New Hope Fertility Center

Dr. Merhi is jovial, and seems knowledgeable about general IVF. But, i'm not confident that he's able to monitor each of his cases individually because of the volume. He also suggests his Ozone Sauna Treatment (Research) 2 times a week for 3 weeks...but it's an additional $1500. Dr. Merhi is nice, but nice doesn't do Individualized care as I thought would happen.

Stay on top of him, and make sure you go to monitoring 7am-9am if you need to talk with him. Other than that you're left to random Dr's or RNs sending follow up emails.

I was never told which specific agnostic or type. Just learning this myself via research. They wanted to do Natural IVF, But I reminded them that I wanted to do Mini IVF. I started with half of Isisbloom BCPs, Monitoring, Chlomid, Letrizol and then Trigger and retrieve. I have to do more rounds of retrieval.

Well oiled machine. Sign in, Screen Monitoring, and name appears on the list.

A little over $6 K total, not including meds $150

They recommend single embryo transfer. I am not at that stage.

I think I already covered this in the last question. But to add a little more colour, I grew up a physician's daughter and was treated in my father's medical community by his colleagues until I was an adult. I was used to doctors treating me like their own daughter. Now of course as I independently navigate the health sphere I understand just how rare it is to find a doctor who treats you like family, especially when you're a perfect stranger. Dr. Olcha loves what he does, he's extremely talented at it, but above all else he truly cares about his patients and their outcomes. He is patient, honest, thorough, and proactive. He is an excellent communicator. We feel like he is a part of our family now, and can't imagine going through any future cycles without being under his care.

Ask for him first.

By the time I switched to Dr. Olcha, it was in time for my first transfer. There was some debate about whether to go for a third IVF cycle/egg retrieval because we hope for a large family, but ultimately we decided to do the transfer after two cycles. So far so good!

We had amazing insurance and were incredibly grateful. I honestly don't have a sense of what we spent out of pocket because the overwhelming majority was covered and then we weren't balance billed.

I can't speak to this but we transferred one embryo.

I came to New Hope Fertility Clinic after a failed IVF experience at another clinic. During our 1st meeting with Dr. Olcha, I knew that we would be in good hands. Dr. Olcha is direct yet personable. He answered all of our questions in detail and made us feel heard. Although New Hope is a big clinic, I did not have the feeling that I was just a number. Prior to my procedure, Dr. Olcha checked on me frequently throughout email and phone. He answered any questions that I had quickly.

If you are trying to determine what doctor to use at New Hope, I would definitely recommend Dr. Olcha.

I had already froze 29 eggs from another clinic. After meeting with Dr. Olcha, we decided to thaw 15 of those eggs and complete another IVF cycle. Dr. Olcha was able to do fresh egg retrieval which resulted in 19 eggs. We ended up with 9 embryos then sent them for PGS testing. We now have three PGS normal embryos. I was so nervous of transferring the frozen eggs to a new facility but Dr. Olcha and the embryologist team at New Hope put me at ease. Their communication was amazing! I was also very nervous during my fresh egg retrieval because I did not use anesthesia. Dr. Olcha was great and I'm so glad I did it that way.

My insurance paid for majority of treatment. I believe we had to pay $1,200 co-insurance and $5,500 for PGS testing

Dr. Olcha was very friendly and cleared every doubt we had regarding the IVF. He took personal interest at every level to make sure we are comfortable. He even wrote a letter to our insurance explaining our situation for shifting from IUI to IVF. Our first FET was unsuccessful due to unknown reasons which was done by another doctor. He made sure the second one be a success and took every measures to make it success and it did. We are happy, we choose New Hope and Dr. Meir Olcha.

Make sure, you are open to Dr. Olcha and explain him all your concerns and questions so he could treat you accordingly.

I was prescribed a medicine for the follicles to grow. 20 eggs were retrieved. Among them, 18 were fertilized, and 11 reached the blastocyst stage. Others were abnormal so were discarded. I was prescribed some other medications to make sure the 2nd FET to be a successful. And one of them was stopped on the day of FET and others were continued till 10 weeks of pregnancy.

75% was covered by our insurance for all fertility treatment and copay of 20$ for diagnostics and 30$ for doctor visit was charged.

