UCSF

You will never see your doctor. They won't know who you are. The only reason I went is because of early morning appointment availability and cost. If you can afford to go elsewhere or can go to appointments after 830 am please go elsewhere. I've been so upset by this clinic I've started seeing a therapist about it.

UCSF is a high through put clinic with great procedures and protocols in place and a top notch lab. You don't typically see your doctor for monitoring appointments and procedures. For monitoring procedures you see one of many NPs or doctors, and for procedure you see the procedure doctor of the week. I thought all of the doctors and nurses at UCSF were top quality and knew exactly what they were doing, but if you want to have a personal connection with your doctor or if you aren't comfortable being examined by a large number of clinicians this might not be the place for you. They also don't provide much guidance on lifestyle changes or complimentary therapies like acupuncture, you have to be very proactive about those things. One thing that I really appreciated about UCSF was the genetic counseling. We had a complicated PGD case and the genetic counselor we worked with, Chelsea Leonard, was absolutely fantastic. One of the big reasons I picked UCSF is because they have genetic counselors on staff.

I went with UCSF as they were the best fit for our insurance, and a couple friends had also recommended them. They both had the same forewarnings: you won't have one consistent Dr, and you have to be your own advocate when it comes to billing and the overall logistics. That being said, I would definitely return to UCSF for any future treatments, as I felt that everyone there was very knowledgeable and I trusted turning my body over to them (which I can have a lot of barriers around). One thing to note is that their billing department is a real pain to work with. I kept receiving bills to pay hundreds of dollars, but when I called to question why I was receiving the bill (as it should have been covered by Progyny, they told me I didn't have to actually pay it.) I'm still not 100% confident that we're in the clear in terms of money owed.

This clinic is great for care, compassion, and expertise. I was happy with all the doctors and nurses that I interacted with. Likewise with anyone in reception. But the billing department is TERRIBLE. They seem to be almost completely incompetent. Several examples: (1) the financial navigators don't actually tell you anything about how to help pay for your services. I found out through my nurse during my first cycle that ARC Fertility offers a pre-negotiated egg freezing package with UCSF that lowers the cost of the cycle to $7,100, compared to the $8,500+ I was being quoted by the billing department. Thank goodness she told me, or I'd never have known. I have a friend who also used UCSF and no one told her about ARC - I did. (2) I am constantly getting billed for services I don't owe. When I paid through ARC, ARC submitted a payment to UCSF to cover my cycle. Yet I continue to receive bills from UCSF for $2,000+. Advice for others: don't blindly pay bills received from UCSF CRH. Take a close look and determine if you think you really owe it; push back if you think you don't. (3) Multiple friends have been told that they couldn't charge their insurance for general office visits or consultations, paid out of pocket, and then had their insurance billed.

UCSF is like a fertility mill. There's usually a bunch of patients ahead of you in the waiting rooms and the wait time for your appointment can be up to 45 minutes on some days. It makes it difficult if you have work meetings you have to plan around. At the same time, you get some great doctors like Dr. Noel. Billing can be a bit of a headache. It's difficult to figure out what insurance will cover sometimes and we'll get random statement notifications and trying to read their bill and reconcile it with their statements makes my head explode.

Overall they provided information in several different words which was helpful to remember the numerous appointments. The one weakness I identified is when I did not see Dr Segal I never knew which NP I would get for my visit and not all had good bedside manner and did not communicate well.

I think the care team and lab are very good and I am really happy with the outcome of my cycle. However, the back office / billing is the worst I have ever seen. Be prepared to get charged for hidden costs and extras, after prepaying for the full cycle. They sent me 5 different bills because they could not get it right. They are being very shady about the hidden costs and there is no transparency regarding the extra charges you will be billed for after the cycle is over. I was a self-pay patient and paid the full amount upfront. After the cycle was over, they came after me with bills for additional blood tests, ultrasounds, office visits that I did not request and medications. They do not explain it to you , but what you pay for the cycle is only the beginning. The bill was full of inaccuracies and mistakes and I had to spend hours on the phone with the billing department to walk through them each time. They sent me 5 different bills with a different amount each time, and still could not get it right or explain what they are charging for. They are extremely unresponsive via email and you don’t hear back from them for weeks. They do however threaten to send your bill to collections on a regular basis. It is now 9 months post my cycle and I had given up on trying to get an accurate bill. I paid the outstanding amount, despite it being incorrect, just so that I can close this chapter and move on. Dealing with their incompetent billing team is the most frustrating experience that I don’t ever wish to go through again. Despite the great care team and lab, I am not planning to go back to this clinic.

