Fertility Centers of Illinois

It is a really busy clinic, so sometimes you feel like cattle being moved along the line. Overall, everyone is friendly and helpful. Each doctor we have encountered seems very knowledgeable and committed to patient success. After years of infertility we truly felt we would be successful here, and ultimately we were. It took us time to wrap our heads around the fact we needed IVF, but once it was time we went to Dr. Jacobs first (who had since retired) and he did our retrieval where Dr. Rodgers carried out our transfer. For the both of them to get this right and have is be successful our first round of retrieval and transfer says everything to me. They get it and they got what seemed like an impossible job done. Go into appointments with questions and an open mind. This group of doctors know their stuff.

FCI is completely unorganized when it comes to scheduling and intake. Be prepared to be there for 1-2 hours for your daily bloodwork and ultrasound, and don't be surprised if they forget you (about half of the time I had to remind them I was there). It is VERY hard to manage a work schedule around their BW/US appointments as you don't know when you will be out of there. As mentioned previously, it is also very difficult to get ahold of your nurse or someone on your team to answer any questions you may have about your treatment or protocol.

Staff is amazingly cooperative and the facilities are well maintained and equipped The only downside is the waiting time before appointment which is relatively longer at times due to the number of patients

You have to be really on top of billing. Keep track of all bills and when you make payments. Keep a detailed list! Also, advocate for yourself! If your doctor/nurse isn't in, someone else will need to fill in. If they tell you something that you think is incorrect or your nurse/doctor does it differently, mention it. It doesn't hurt to clarify and ask!

Everyone was very friendly. My only negative would be that when booking appointments they would often transfer you back and forth to other clinics depending on availability and that became annoying to repeat yourself.

I felt like the clinic did not make good effort to get things covered by insuance. My insurance plan was eventually willing to cover everything, but it ended up requiring me to put in my own pre-certification. A boiling point was after I had gotten a denial mid-cycle while my hormones were all crazy where I was basically crying on the phone with the billing department about how they weren’t trying hard enough to get things covered. After I accused them of not trying to get things covered because they would get more money if I paid out of pocket, they transfered me to a supervisor who was miraculously able to call the insurance to get a peer-to-peer scheduled. In terms of the clinical staff, I like the main woman who does the ultrasounds, but her backup is a little clueless. The woman who draws the blood leaves bruises, but the backup persom is very good. The other backups seem to make me anxious. The front desk staff is sort of aloof. The wait time is always 20-30 minutes, even if it’s just a blood draw!! It doesn’t matter if you are early or late, the wait is always there. Don’t get anxious about it, that’s just how it is. Overall, the clinic itself is not my favorite. If I felt like it was possible to switch, I might, but I like the doctor enough that I will stay.

The financial coordinator is very good with communication and responding. The billing department is sloppy and you don't get good statements especially if you have anything prepaid with them. The clinic does not use HGH. Also retrievals at River North you need to stay on top of timing there as you are getting pushed around with many people and your doctor is most likely not there.

I was not as thrilled with his office staff. Very cold and impersonal at the Buffalo Grove facility. At one point they got me and another patient confused and almost proceeded with a test for the wrong thing. Another time, after our 3rd failure with IVF an ultrasound tech said "Wow, I can't believe you're still trying" and not in a good way. I called Marcia, Dr. Jacob's nurse coordinator, and she was very apologetic. It still was very hurtful though, without any compassion or thought.

Weakness. For 6:30 am appts, if patients have arrived, don’t let them sit in the lobby, open the office doors so they can sit in the common area. Or have a sign saying the doors won’t open till a certain time so I doesn’t appear like the staff at the desk is ignoring patients

I primarily went to Buffalo Grove and I liked this clinic. The staff is so friendly and good at assisting you and making you feel comfortable. My only comment just only at Buffalo Grove but all FCI locations is the phone system. It can be a bit difficult to get through and not all phone voicemails are answered so you just have to call back on your own.

Strength-- Large Clinic-Due to my work, I frequented quite a lot of the offices as it worked best, so I bounced between Hoffman, Highland Park, Hinsdale and River North. So the various locations were convenient. Strength- Lots of appointment times. They opened earlier, could get blood work and ultrasounds at early times prior to work starting. Weakness- River North is their busiest office, sometimes overwhelming there. But a bulk of the procedures take place at River North. The team in the offices are great. I had a great support from the inter office team along my process that really helped me get through it. General Notes- I was not crazy about having different Drs for egg retrievals and transfers, so just to be aware just because your Dr. is your Dr. doesn't mean that they will be handling you in the procedures. However, I learned along the way, to cater my schedule and office that my Dr was working. So he would be performing the items for me as that was something that was important to me and made me feel more comfortable. Plus I think the more time you have in front of your own personal Dr. the better.