Dr Zhang and Dr Olcha suggested single embryo transfer to avoid any complications or birth defects.

From the moment I met Dr. Olcha, I knew I would be in the best hands. I didn't know much at the beginning of the process about anything and he was so patient and explained everything to me. During my first retrieval, I had a ton of questions but he answered everything and really made me feel at ease. My experience was really positive - the medication he prescribed to me for both cycles was so easy - the injections didn't hurt - it was a dream scenario. I responded well both times and had good outcomes and he was happy with the results and was really with me every step of the way both times. I am so fortunate to have had Dr. Olcha as my doctor. He made what tends to be a stressful situation so easy and positive! I truly have only good things to say about my experience.

My advice to a prospective patient of Dr. Olcha's would be NOT to worry. He's the best! You can't go wrong!

For both cycles, my treatment was pretty similar. Before my first cycle and before the second cycle, I took birth control to baseline everything. Then once I started, it was a Follstim injection every night for the whole time with Clomid for the whole time as well and Letrozole for the first 5 nights. Orillissa before I triggered, and then the retrievals! It was really easy and pain-free - the injections did not hurt me at all even though I was so scared in the beginning! I would go in for monitoring early in the morning and he would always have instructions for me on what protocol to do next right away and I never had to wait long. The results were good both times - he seemed really happy with it - overall, 18 eggs retrieved and 17 frozen.

I loved going in for monitoring! It the highlight of my weeks! The lobby/waiting area is so lovely and spacious. Tons of seating and really open and bright with lots of windows. I visited other locations with waiting areas that are dark and depressing with women waiting packed together in a room - that does not work for me! After checking in with the receptionist (who were all so friendly), I'd sit and wait for a few minutes before being called in for bloodwork. I don't love getting my blood taken but everyone at New Hope was so gentle and I survived every time and it barely hurt and they made me feel at ease. Then when I would get called in for the ultrasound, it was so fun and informative to see everything on the screen and how my follicles were progressing. Dr. Olcha works so hard everyday so every morning that I would go in for monitoring, he would be there! It was nice to have him in all of my scans! Chelsea, the physician's assistant who works with Dr. Olcha, is also a star. She is so lovely and I am so thankful she was there doing most of my scans for me.

The costs were in line with what was originally outlined - I did my research so I pretty much knew what they would be. I think it was well worth the expense.

He is very experienced with mini IVF using oral medications mostly and/or low dose injectables and IVF for women over 40. He also experienced in doing ovarian PRP for women who struggle with egg quality and quantity.

They seem like a busy clinic so be your own advocate and don't let yourself fall through the cracks.

The clinic and he have a lot of experience doing mini IVF. So they use a combo of both letrozole and clomid together or separately as well as very low dose injectables. The rationale is having quality over quantity.

the prices are al la carte. The prices are pretty affordable

The clinic does a lot of PGS testing due to the low pricing of in house PGS testing and the advanced ages of the women. So they do many single embryo transfers in this case. They will transfer multiple embryos if not tested or if they are day 3 embryos.

I have unfortunately had a long experience with some set backs trying to conceive. Dr Merhi has cared for me since day one and I struggle to imagine a better doctor. He has been thorough, showed me kindness and I can tell he genuinely wants us to have our baby. No matter how long it takes I would never want anyone else to be in charge of my care. I would not consider myself an easy patient as I like to understand everything that is going on, ask many questions and the process can be very difficult for me He has never once made me feel rushed or like a number. He is thorough, kind, empathetic, charismatic and most importantly extremely good at dictating and adjusting the protocols needed for you to have your baby.

Book in with him as soon as you can. You will not regret it. Expect that at New Hope the doctors often work as a team effort so know that even if it doesn't seem that you see him often, he is still always reviewing your results and making decisions.

Many natural cycles (usually producing one eggs) Few mini ivf cycles )usually producing one-three eggs)

I have no fertility insurance coverage so everything for me is self paying. Monitoring unlimited $800 Egg Retrieval $1250

SET only for tested blasts Willing to be flexible for 3 day untested embryos

Dr. Olcha made the entire process very simple. His expertise, professionalism and personal manner made it very easy for me and my husband. We were more than happy with every detail of the process. The entire experience seemed so simple yet personal. Never did we have any doubt on anything as Dr. Olcha was very good in explaining everything.

