RHPN Women's Clinic and IVF-Fertility

The hours were the only good thing. They need to work on their bedside manner and keeping policies consistent from the nurses to the front desk staff. There seeemed to be a big weakness of communication between the staff and I always felt like I had to restate my issues when talking to the dr, nurse or other staff

I was called to setup an appiyand the nurse argued with me, told me I was wrong and then called back to apologize because after we argued then she when and looked at my chart, realized who I was, my situation and that I was in the right. I never felt a connect with the doctor or any of the nurses, never got a warm welcome, was always talked to as if it was my first time being there

The nurses were always stiff and not very compassionate. Some seemed annoyed at questions I would ask or if I got upset in the office I was shrugged off

Dr. Minnassian was often very blunt and I feel did not do a good job of explaining everything to me. When I did question things it seemed to be swept under the rug and I felt like I didn’t know what I was talking about so my thoughts were not considered. He often seemed rushed and in 2 years only felt like we had two good conversations.

Do your own research and be an advocate for yourself. If it doesn’t feel right don’t agree to it.

We only did one cycle of clomid and trigger shot with him because he would not allow us to move forward. He was very intent on treating my endometritis (infection in uterus) with very heavy antibiotics and multiple biopsies. He felt that this was the only reason I was not getting pregnant and once we cleared it up we would have no issues

We have a $1500 deductible and a $50 copay every time I saw him

The staff is friendly and accommodating when making an appointment. If you cannot reach someone after your first initial phone call, someone in the office returns your call by the end of the day. The receptionists are friendly and take the time to ask you about your own life. It is natural to build relationships with all of the women in that department. The billing department isn’t overly pushy and they too are accommodating and friendly.

After being under the care of another specialist prior to Dr.Pellegrini, I immediately felt a sense of relief. He was thorough, positive, and patient with our questions. Unlike our previous specialist, he took his time to answer all of my emotional questions. Not once had he ever made me feel as though I was taking up his time . In addition, Dr. Pellegrini took the time to hand-write a personal thank you card when I referred a friend.

Mrs.Debra Schott, the Fertility Coordinator was nothing short of amazing. She communicated so frequently that I actually missed talking to her once I was released from the clinic. She showed such a great deal of empathy and compassion with each phone call. One day before my retrieval, the West Reading area was hit with a blizzard. Yes, a blizzard! She called multiple times to check in with my husband and I. I have never felt so cared for. In fact, I still like to send her pictures of my twin sons to this day.

After leaving Dr.Pellegrini’s office for the first time, I felt such a sense of comfort and relief. For years, my husband and myself became used to leaving each appointment feeling like we were on a rollercoaster ride that couldn’t be stopped. That was until now. Although this was the first appointment, I felt safe and confident that I would be given a family under his care. He immediately reviewed all of our previous records and tests. He was very honest and to the point. He didn’t give any sort of false hope; which is what I loved! He also gave me a voice when I felt as if I didn’t have one. After complications with my insurance, he called the insurance company while we were in his office and handled it. I could not believe it. I knew right then and there that I had someone fighting in my corner with me.

This is very easy for me simply because I have referred several friends. I have told each one of these couples struggling to not think about how much time has gone by; to stop worrying about what could have been and start looking with anticipation at what is yet to be. It’s a fresh start to an incredible journey.

I initially started with follistim injections prior to 2 iui’s that we’re unsuccessful. It was my decision to jump directly to ivf and Dr.Pellegrini understood and agreed. Once this occurred, I started with Lupron for 3 weeks followed by follistim and menopur leading up to two days prior to retrieval. I then needed an hcg injection. After the retrieval I was ordered to do progesterone injections until blood work and then 12 weeks following if pregnancy test was positive. I needed to increase my progesterone dose once during this period.

Dr.Pellegrini’s billing department provided a itemized cost sheet including all services. They calculated a 20% global fee. I initially asked if they participated in similar payment plans as my previous clinic which gave reimbursement after 3 rounds of ivf. It was imply put that they do not participate in this because they want to get it right the first time! I was not charged for any service until after my transfer. With the egg retrieval, transfer, and Icsi, the total cost was $8,000.00

The clinic is very nice and clean. The check in/out staff are prompt and very pleasant to deal with. If you call and have to leave a message, the team is good at responding in a decent time. The nurses and ultrasound techs are als very kind and patient. The doctors are nice. As for most doctor offices, the place is busy and you might have to wait a little bit for the appt. but overall very nice clinic.

I felt a little bit like both. He seems to care about you and answers the questions you have. Sometimes he may seem like he’s in a hurry. He can be very blunt and to the point, he doesn’t seem to dance around the issues which is what I like.

The nurses have always been really nice to me when I have appts. I don’t spend a lot of time with them. Deb Schott is the IVF coordinator and she’s AMAZING. Love her. She is kind and seems to really care for the patients she deals with. I am happy that we get to deal with her on a daily basis during treatments. She returns phone calls and emails in a decent timing. She is blunt yet encouraging.