You can never get anyone on the phone. You can't always get good appointment times. You don't know that a doctor only does procedures at one location - Chicago until you're prepping for that procedure. Also, if Dr Rodgers was never doing my egg retrievals or transfers why did I HAVE to go through the Chicago location? They treat you like you are a medical expert and don't give you information about costs, and charge you for services you don't need. Ie: 3 months of storage when you're using the sperm in 2 weeks. Also forcing you to pay for 12 months of embryo storage when you don't need 12 months. Not letting you discard abnormal embryos because you have 1 low level mosaic you want to keep. They keep surprise charging you with no list of charges. If you know I'm getting donor sperm you should tell me there's a $200 transfer in fee. In July they must have been purchased by another company and they started a Phreesia check in system and online payment. The check in system is stupid. 10-15 pages you have to go through to check in online. They only send the check in notice 1 hour before you're appointment. So you can't do the check in while on the way to the clinic. It asked repetative things when we're unnecessary. You know I don't have a partner so why do I need to tell you at every appointment I don't want my information shared with my non-existent partner? It doesn't let you make partial payments. It freaks out that you don't want a card saved. Every single time I had to tell it no I don't want a card on file and then yes I'm really sure I don't. I knew I would never owe anything else at this point in the year. Why would I give you my card info Phreesia???? So many people probably have to drive more than an hour to their appointments, why aren't you sending the check in the night before? There was no guidance on consent paperwork. I filled it out to the best of my ability. Including repeatedly telling the forms what I wanted done if I divorced my non-existent partner or they died. Only to get told that I filled them out wrong because the doctor wanted something different done on it. And every time I had to struggle with their online consent program because it refused to do any verification that wasn't uploading pictures of my DL. REPEATEDLY.

I know how many patients go through FCI, so I understand how difficult it must be for staff to schedule appointments. However, this was the biggest issue I faced. Often, I'd be told I needed an appointment scheduled immediately, and I would get an answering machine. I would try to schedule online and no one would respond. It was especially difficult to schedule on the weekends. Many times, I would end up at a clinic an hour away from my house. I could tell the staff would get frustrated trying to fit everyone in as well. That was really the only issue I had. All locations were very nice and clean. I liked how there were multiple offices I could visit. Staff and doctors were really nice, especially the ultrasound technicians.

Throughout my treatment at FCI, the Glenview clinic was my primary site of care. The facility itself is clean/new, offers onsite parking, and appointments outside of standard business hours. The staff was fantastic! The Ultrasound technicians (especially Natalie and Christina) were competent, efficient, and kind. After discovering multiple losses, these ladies treated my partner and me with compassion, empathy and respect while delivering the hard news. And when the time came to deliver the good news of a healthy baby/pregnancy, they were thrilled for us. It felt like they were rooting for us with each step in our journey. The phlebotomy staff (especially Angel) were great - quick and nearly pain-free. And the front desk staff was always kind and efficient with check-ins. Infertility is an emotionally challenging journey and the healthcare system is not perfect. You have to be your own advocate, but that is true with any healthcare experience. I found that with a bit of patience, kindness, and understanding - my needs were always met by this clinic. Highly recommend!

I think they will do what it takes to get you success as long as you're willing/able. Test results are FAST (same day) and there is a lot of consistency in ultrasound techs, nurses, phlebotomists, front desk instead of feeling like you are seeing new people every time. It can sometimes be difficult to get appointments when you need them but it is less busy now than it was before covid--although I was never not able to get one at all, it was often not at a great time of day. Much more of a concern if your work can't be flexible with appts. My least favorite thing about FCI is that IVF is only at the downtown location.

I travel to FCI so I saw Dr. Rodgers in the buffalo grove clinic and that is where my primary nurse is located, but for all my monitoring appointments I would go to Tinley Park clinic because it was closer to my house. Much less waiting at Tinley park and the staff are very compassionate people.