Please pick him as your primary doctor. He is simply the best! If I needed fertility treatment again: he is my number 1 option!

Dr. Olcha made sure I didn’t need too much IVF injections and was monitored on a daily basis. Once my eggs were at a good size; in one simple procedure he was able to retrieve 26 eggs! And 8 embryos were then then frozen. We also did genetics testing as we hoped our first born be a boy along with checking for diseases. The entire process was well communicated at all times. In my next cycle he performed our chosen embryo transfer. Everything went very well and I am now 9 weeks pregnant thanks to Dr. Olcha!

All the nurses and staff were super nice and very friendly. They always remembered me and made feel comfortable. Thank you! I will miss seeing you.

Costs were very good and way within budget. We were very happy.

I trust Makarov's intellect and experience, but felt in the dark quite often about why things were being done the way they were. I liked knowing what was happening and would have to bother the nurses to explain everything.

Keep notes of questions you want answered at the visits. After monitoring she has to run elsewhere, and doesn't have time to discuss side effects, make predictions etc. On one hand, it's nice not to have a "performer" giving false assurances, on the other, it would be nice to hear some positive thoughts on the process.

We did mini ivf both times. The second time around we used more GonalF per dose, so that we could get more follicles and more chances for successful embryos. The first 2 that made it to blastocysts were complex abnormal and not recommended for transfer.

The 3rd floor monitoring experience was nice. There was a screen for the 4th floor appointments with people's names coming up that were not in the room. Not sure why that was there. There was coffee, tea, water and snack. It was quiet and intimate and not as perfumed as the 4th floor. The upstairs monitoring is sometimes standing room only and a well oiled machine. But still can mean a wait for over an hour some days.

For the first egg retrieval we were covered by insurance. The second time, our plan had changed and it was out of network. 2750 for egg retrieval and fertilization (ICSI). 550 for anesthetic. 750 for NICS PGS testing (which includes free ICSI) and 1200 for freezing...some additional costs as well.

We didn't get to that phase.

Dr. Lipkin has a very straightforward way of talking, but more so like someone who knows what she's talking about a not a blunt, rude person. Talking with her instantly makes me feel better because she's so smart and clever, even. She's one of those people who's nodding in understanding before I'm done bumbling through my half-formed questions. She listens as well as she advises, which is awesome. She's a very busy person, but she finds time to call back or meet in person, whichever is most convenient. I'm glad I chose her.

You won't see her all the time, so take advantage of your meetings and calls with her. Have all your questions prepared. She knows her stuff.

First cycle: birth control pills for a week, 300 units of Gonal-F per shot until they later reduce, Clomid, Letrozole, and Cetrotide taken in separated parts. Second cycle: the same, but the Gonal-F units were smaller.

The monitoring happens at every visit or appointment. Your name will come up next to its own monitoring room number on the television, so pay attention!

Roughly 10k, give or take. Much cheaper than the competition.

