeks before he released me.

My insurance covered most of it. However, the iui was around $800 and then I had to pay $50 to intake the sperm that I ordered.

Other than my first office visit I never saw Dr. Sauer. I saw a different doctor at each visit each of whom were cold and made no effort to connect on a human level. When entering the office I would sign in and receive a blue pager identical to the kind I get at my local fast food restaurant. At the fast food restaurant I don't need them to learn my name but at my doctors office I expected them to take enough interest in at least momentary learning my name during the time that they are treating me. It made the whole experience feel like a factory or meet market.

After going to other RE's I can honestly say that I have never been to such a terrible doctors office. It felt more like a factory or meat market then a doctors office. I was treated as a number and received a pager that would beep with instructions when it was my turn to pay or see the doctor. It is the same kind of pager that they had at my local fast food restaurant. No one bothered to learn my name and there was very little follow through on the part of the doctors. I saw a different doctor each time I came and they were not familiar with my case. Most of the time it took them multiple days to get back to me and the nurses were the only ones to call even when a specific request was placed to speak directly with Dr. Sauer. Other than my first consultation I never spoke or heard from Dr. Sauer until I complained and told them that I was leaving to another RE. I only stayed with them for 3 cycles 1 medicated colmid and two clomid IUIs. After my first clomid IUI cycle I expressed concern to the doctor I saw at morning monitoring about my heightened side effects that I was experiencing. She brushed me off and asked if I wanted to have a baby or not. And there was no follow through or attempt to switch my medication to other stimulants.

I recommend that each patient is on top of their treatment plan and asks many questions before undergoing treatment to ensure it is the most appropriate plan.

The treatment plan was 6 clomid IUIs before looking to change the protocol because that they said was standard practice. I was not treated as an individual I was treated as someone who was infertile the same way it appears others were being treated.

The cost was $500 to speak with the Doctor and $5000 for IUI.

Columbia is a factory and is not well run. Their excuse is that they take so much insurance but other clinics that take insurance do a much better job from an administrative standpoint (I found out from experience).

Columbia is a total factory and it not well run. The nurses are terrible and it is very difficult to get through to anyone. Dr. Rudick was not careful in treatment and was very imprecise in her explanations.

The nurses were not helpful or nice. Total factory. You could wait on hold forever just to leave a message for someone to maybe call you back. The nurses are only available until 4 or 4.30 pm.

Dr. Rudick was simply not a good doctor and she was terrible at explaining issues. After the first round of bloodtests I had, she left me a voice mail telling me it would be hard for me to get pregnant. She later denied saying that on the message, and said I had not understood her, but I listened to the message several times and it is what she said. It may not have been what she meant, but that does not help on a voice mail, especially when you cannot reach her easily with follow up questions. Second, her treatment was not good. When I went to another doctor for a second opinion, I found out she had missed several things in my chart. The second doctor picked up on several results from Ruduck's chart and made changes in my treatment, which got results. Dr. Rudick had the same information but didn't use it. Dr. Rudick was was pregnant when I saw her but she never said anything. It wasn't obvions when I started seeing her but she walked into one appointment clearly showing and I was floored. I felt it was very insensitive of her not to say anything about her pregnancy earlier (or at all). When I asked her when she was due she refused to tell me.

Go elsewhere.

I don't remember this information well enough.

It was covered by insurance for us.

I think she was down the middle on this. She's a nice woman, she explains things well, she is never abrupt or rude. But she obviously sees a lot of patients and I doubt she'd know my name if she didn't look down at the chart. She's very calm and I think that can come across as disinterested. I did feel like she listened to me and I feel like she always answered my questions well.

It really depended on the nurse! Some were very kind and caring, some were quiet and a little cold. They were all competant.

She is a nice woman and a smart doctor. I appreciated that her first reaction was not to send us right into IVF. If she had said "I think you need IVF" we would have listened to her, but she felt we should try IUI first and it was the right course of treatment for us. After my miscarriages, she made sure I got all of the appropriate testing to make sure everything was okay. That being said, she's not the warmest person in the world, so if you need a doctor who will hug you, she's not it. She does listen. She does answer questions. I never felt talked down to.

The same advice I would give to anyone who needs infertility treatment: educate yourself and advocate for yourself. Dr. McConnell is smart, I did a lot of research and I never asked her a question where I wasn't satisfied with her answer. She is nice and I did feel like she cared about getting me pregnant, but she's not a super enthusiastic or warm person, so if you need someone like that, I would try a different doctor. In the end, we trusted her guidance on our treatment, and I'm glad we did.

I had four cycles of IUI. She originally recommended that we only do 3 before IVF. I took 100mg of Clomid for days 2-6, with regular monitoring and then insemination after either a positive OPK or ovidrel shot. The first cycle was a biochemical pregnancy. Second cycle was negative. Third cycle resulted in a pregnancy that was ultimately not viable (no fetal heartbeat), followed by a D&C (performed by a different doctor). Fourth cycle resulted in my son. We met with her after the miscarriage and she recommended that we continue with IUI because they were clearly working in getting me pregnant, we just needed a viable pregnancy. She also ordered recurrent pregnancy loss blood tests at that time, all came back normal.

My insurance covered all of my testing and IUIs and D&C, minus co-pays. That's one of the benefits of CWRC - they took a lot of insurance.

She's very nice. However 1.) every failure resulted in being presented statistical charts, not problem solving 2.) after being shown said charts, we were asked what we wanted to do next. We expected expertise and assertive care.

They screwed up constantly, particularly when it came to prescriptions and drug ordering. They cost us several thousand dollars out of pocket unnecessarily.

We did 2 IVFs and several IUIs with Dr. Rackow. One IVF was a complete failure, the other resulted in two frozen embryos that are still at CWRC. Shortly after leaving Dr. Rackow and CWRC, we successfully conceived. The issue with CWRC is that they don't test for everything, and don't communicate what they don't test for. In fact, the issues that were inhibiting our fertility were easily solvable, but during our time with Dr. Rackow and the CWRC, every failure was addressed with statistical charts (eg. You are at "X" age, therefore your IVF success % is "Y"). We were told they had tested for everything. They hadn't. We wasted three years and tens of thousands of dollars at this practice. Ultimately, CWRC are proceduralists.. They are not diagnosticians. When we returned to CWRC after having our child, we recapped the ultimate diagnosis of our fertility challenge and the response we got (from a different doctor there) was simply "We don't test for that". Well, thanks for telling us you had tested for everything.

If you get a diagnosis, great. If you get a shoulder shrug and are reminded of the statistical charts, leave. Also... Look at the fertility success statistics at Cornell and NYU (neither of which we went to for our success). They are superior.