Dr. Minassian is a good & kind hearted doctor. He seems to want what’s best for his patients. Dr. Minassian answers the questions as best as he can and like any doctor, sometimes they don’t have the answers you are looking for. I have felt like nuisance once when I needed to call him over a weekend but later he apologized after checking my circumstance out. During my transfers, he seems rushed but I know that timing means everything.

Make sure to ask all the questions you want answered and listen closely because he does seem to talk fast and it’s okay to ask for a repeat. He cares what you have to say and he does his best to answer you. Be patient because he does run late for appointments sometimes so make sure you schedule enough time between jobs and other activities.

I had a laparoscopy from a previous doctor before Shahab to diagnose me with Stage 1 Endometriosis through an Endometrioma and she didn’t write too much for Minassian to go off of to start with us. He recommended another laparoscopy to see what he was dealing with. After the laparoscopy, we did a lot of blood work to check hormone levels. My husband had a couple semen analysis after some things were found wrong with him and Dr Minassian had my husband start on Vitamin E, CoQ10 & Selenium. We were told that IVF would be the best option for us. Through much blood work & testing I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and my prolactin levels were a bit high. I was told I have low egg quality & Ovarian Reserve. We have had a few set backs & all but we have accepted them because reality is infertility sucks! We started IVF last April 2017. We had our first transfer last May with two frozen embryos and a pregnancy did not occur. August 2017 we had our 2nd transfer with one frozen embryo. It resulted with a low HCG level. The numbers did not increase but lowered. I consider it an early miscarry because I felt the cramping & back pain when the little one was implanting. One of my babies was transferred, it’s still a life. I hate the term “chemical pregnancy.” It’s still losing a life. Dr. minassian wanted to do a Mock transfer to see how progesterone was affecting my body, we did get some results to know how much progesterone I needed, so that’s good I guess. We were planning to start back January 2018 but our clinic is temporarily closed due to an inconvenience on their end with much confusion on our end. We are still currently waiting to hear back from them. We have two frozen embryos left.

My monitoring appts have been mainly for our IVF & transfer treatments. Usually they are scheduled for a particular time. I have a good job that works with my treatments and has not been an issue. Sometimes I need to go in for a random appt but they have been pretty good with setting them up when it conveniences me.

Insurance doesn’t cover anything, we have to pay out of pocket. The costs are expensive as we knew it would be before starting any type of treatments. They have worked with us for payments and such. Everything is expensive.

Dr. Minassian said that he prefers to do single embryo transfers only due to the high possibility of multiples. My husband and I made a plan before going into IVF so that we don’t drain our bank accounts. We are okay with the decisions that he stuck to. We plan to do two embryos for the last round in future.

Clinic is with a regular gynecological office, which I view as a plus. They are also in a building that is part of a hospital system so it houses their own lab. It is basically a one-stop shop where you can have all of your testing done.

Dr Pelligrini is very matter of fact, which I prefer. I don't need things to be sugar-coated, I just need to know that facts and how I can proceed to have success. He is very knowledgeable and up front.

I have called the nurses countless times and they are always very patient and understanding of my stress. They give me the information I request and are very helpful.

Dr. Pelligrini is not exactly a "feel good" Dr, he is straight forward, which I prefer. He gives you blunt answers, and does not beat around the bush. He provides you with the information that you need to know. He is open to discussion and friendly, but you know what you are dealing with.

Don't expect to be coddled. Dr Pelligrini is a very good doctor, and he will give you the straight facts and tell you exactly what you need to do and how he can help. I much prefer his approach.

I had an HSG, which showed completely blocked tubes. He performed a laproscopy and a hysteroscopy during which he severed my tubes and cut as many lesions as he could (chronic PID). He discovered that I have auto-immune hypothyroidism and I am now on medication to get that regulated.

25 copay each visit, 10% co-insurance for any procedure, 12-15000 for IVF

They gave extensive personal attention to each patient. Dr. Pellegrini and the nursing staff (especially Deb and Sherri) were approachable, always available (by phone an email), and personable. They spent as much time with you as you needed. You never felt rushed or diminished.

Both Sherri and Deb are warm, compassionate, thorough, trustworthy, and competent. Hearing a negative pregnancy test result is never easy, but they approached it with so much care and concern, they felt like members of the family. They were firm on the things they needed to be, and spent whatever amount of time you needed explaining and demonstrating to make you feel confident in your protocol.

Dr. Pellegrini is incredibly thorough. He treats each patient and each case individually; you will never feel you're part of an infertility assembly line. We appreciated his conservative, calculated approach. He never rushed us to the next step, but explained all of our options and the pros and cons of each. He was a true partner to us in this difficult journey and we couldn't be happier with the process or the outcome.

You will not feel "schmoozed" at your first appointment. Dr. Pellegrini is very clinical and methodical in his approach; I would describe him as a perfectionist. This appealed immediately to my husband, but took me (the more warm/fuzzy type) a minute to get used to. In the end, we felt very well cared for by Dr. Pellegrini.