I was at New Hope for 2 months before switching doctors (from Lipkin to Dr Olcha…did a review for him too). I had a consultation with her and she seemed cold, robotic, very factual which is fine, answering questions with a smirk (ego type of laugh)…I felt like I was just one more for her. It was our 1st meeting & not even 5 minutes in she said “You know….you don’t have to take so many notes…we are the experts, you need to trust”. I explained that I do that anywhere for future reference in case I forget. When asking about retrieval & if she would do all my procedures she laughed and said “no there is a group of doctors here & depends who is assigned for it that day. But don’t worry (insert laugh)…’it’s a very easy procedure – anyone can do it” (thought it was very unprofessional & didn’t like fact she thought this was a joke. For someone who’s never done this, it’s a pretty big deal specially the 1st time. She did not give me that comfort security feeling at all. On our 2nd meeting (which I scheduled since after 2 months I hadn’t seen her yet since our original consultation), I had a list of questions. I felt rushed & was trying to get as much in since I could feel her being annoyed. One of my questions was “why where we doing “mini ivf vs. regular ivf?”. Her response was “because we cant create something out of nothing”…after this I froze, felt shocked & realized no point in asking more questions. I felt like crying. I realized then that she did not care for me. She did not believe she could get me pregnant. I was just one more…one more body. I asked what was my ovarian reserve & she said it should be 4-5 follicles per ovary so yours is low even for your age”. I asked my new doctor the same question a month later & he said it was consistent with my age (2-3 total). Our 2nd meeting was also when I found out by a nurse I was pregnant but when talking to Dr Lipkin 5 mins later as she explained “well you are ..except you are not”…she had no compassion when telling me, just told me I had a chemical pregnancy and happens to a lot of women. I left the clinic and had to google what a chemical pregnancy was since still wasn’t very clear. I had a trigger shot & came next day to confirm retrieval. It turned out I had ovulated so missed the chance. The doctor that came in to explain is the one who became my new doctor (Dr Olcha – did review for him here too). She never called me or emailed me. After 2-3 weeks post that event & not hearing from her plus all reasons above, I decided to switch to Dr Olcha & Im soooooo glad I did. The experience has been night & day. Anytime I talked to friends who had gone thru this process they would ask me questions & I could not answer. I had lists of questions for my doctor yet felt like I was just one more, going for blood work & sonogram but no real doctor connection, a doc looking out for me & really watching/customizing my case. The clinic is super efficient but her bedside manners are not the best. A friend of mine who had her wife pregnant there said the same thing…bedside manners are lacking. Dr Lipkin – THUMBS DOWN big time. Big disappointment, big waste of time. Dr Olcha (separate review) – THE BEST! So happy I made the switch. They are night & day & he is pure LIGHT

She has no bedside manners, not compassionate. if you care to have someone who has your best interests, actually cares, is compassionate - I would NOT go with her. Advice - schedule consultations once a month or whenever you need them since she wont....she relies on nurses to send email with recommendations but not much personal touch/interaction from her side.

trigger shot $100 never got to retrieval since I ovulated. before my next cycle/retrieval I switched to Dr Olcha thank God!

Dr Olcha was my 2nd doctor here. He came in to explain how they couldn’t do retrieval the next day (what would have been my 1st) since I had ovulated…Orlissa didn’t work for me. He explained to me in 5 mins more than my prior doc at same clinic had explained to me in 2 months with her. He gave me options (clomid to grow rest of follicules vs timed intercourse which he recommended the later). I had a consultation with him since I noticed he was an RE & I just kept thinking of how different (good) I felt with him vs my prior doctor. 10 seconds into the meeting I started crying…it was like all my walls came down & I felt safe…I felt I could ask him and I wasn’t being rushed. He said “don’t cry, you are going to make me cry!”…something my prior doc would have NEVER said. I knew right there he saw me as a person, a human, not just another body. He went on to explain the whole process, calm/not rushed, would draw as he explained, talked in simple terms so you can understand. He looked at my prior results & immediately said what needed to be tweaked. On my 1st egg retrieval – it ended up being an empty follicule (Cyst). Again he came to give me the bad news (vs sending a nurse). He knew my plan didn’t cover it & it was all out of pocket so he said he would process it thru my medical insurance as a cyst removal and if they covered it, I would get a credit with New Hope. That was the case which was a $1250 relief I could use towards next procedure. This also was my 1st retrieval ever. He kept me so calm, telling me what he was doing as he was doing it. That helped a lot! He said we would grow the remaining ones (lutheal fase & plan of action) On my 2nd retrieval, I had 2 eggs retrieved, 1 fertilized. It didn’t make it to day 7. He said he would call me but since we had a consultation he figured he explained 1:1. Again he explained everything so clearly going step by step of the process & where my embryo stopped growing. I literally leave his office with so much hope every time since he explains every step & he has a plan of action already. He makes me feel safe & taken care of. He works weekends which is great since less people there. When I get monitoring (blood & sonogram) – I usually see him right after looking at my results & getting to plan of action. He sometimes will either come in during or after the monitoring and answer any questions. He is very hands on. My prior doc I was with for 2 months & saw her twice (1st consultation + a meeting scheduled by me). With Dr Olcha I’ve seem him almost every time I’ve been there & If I don’t, I get very detailed emails from his nurse support team with his recommendations. Im so happy I switched to him. He is the reason I have hope & feel like I can trust the science. That he is looking out for me & doing what is best for me. Its truly customized & making changes as we go & know more. He is night and day from my prior doc & I will recommend him to ANYONE (I already have). He is the best combination of knowledgeable, calm, compassionate, very good at explaining…..he is the PERFECT COMBO OF SCIENCE MEETS HEART! I feel so lucky God put him on my path. I trust he will get me there