UCSF is organized and has state of the art facilities. It is a bit difficult to get appointments - however the care team is really good. The team of nurses is also very caring and prompt. You may see different nurse every time, however, for our transfer we asked for our doctor to be present and the care team ensured that Doc Anaya only performed our transfer.

The front office is great very nice, his nurse however was rude not nice at all. After the first consultation they make sure to send you what you need to do next thru the portal and you can call the front office for any questions very organized professional and nice

UCSF is generally a well run clinic. Because they are large, I never had issues getting appointments at times that worked for me. my only issue was with billing- they made some errors and overbilled at times so I had to be on top of monitoring it

UCSF Fertility has its own patient portal where you can send messages directly to your care team and the staff. They are quick to respond and make your appointments, send you documents and even had modules for each treatment I received that showed what to expect and how things would work.

UCSF has top-quality doctors and extremely high-variance support from the coordinating team. I felt confident in the answers to my medical questions. UCSF also has a lot of supporting materials and resources if you know how to find them. For examples, when we moved to PIO, we were assigned an "injection coach" nurse who was great.

MDs rotate for procedures. You will not likely see your primary RE when you go in for appointments. Nurse practitioners perform IUIs and most of the monitoring appointments. All providers at UCSF are excellent. The fertility clinic is very well organized.

UCSF has a deep bench of doctors. They rotate care for procedures. Everyone I interacted with was kind. The nursing staff can be a little disorganzied, so sometimes you have to follow up, but they are responsive once you follow up.

The nurses are friendly and they are good at what they are doing. The front desk staffs are kind as well. If you think of a big hospital such as UCSF, you might think that you may not get personal touch. We never felt that way. By having many staffs and nurses, they were really efficient and available. All you need is a designated doctor and his/her team.

Very robust evidence based clinic. The incentive here is not monetary gain - see Vice article on Dr Danielle Lane's clinic to learn more. I felt very safe here. It is a busy university hospital though and feels like a public hospital. If you want a boutique experience, this is not for you. But if you want a child and want the most evidence based way to get there, this is for you.

Great clinic. They communicated very well and they were approachable. I would recommend them always. UCSF has big infrastructure and they have experienced doctors and equipments. The nurses and coordinators are well knowledgeable and communicate well.

UCSF is a top research hospital. They’re on the cutting edge of fertility and genetics research, which is why I sought them out. The trade off of that is that their staff are all researchers in addition to practitioners. This means potential for less consistency in care, or more requirement for you to navigate a big system. Almost every person I encountered at UCSF was kind, professional, and extremely competent.

Our insurance doesn’t cover IVF so I feel very fortunate to have UCSF offer lower cost treatments. When you do self pay, you pay the entire cycle upfront but UCSF would only charge you the stage you go through. If the cycle stops at a certain point before egg retrieval, you can have the remainder applied to the next cycle. UCSF is also my primary hospital and overall my experience has been very positive.

I loved UCSF. They were (relatively) inexpensive, doctors were great, staff was friendly, the clinic was neat. They took us in as patients immediately, and didn't delay the process unnecessarily. They treated us with warmth and care. I would whole-heartedly recommend it to everyone!

I had a wonderful experience at my clinic. Everyone is so nice, accomodating despite the busy schedules (at times) and they were all pleasant. From the front desk, to the nurses, np's and doctors, everyone is nice and friendly. I did not have any issues at all. We were very well accomodated and assisted. Even the answering service during after hours was very good. Overall we had a great experience with our clinic.

The staff really is top notch. Everyone from the receptionists, to the nurses to the MDs are great. I always feel very cared for when there. Your primary Dr will most likely not be the one doing the follicle ultrasounds or retrievals/transfers but we were always in excellent hands. We have seen our primary Dr in person once. Our approach as patients has been of trust so we’ve had a very decent experience.

UCSF CRH is a big practice, associated with a university. They most certainly have quality doctors and nurses but because it was large didn't feel I got the dedicated, close care compared with the new clinic I am at now. For example, the nurse at my new clinic knows me by name and immediately answers my emails.

It is a big clinic. Very difficult to get an appointment and their initial onboarding paperwork and insurance stuff was such a nightmare. I almost gave up before I started. However- once you complete your initial consult, you're like family there. Its nice that its a big clinic because there are tons of appointment times and chances for procedures, tests etc. The facility is clean, peaceful, and modern. There is a nice restaurant/ bar within the building which makes for a great pit stop when you're not pregnant! Ha :)

Dr Noel was the best. Strongly recommend working with her. Pretty easy to great appointments. Nice facility. Quite accessible in the city. Weaknesses were some of the nurses. Would use them again if I needed to.