The doctors and nurses are wonderful! I think the staff that works the desk and who answer the phones could be friendlier!! It’s an “old school” clinic so they didn’t have pictures available of our embryos which was a downfall however the amazing care we received made up for it!

My experience was beyond great! The staff treated myself and my husband wonderful! They were attentive and always so quick to answer my questions and put my mind at ease!

Deb not only was a great nurse, she was extremely compassionate and comforting!! She was so helpful and would answer any questions at any time! She was readily available and was so helpful during this time!

A very kind sweet doctor! He worked so hard to figure out exactly what was going to work best for us to have a baby! He was always very attentive and never rushed through appointments! He always showed compassion but in a professional manner!! He always explained things so well, and answered any questions! A very patient doctor!

See him!!! He’s worth any time of travel and time out of your schedule! An older school practice but worth it!

My clinic worked directly with a credit union called diamond credit union. This process was extremely simple to use. We had to go through the credit union in order to apply for a line of credit. Once we were approved the credit union paid our clinic directly. This took any pressure off of us when it came to making sure things were paid for! It was all taken care of prior too!

Good at returning phone calls. Clean. Typical waiting room.

The clinic was very friendly-- returned phone calls, seemed organized. The nurses were friendly in person. Dr. M. took the time to answer my questions and seemed like a reasonable person to work with.

They were great at doing things like returning phone calls quickly and being organized. They were respectful in person. The one thing I didn't like was that once I got pregnant, the nurse I spoke to by phone gave me a long list of all the fear-based things I should do (what to eat, what not to eat, etc.) and that seemed rather negative. I didn't want a fear-based pregnancy.

He was not in a rush-- sat down with me to have an in-depth conversation and answer my questions. He seemed respectful. I have a same-sex partner and he was respectful of that. We only did one IUI because I got pregnant on the first try.

Don't be afraid to ask any questions you want to ask or to ask if something is possible. He is realistic but also reasonable to work with.

We did an unmedicated IUI because that's what I wanted to do. I had no known fertility problems, just needed to do IUI because I have a female partner. He did recommend I take progesterone for the first trimester because I got pregnant while still nursing my first child and so my progesterone levels were a bit low.

I don't remember the specifics. Probably under $1,000.

N/A

The satellite clinic was very cramped and not comfortable. Wait times were well over 30 mins every visit. It was not a welcoming environment.

It seemed disjointed and disorganized. Doctor seemed fixated on invasive diagnostic procedures instead of interventions to assist with conception.

Nice but disorganized. It was very hard to reach anyone (always playing phone tag). They messed up an appt. They sent me someone else's medical records. It was not a good experience.

The doctor focused on invasive diagnostic procedures instead of interventions to assist with conception. He also failed to explain how one test would lead to missing an entire cycle.

Go to another provider. I had much better success after one cycle with the fertility center.

I stopped going to this doctor after he kept focusing on endometriosis when there was no evidence for this. Rather than start me on medication or appropriate interventions, he kept trying to do more tests even though nothing showed up. Testing is useful to a point but not when valuable cycles are being lost for no good reason.

Costs seemed consistent with rates in this area.

Teaching hospital, there are frequently students or residents in the exams. They always ask if you are comfortable w/ that before they come in

Always take time to answer questions, returned phone calls and emails within a few hours, very compassionate

Very patient w/ multiple questions and emails, returned calls & emails right away. Very compassionate during failed cycles. All the nurses willing to spend as much time as I wanted answering questions

He met with my husband & I each time we were there for a good amount of time, gave us ample opportunity to ask questions. Sometimes a bit rough w/ the tools however, some procedures were painful.

Make sure to ask questions

I live about 2 hours from this clinic, they allowed me to have all Bloodwork & ultrasound monitoring at my home obgyn office

Base price $12000, cash customers (no insurance) got 30% discount, so we paid $8400, plus meds which were about $1200

Minassian was extremely intelligent, but not very compassionate. Far drive for me and nurses weren’t very compassionate. Multiple rounds of injectables and no results. I really felt like a number and not a human. He was located at a hospital and Office was very much hospital like. Had to have a surgery to check my uterus.

He sees a lot of people and it was at a hospital and I felt like just another patient.

Very much in the routine and not very compassionate. Just another patient.

Minassian is extremely to the point and detailed which I liked. He is thorough and thoroughly reviewed by charts and history from my prior fertility doctor. He is not overly compassionate, but very smart.

Be prepared for a surgery to look at your uterus. I feel like this is a standard of his.

Injectables with gonorelix to delay ovulation. No IUI. Multiple rounds, zero results.

Very expensive

I had no concerns. The staff was friendly and helpful. Wait times were usually not very long. I would use them again in a heartbeat.

He's a little quirky but a pleasure to deal with. He was able to quickly diagnose me with a complication that was completely missed by my previous doctor. He answered all of my questions patiently and made sure I was comfortable before we moved on.

Ask questions!

I had two surgeries to remove blockages. When I conceived my daughter I had taken daily shots and was inseminated with IUI.

The costs were high because my insurance covered nothing.