Ask him anything. He will explain and you will feel so much better after.

1st retrieval was a cyst so we grew the remaining follicles. He tweaked the Clomid dosage (from 100mg from prior doc to 50 mg)...not sure if since I was in lutheal phase. Next cycle he might do clomid + injectables (Im doing "mini ivf")

super well oiled machine. Window is 7am thru 1pm....7-9am if you want to speak to a doctor. I would get in 7:45 and be our by 8:30-8:45 in time to get to work. Super easy

retrieval - 1,250 fertilizing egg to embryo - 1,500 Trigger shot - $100 Monthly monitoring - 200-250/month (my health plan covers 80% so I guess cost would be 1k if not)

I had renewed hope after seeing him as he was confident that we could use my eggs as opposed to donor even tho my first RE at the age of 30 had told me I needed to move to donor eggs. What he explained made sense but then I felt rushed into an egg retrieval that I didn’t feel confident would work considering the cycle before (my cycles are very unpredictable) they thought I had two cysts. Then 9 days later they thought they were eggs and good to retrieve and we went in and got nothing.

He has great bedside manner but I am unsure that he really has the best course of action as a physician. He is willing to try unconventional things.

He had me try a 14 day course of BC pills in an attempt to lower my FSH. The last BW I had done 2 months prior was 79. I had to stop after 11 days as I had gained 9 lbs. Coming back in after that my FSH was down to 10 and I don’t remember the last time it was that low. At the ultrasound they thought I had two cysts. I had a period. And came back in for more BW and ultrasound on CD 9 after taking estrace for 14 days and they said I was good to go and rushed me in for an egg retrieval 2 days later. Turns out as I suspected they were still the two cysts from before. So we got nothing.

Dr. Zhang is an extremely smart and willing to think outside of the box. I am thrilled I found him when I did, only 1 cycle led to success!! Knowing that he is the owner/founder I understood he would be very busy but trusting a doctor of his caliber assured me to trust his staff.

Do your own research, bring your own questions and take a chance!

Mini ivf using clomid, letrozol, cetrotide and very small doses of follistim.

I think in total the cost was ~14k. The part that was annoying was since I was doing outside monitoring it cost me an additional 1k each month for NHFC to review the results.

No comment.

He's very knowledgeable and does cutting edge stuff. However he's not very present. I would like to be able to see my doctor more often or feel like I'm being heard. Most of my questions were answered by ultrasound techs. Also because I understood the plan for the day I have found myself asking for things I was told during the previous appointment, that the people I interacted with on the day of were not aware

Ask for a full explanation of the pros and cons of each step or procedure

We did an ultra mini IVF cycle which involved clomid and femara tabs only. I was able to produce 4 mature eggs which all got fertilized, however I ended up with one very good grade blastocyst. We also did PGS testing for aneuploidy which came back aneuploid. I think I shouldn't have done PGS testing on my only blastocyst especially since I have never had a miscarriage. I was able to get them to do a saline sonogram which showed i had a possible polyp and was then scheduled for hysteroscopy.

Reasonable. My ultra mini IVF so far has cost about 10k

He is very nice but consultations with him seemed rushed. He didn't really ask questions or informed us much what was coming next. He started us off with an IUI (natural cycle) which didnt work. We moved on to Mini IVF and he never called, emailed, or followed up with me before or after IVF. At this point I dont even think I am his patient.

Be prepared to not see him, he will not follow up with you.

