How was your experience with Marc Kalan at Los Angeles Reproductive Center?
Dr. Kalan is knowledgeable and outgoing. He tries to understand. However, he is frequently pre-occupied, causing him to not explain everything, particularly what will happen in the future. He seems too busy to explain things thoroughly ahead of time, causing him to have to explain after the fact or to correct his staff. We liked his personality but his staff is horrible and he's too busy to overcome the mistakes his staff makes in real time.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Marc Kalan at Los Angeles Reproductive Center?
Have him explain ahead of time what needs to be done, even it requires multiple, separate consults in person or by phone, so you know what to expect and how to prepare. Before each major stage, i.e. injections, retrieval, fertilization, implantation, make him explain what will happen and how to prepare.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Marc Kalan at Los Angeles Reproductive Center?
Dr. Kalan is very gregarious and outgoing. He tries to call back and email back quickly.
Describe the protocols Marc Kalan used in your cycles at Los Angeles Reproductive Center and their degree of success.
We went through the standard injections/IVF treatment but stopped short of implantation due to COVID-19. Our eggs are frozen. Make sure the doctor checks his staff's ordering of medication to make sure you have enough of all the drugs you need.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Los Angeles Reproductive Center. (Assigned nurse: Margarita Rodriguez)
Very few good things to say about her. Extremely poor communication. Very rushed. Frequently emailed late or not at all. Had to email her to get instructions, etc. Not clear in explaining results, i.e. telling how many eggs, embryos, we got, causing us to ask for clarification. She is not a bad person; she tries to be gregarious also. Perhaps she is too busy. But she made our experience unnecessarily stressful and confusing. Dr. Kalan is ill-served by her.
Describe your experience with Los Angeles Reproductive Center.
Staff is friendly and the doctors seem highly knowledgeable. If this were a review of competency, we have confidence in their abilities as physicians. However, served by an ill-trained staff, the doctors seem too rushed to explain things clearly. This seems to echo other reviews: the doctors are kind and knowledgeable but the staff is not competent. This puts the doctors in the unfortunate position of having to do their staff's work by explaining clearly what the staff should have been able to explain clearly at the start. We consulted with two other doctors before Kalan. We liked Kalan the best but his staff was easily the least competent of the 3. He deserves better.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Marc Kalan at Los Angeles Reproductive Center.
We can't completely review billing yet. Through work, we have a fertility benefit and the benefit is doled out through a third party that is billed directly by Kalan's office. We've had some snafus so far but not seen the final billing so we reserve judgment. We can say one of the billing coordinators is much more helpful than the other in the office.
Describe Marc Kalan's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Los Angeles Reproductive Center.
We have not implanted yet due to COVID-19.
What specific things went wrong at Los Angeles Reproductive Center?
- Failed to call in prescriptions to pharmacy
- Failed to call with results
- Provided conflicting information
- Failed to convey critical information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Los Angeles Reproductive Center.
Unclear conveyance of results multiple times, some drug order issues, failure to explain how to prepare for certain procedures ahead of time. All staff issues.