No weakness, this is a great clinic! Wait time was quick, receptionists are all very friendly! InFertility is a difficult journey and this clinic makes it so much easier. I can’t say enough great things. I was part of fertility centers of Illinois for 3 years and I have all great feelings about the location despite the sadness and difficulty that comes with the journey

FCI is a great clinic overall. Everyone is amazingly friendly, phone calls are always answered or returned in a timely manner, they always had availability for me to fit my schedule and I never felt like I was just another patient to them. They all truly care about your treatment plan.

It's a massive operation. There are pros and cons to that. Pros: it's easy to get in for a generic appointment (monitoring, imaging, labs), the nurses respond within 30-60 minutes in the portal Cons: because it is so big and because they take on SO many patients it's clear that everyone who works there is stressed - they are rude and short with you off the bat which just adds to the stress of infertility. Billing is a nightmare and it often feels like the right hand isn't talking to the left.

The clinic is accessible and comfortable. Appointments are easy to schedule through the patient portal. Occasionally you'll be put on hold on the phone to schedule an appointment. We had to transfer a frozen embryo here from another clinic. The embryologist was very cooperative and communicated well with us. One thing which we did not anticipate was seeing other doctors at the clinic for one of the ERA's and for our FET. I was very nervous about this but I ended up really liking both the doctors we saw, Dr. Marut and Dr. Sipe. I was impressed about how much Dr. Marut knew about my case. Dr. Sipe had a great bedside manner and performed the FET effortlessly. The one criticism I have for the clinic was that there was some miscommunication about the grade of my embryo, which had been fertilized at my previous clinic.

Well organized and efficient. Scheduling coordinator responds quickly. Everyone communicates together and works as a team. The ultrasound nurses are patient, compassionate, thorough and informative. Ilynne and the team coordinated PGS testing with the genetic lab so smoothly and seamlessly. The embryologist Anna played a large role and was always so compassionate, thorough, responsive and timely. Their lab, aParentIVF lab (for embryo freezing, biopsy and sperm freezing) also worked efficiently and very responsive and helpful. They even helped to negotiate with the genetic lab. Only negative was that 2 of the phlebotomists talked down to me because I was wearing a mask during the covid pandemic and I had to explain to them that it was a layer of protection for both of us, just like how they're wearing gloves. (before the clinic required masks) Kind of funny how they were condescending and asked "what's with the mask" as a medical professional.

This clinic seems somewhat unorganized. My nurse was really helpful in moving things along, but we had a few issues with getting appointments set via the scheduler (Frank?) and also had an issue getting our final documents transferred to our midwives office when the time came.

FCI is run very efficiently - this is both a strength and a weakness. The strength part of this is you can get the appointments you need to proceed with your treatments, while also working and living your life. The weakness is that this can sometimes feel like you are just a number they call to perform another procedure. There are also times when things are running behind (30 mins+) and there is no apology/explanation, or even acknowledgement that they are running behind. Efficient, but not always personal. However, when you need to go for an ultrasound and blood work each morning of a week, and you can get the appointment you need before work and are in and out in 30 minutes, generally you can count on FCI to make it happen. I also find that the nurses and office staff to do acknowledge any person accompanying a patient for treatment. In my case, my wife would be with me for many appointments (or I would go with my wife for appointments), and as the nurse or office staff would call your name to go to the procedure - they would never acknowledge or greet the non-patient. I find this odd, since in many, if not most scenarios, the non-patient is likely a partner or spouse, who feel every bit as much patient as the actual patient through this process.

Strengths: very efficient and organized, easy to get in at preferred time for monitoring, accessible nurses, clear Treatment plans and in the midst of a busy fertility center, i feel like a person. The imaging staff is incredible and warm and my doctor and her nurses and MA are fantastic Weaknesses: I am disabled and the Glenview clinic was not versed in accessibility laws. We had to advocate hard let than we should have to get basic access needs met. Phlebotomists could use some sensitivity training (I.e. don’t tell patients that it’s stress that’s interfering with conception. One phlebotomist at the RN location said that patients who destress by going on vacation often get pregnant spontaneously!) as a person in a same sex couple, this was tough to hear.

I feel like almost every fertility clinic is subject to reviews that will say "I felt like a number." FCI certainly has its share of those reviews. However, I never felt this way. I always had lovely interactions with my doctor (Dr. Hirshfeld), her nursing team, the ultrasound techs, and those who administered labs. My only major grievance was with the FCI financial team -- they were so disorganized and not helpful unless pressed. There seems to be a big disconnect in quality in medical care (excellent!) vs. the administrative team (poor) at FCI, something that I communicated to my doctor.