Dr.Merhi began with a natural IUI cycle since I already ovulate on my own. I dont know why I dont get pregnant. After it failed he didnt call me or follow up. I called the clinic and told him I wanted to do IVF which his answer was ok no problem and just sent me to a coordinator to explain meds for IVF. I was on clomid 100mg and Gonal F for about 10 days. Again, didnt see him or hear from him. Retrieval was coordinated by nurses and another RE in the clinic was the one to do the procedure.

Monitoring was the best part of this experience. Everyone is so nice and efficient

IVF-4000 Medications- Gonal F and Clomid- 1500 Monitoring per month 800 IUI 800 Egg Transfer 3000 (Havent done this yet but we have to pay it soon) 750 PGS Testing per embryo... we are doing 3 embryos 2250 in total

Dr. Merhi did my transfer that resulted in my little one - so I will forever be grateful. He has a great bedside manner and is very personable and obviously he is skilled at transfers. A year or so later, when I went back to try for number two, my transfer with him did not succeed (not saying it was anything he did, could have just been the odds game). Then I decided to try to create more embryos, and had a failed attempt on a cycle. When I discussed the failed IVF attempt, he really didn't offer any tweaks or adjustments to my protocol. It was kind of - it is what it is at your age. You just need to try again and maybe you will get a good egg next time. I felt like this was a bit disappointment. I'm not sure how knowledgeable he is on the various protocols and research being done in the infertility areas.

Do your research, ask a lot of questions, demand that a specific doctor follow your protocol.

Mini-IVF: clomid, letrozol and follistim, followed by Ovidrel as a trigger shot. For the transfer, progesterone suppositories and estrogen pills.

Egg retrieval & fertilization (excluding monitoring and drugs) ran around $4500 (with anesthesia). This was pretty reasonable comparatively.

Dr. Merhi transferred 2 normals for me -- ended up with one baby.

As a patient, it’s important for me to feel safe and understood. It’s important for me to feel comfortable with people in the clinic and it’s important for me to feel comfortable with doctors. All that I had just said described Dr. Zhang and his clinic. He listens to our frustration and how much impact it’s carrying us and also financially.

To always trust your gut feeling. Listen and ask millions of questions.

I was preparing for retrieval’s of my own eggs (one or two he sees), he uses minimal meds. Trigger shots when it’s time for retrieval in two days , I don’t remember the meds I had taken. For preparing egg donor transfers, I have been taking estradiol, promethium....depends on my blood work result if it needs some adjusting I had taken prednisone, progesterone shot on my butt, baby aspirin, enoxaparin injection on my stomach. Sometimes my lining needs to be thicker so they up my use to progesterone sometimes.

My monitoring experience is great. The ladies who gets my blood has no problem. Although I have small veins, they still manage to get it done. They always ask me if I’m doing ok. As for sonogram, I love the ladies there. So respectful. I get along well with them. They know how hard and how long and our loses. They’ve become my friends there. Always smiling. :) which I love. Makes my day.

We’ve been doing fertility for 9 and half long years. My husband and I have seen numerous doctors. The billing at the Dr. Zhang’s office is very organized. There’s always three there. They know your name and what needs to be paid. They even tell you what it’s for and if the insurance paid or not and explained why. They even have online service to pay online now too. They are friendly. My husband and I pay out of pocket fertility for nine and half long years. For donor eggs we have $13,200 for 6 eggs. Then they tell us how survived. For example, embryologist will email and tell me they get 5 out of 6 ready to be sent out for genetic testing. Before sending we have to pay $750 per embryo to be tested first before being sent out. Ones we do that we have 7-10 days to wait and they will email with results. Then they will email again and tell us how many survived and how many healthy with grades on them and explanation of their grades. So imagine having failed donor eggs many many times $13,200 x 5 times. We are financially medically in debt. We need help!

When we did our transfer in Cancun Mexico, the doctor there transferred four embryos all the time. Out of three cycles, I was pregnant but resulted in 10 week miscarriage. Dr. Zhang and his colleague transfers one embryo at a time per rules. He picks the best embryos for transfers.

