Innovative Fertility Center

I hope my IVF failure at innovative fertility clinic and the lesson I learnt from them will help you make a better decision in selecting clinics and doing your IVF. Here is my story. I started my IVF cycle with an young egg donor through my agency in Aug 2021, all seemed to be good until the IVF completed and it ended up with NO embryos! I asked Dr Rispler why it failed, he told me one of the major reasons was poor egg quality, my egg donor had poor donation outcome in her previous cycle and he told me they did not like the egg donor at all and it was me insisting moving forward, which I was not aware of at all. First, they never disclosed that important fact to me or told me any potential risks of using that egg donor before IVF cycle. Second, they made the wrong assumption about me, they assumed both my agency and I knew that fact, which was not true at all. They blamed it was my agency’s problem as they selected the wrong donor for me, isn’t it always your responsibility to screen the right donor for your patients? I don’t think any agency can make a medical decision. Third, they asked me to switch to the agency they worked before multiple times, so I gave it a try. Ironically, I found out the agency they recommended had very few repeat donors and they were some obvious disqualified donors you can’t use at all (like 8+ donations) while they told me their clinic had very high criteria in selecting donors. If it’s really high criteria, why did not you let me know your criteria at the beginning? As I picked up my medical records, I realized that my sperm testing was missing so I asked them, they told me they did not do sperm testing at all, but both Doctor and Nurse told me sperm was okay, I don’t know how they made the conclusion without testing. They also miss genetic testing, which i don’t know how risky the matching can be that way. The clinic is quite small, it’s small enough to forget what their job is, sperm testing and genetic testing. They have very limited experience in IVF, you can check out their CDC ART success rate and compare with other clinics. Since it’s small clinic, they also had very limited cases in 2018, it may be another reason why my IVF failed. I don’t know how they got so many five star reviews online, when you select IVF clinics, success rate is way more important than 5 star reviews. People can lie, but their success rate won’t.

I believe the best part of this clinic is that it is very small and I was seen very quickly. Parking is super easy too so that is a big perk. I think they have a great system for seeing patients and I always knew what to expect and even when I was too lazy or stressed to think about what was expected of me the staff made sure to usher me wherever I needed to go. The staff are all very nice people including Dr. Rispler and I felt that they were on my side and rooting for me the entire time. I think that some weaknesses are the notifications and email system they have with delivering results. It would have been nice to have a phone call with major results like Fertilization and embryo reports. Instead I was emailed and opened them and was instantly crushed and had to sit with my feelings by myself and without support of the clinic. That was really hard on me and I told the doctor about this after the first time it happened. He said that was how they normally handle results and that most of the patients like to be notified through email. Then when I got the results for my second failed round it was emailed again, but I expected that they would so it was less of a blow but still felt very lonely. I think with a clinic of this small size and their "boutique style" they should be able to call with major results so that the patient can feel supported and feel compassion just from hearing a familiar voice.

The clinics strength is that it is small so they are more personable. The bad thing is that the front office staff and nurses are always changing so they are a little all over the place. Also they are not open on weekends which was stressful if you ovulated on a Saturday or Sunday. I just would advise any new patients to make sure they ask questions.

great convenient location. The office was always clean and they offered my coffee, tea, etc while waiting. It's a relaxing environment and they usually have a romantic comedy playing in the waiting room which was a nice way to set the mood. After my testing or ultrasound, Dr. Rispler always sits down with us and his nurses to go over results/treatment plan to make sure we're all on the same page. I did have to do the HSG test at an outpatient radiology center. I know some doctors offer that in their office but I didn't mind going to a place where they specialize in that procedure.

Maybe another Dr. Would be helpful to bounce ideas off of and share in coming up with a treatment plan and to better research patients medical issues and do extensive testing and figure out what exactly is causing problems.

Strengths-small, conveniently located, personal, amazing anasthesiologist Weaknesses-hours are strange, sometimes there is long wait time before appointment, compared to other clinic we worked with the technology and facility are a bit dated and could use a refresher and deep cleaning (lots of files and boxes everywhere)

The clinic is small, with Dr. Rispler being the only RE there, and I felt like that was a bonus, with a lot of personal attention from Dr. Rispler himself. The staff (aside from the nurse) were all very pleasant and it looked like they enjoyed working there. I was very pleased with my care there.

Parking is currently horrible, but a new lot is being built in the next 3 months! The clinic is open 6-7 days a week. The clinic is warm and inviting: It’s a one stop shop! Everything will be done at the clinic! It’s located next to a Susie Cakes, so good or bad news...... but yourself a cupcake!

Clinic is clean. All staff that works there is very friendly and easygoing. The staff all works as a team and if they don’t know an answer they will find one in a timely manner. Allow yourself 15-20 minutes to find parking. The parking area is shared with restaurants and a mall.

Great location in Manhattan beach w easy parking, cute decor, they play chick flicks and rom coms in the lobby which was funny. Nothing notable re the exam rooms or nurse stations. Surgery room was adjacent for extractions which was convenient.

Very small clinic and never seemed overly busy, which made scheduled appointments very fast (so easy to schedule over a lunch break). Because it's a small clinic you'll become pretty familiar with all of the staff. Unfortunately, due to COVID they weren't allowing any support person/significant others into the clinic for appointments.