Dr Merhi was the first doctor in a long time to try to use my own eggs. I was initially going to him for the egg donor program and he told me to try with my own eggs first. When you are with Dr. Merhi he gives you his undivided attention. He answer all your questions and is very personable. He has great bed side manner and makes you feel very comfortable. But yes there is a but.... here are my dislikes... His email response could be better and yes I understand they are busy but isn’t that a part of your job. Also I went two months without seeing him at any of my monitoring although he would provide instructions via email. I am currently still being treated by him so let’s see. I will give another review when everything is completed.

Email! Email! Email! Would be your best form of communication with him.

Dr Merhi is trying a more natural approach. I am currently on estradiol. He also had me take hgh for an 6 week period. Also he provide me with a free trial of ozone therapy for 8 weeks. I also had an ovarian rejuvenation done as well. After six month of not ovulating I finally ovulated two eggs but the second one was too small. They received one egg and that a lot because the first time I had egg retrieval I had no eggs. But my embryo did not make it to blastocyst. I am now back for my second go at it and it has been 5 months since my last egg retrieval.

No complaints

Fairly reasonable

Didn’t get to the point

Dr. Merhi is confident and cheerful and I can truly appreciate that feeling of optimism. He did one of my retrievals and it was so painful, but that was perhaps due to a follicule being, as he put it candidly, “in China”. I don’t interact with him as much as I’d like. I really would love more phone calls but I do feel I can assertively seek him out and will be ensured a response.

Prepare yourself for a big clinic. Alter your expectations if you think this will be a more personal exchange. I am having a very different experience than I had with Dr. Davis of RMA but I believe in the clinic’s competence.

Initially, I went in to freeze eggs. Dr. Merhi suggested I fertilize them as he instructed embryos had better survivability. My status with my partner did not allow the confidence to move ahead so I froze eggs. I tried, several months later (after my relationship ended) two donor sperm IUIs (one with Dr. Davis-RMA and one with Merhi’s staff). IUI was unsuccessful and I wasn’t thrilled that the Merhi’s clinic kept me waiting, delayed in the reception area bc of some administrative error. I made a written comment but did not receive a reply. Now, I’ve moved on to create one embryo and one mosaic embryo. I am on the verge of meeting with my doc to talk about the viability of the mosaic. I am surprised I wasn’t told about mosaics in my first fertilization round / genetics testing, but Merhi says that it wasn’t available then.

Generally, these guys are a well-oiled machine. Only once, after many monitoring experiences that went well, did they have an admin issue and make me wait even though I had been cleared by Finance! The nurses providing the sonograms are generally nice and competent.

Insurance is mercifully covering monitoring (I still pay $40 copay). The genetics tests is expensive $2-$5K. The retrievals are $1500-2000.

Merhi will move one at a time. Although, and I will find out, he may move 1 normal and 1 mosaic together.

What I says before. She was nice, but not very invested in our success. When we came for the follow up after retrieving the eggs and them being abnormal she hadn’t even looked at the results until we were in her office.

Keep on top of everything. Make sure they are giving you the proper information and that you get it on time.

She never explained why did anything. First cycle started with pills, and didn’t have shots til the end. Resulted in 3 eggs. Next she started with pills and shots. Resulted in 13 eggs. Next round she did pills and 1/2 the amount of shots. Results 8 eggs. Never discussed why the change. Finally after the third round I asked her why she thought we were getting numerous eggs but no normal ones. Her response was she basically didn’t know. It felt like she just hadn’t thought about it.

This was actually great. You had a large window and rarely a long wait time. The Dr did most of the sonograms, if she was there. She only came in 3 days a week. In 3 retrieval she never did ours

It’s was about $6000 plus medication. This was only retrieval. We never got to transfer.

They prefer single

Dr Merhi is thoughtful, on top of the latest developments in the field, willing to think outside the box and incredibly supportive. He is very responsive to emails and always made time for me when I asked either via phone or in person. He even dropped everything he was doing on one day to perform an emergency retrieval after my first retrieval didn’t go as planned. He’s been able to adjust along the way while remaining very positive - almost disconcertingly so at times. Very satisfied with him.

Be persistent. He will make time for you but you need to stay in front of him or connect with his coordinator to get on his schedule. He is very busy so don’t be afraid to push!

Mini IVF (clomid, letrozole, 150 follistim) Conv IVF (clomid, letrozole, 225 follistim)

Monitoring hours are very flexible here. Weekdays are 7am - 2pm, weekends are 7am - 12pm which was huge selling point for me. Scans are done by techs and not MDs. Some of were much better than others but nearly all were quite competent.

Consult $350 Unlimited monitoring for 30 days - $800 Retrieval + ICSI + freezing + PGS - 4000

He prefers PGS tested blasts, eSET but is very open to multiple transfers of day 3 or mosaic embryos.

He is very knowledgeable and he doesn’t turn you away if you are over 40. In my case he told me egg freezing should be my number one priority. He said I can make you have a baby at 55 but at 55 I cannot retrieve eggs. Also he suggested MINI IVF based on my endometriosis in which I had surgery for and did a successful retrieval 7 days after my NYU surgery to remove 1 Fallopian tube 2 fibroids and polyp. Dr Zheng doesn’t give up on you and his office is innovative and high tech so they are current in the latest advancements in reproductive medicine.

Make sure you have the time to put into the process because right before egg retrieval you have to go to the office for daily monitoring which is time consuming. The office runs well like a well machine you can be in an out and they have great refreshments. It’s a very comfortable and nice office.

Low dose birth control pills (1/2 a pill for 14 days) 5 - 7 days of Clomid 50mg 1/2 a pill, lupron trigger shot then egg retrieval for MINI IVF. THIS PROTOCAL WILL ONLY YIELD 1 or 2 eggs for retrieval however as a more natural cycle it will yield quality over quantity

Well oiled machine

$800 per month unlimited monitoring $1250 egg retrieval $800 for genetic testing $2700 for embryo testing

Not yet

Dr Zhang has a very warm caring personality and he works tirelessly. I do wish he would be open to trying different things when I would for example as for different estrace they would not switch it. I feel like if they did I could have had more sucess.

write everything down keep track of what is working and not working and compare what protocols they give each cycle so you can make sure you are getting the best result.

He was a strong believer in less is more which I get and agree with. But I had a specific issue of thin lining that did not respond well to the estrace they were giving me and we did cycle after cycle where I had to cancel because of poor lining. when I told them I had met people who had great success with using the patch they were not receptive to that so after years of trying with them Left and that was good because now my lining is perfect and I just need to get the right eggs.

monitoring was the easiest and best part. no stress in and out within 30 mins and they really watched out for you if it was taking more than 15 minutes they were back there moving things along. it was the results and protocol that took til the end of the day or next day to get the info.

it was very expensive and the prices kept getting higher and higher. when i first started a transfer was 1200 when i left it was 2500.

Dr Zhang really likes to implant only 1 embryo at a time he wants that embryo to have the best chance. he will implant mosaics too.

When we first came to New Hope, we had already been told by a previous and hospital affiliated clinic that the chances of us naturally having a family were slim, and to start considering other options, which we were open to. However, as one last effort, my husband found New Hope Fertility and we were uplifted after our first consultation with Dr. Zhang. He explained I had advanced low egg reserve for a woman my age, but that would not be a barrier. I remember him stating that all we needed was one good egg. He managed our expectations by explaining the process, how it takes time, their philosophy and approach to use minimal drugs, and their team would work with us to accomplish our goal.

I've learned the entire process takes patience: between waiting for your cycle to start, bloodwork, sonogram, egg retrieval, success of fertilization, success of embryo going to Day 3/5, the ups and downs during any of those steps mentioned, patience & perseverance is necessary; surround yourself with the best possible support team - from Dr. Zhang and team of doctors and those in your personal life to support you during this journey.

- adjusted pills/hormones based on cycle prior to egg retrieval - hormones/pills in preparation for egg transfer - hormones/pills after transfer (successful transfer and pregnancy prior to being released to regular OB)

- Best to go in early (7:30am/8:00am) to avoid extended wait times during busy morning cycle. - Nurses and tech staff for blood/sono were great; I was always seen by a doctor afterwards

- We were lucky that my husband's insurance assisted us with cost. - We had a co-pay that we always paid upon check-in

When we first met Dr. Zhang, he stated they preferred to do single embryo transfer. However, we were given an option to do up to 2 embryo transfers, but we agreed the single was the best for us.