Weill Cornell Medical College

Dr. Palermo's embryology lab met to discuss our failures, as did the andrology team. I was told that they were devastated and stumped by our results. Dr. Palermo offered my husband a couple of tests after our second failure. We have yet to receive the results of the second test about 7 months later.

After meeting with Dr. Reichman, I had a spontaneous chemical pregnancy, 1 failed IUI, and then a spontaneous pregnancy which ended at 9 weeks, soon after being passed on to my OBGYN. After my d and c, I had retained products of conception and my OBGYN wanted to do a second d and c. Dr. Reichman called me and firmly told me not to do the second d and c and that it could affect future fertility, and offered to do a hysteroscopy instead. I knew he truly cared about my well being. I then had two IVF cycles with him. The first round yielded 22 eggs, 10 mature, and 1 fertilized with ICSI. That embryo failed to develop. At the time he told us that it would be like lightning striking twice for similar result to happen again. We tried a second round (everything was paid for out of pocket), had 26 eggs retrieved, 24 mature, and 0 fertilized with ICSI. Dr. Reichman was truly stumped. I don't fault him personally, but feel that if your case is tricky, Weill Cornell is not the place for you. I am now under the care of another doctor and have already been diagnosed with PCOS among other things, which I am being treated for, but which never came to light at Cornell. I believe the biggest mistake that Dr. Reichman made was allowing us to proceed with a second round without ensuring that we learned something from it (such as doing half with donor sperm). After our final meeting with him post 2nd IVF, he still have no idea if it was an egg or sperm issue. My husband has normal sperm count and motility, but low morphology, but that shouldn't have led to the results we got. Dr. Reichman did offer us a third round at a discount to try a cycle without ICSI, but we didn't feel there was any evidence to put ourselves through that.

The nursing staff at the Tribeca office is warm and caring. My first IVF coordinator was cold and businesslike. The second one was much more pleasant and helpful.

Dr. Reichman is a conscientious, responsive, and caring, but he is conservative and didn't go above and beyond to help us get to the root of our problem. We had 48 eggs retrieved over the course of two cycles, 34 of which were mature, only 1 fertilized with ICSI, and that embryo didn't survive long enough for transfer. We felt he shrugged us off and was ready to let us move on without trying to dig in and search for answers, run additional tests, etc. This was a let down.

If you aren't getting typical results, move on to another clinic, or even a reproductive immunologist. You won't get a rigorous scientific examination of your results.

IVF #1: Day 1-6: 225 gonal f, 150 menopur Day 7: 225 gonal f, 150 menopur, 2.5 cetrotide Day 8-9: 175 gonal f, 150 menopur, 2.5 cetrotide Day 10: 175 gonal f, 150 menopur, 2.5 cetrotide Day 11 150 gonal f, 150 menopure, ganirelix Day 14: 22 eggs retrieved. 10 mature. 1 fertilized. No embryos. IVF #2: Day 1-5: 1/16 225 gonal f, 150 menopur Day 6-8: 125 gonal f, 150 menopur, 2.5 cetrotide Day 9-10: 125 gonal f, 150 menopur, 2.5 cetrotide Day 11: 50 gonal f, 150 menopur, 2.5 cetrotide Day 12: Trigger thurs 1/24 9:30pm Lupron 4mg Hcg 2500 Retrieval 26 eggs 0 of 24 mature eggs fertilized

Fairly efficient, but impersonal when the monitoring MD is not your own.

Everything was out of pocket for us. We spent 15-20k for each cycle. I do not recall IUI cost.

He preferred to transfer a single embryo for us, but we never had one to transfer.

The clinic is HUGE. If you are not ready for that, either find someplace new, or prepare yourself to advocate. If you are in their face and vocal you will have a better experience because they will know who you are. That being said this clinic also specializes in taking cases that no one else will touch. They are not as concerned with their success rates and only taking patients who will improve their rates, rather they are willing to give almost anyone a shot and they will adapt their protocols to meet patient's needs. One thing I like is that they have team meetings and come up with protocols as a team, not individual doctors making decisions on their own. This is comforting because you know that they are checking each others work. Something else that could be a little discomforting for patients is that because there are so many patients and the clinic is part of the hospital, not everything takes place in the clinic. Somethings take place in the radiology dept and then the lab, egg retrievals, and transfers happen in a surgical center in the hospital (I liked this because it was just IVF procedures happening there so no one else was walking in and out and you knew the nurses and front desk people did this all day every day). Also, the Andrology lab is on a different floor so you have to take the elevator and walk around with the sperm sample in a paper bag from when they give it to you to when you give it back to the nurse and have the IUI done (a little weird for people who know what is in the tube and see you walking around with it).

Dr. Goldschalg and I get along very well. He has a very calming presence and helps bring me down off my crazy (sometimes hormone induced) tantrums about why it is not fair that I was not getting pregnant. He was very patient with me, always answered all my questions, talked to me about all the options and why something would be a good/bad/or ok idea for treatment. He always said that he would be willing to do anything I wanted, but he wanted me to listen to his opinion on the matter before making decisions. He knows that I am a healthcare professional and brings it up regularly, in explanation for decisions and for why he is explaining things to me in a scientific way. He talks to me in a way that I feel I understand what we are talking about, but that he respects my intelligence and research on our diagnosis. When we had a cycle fail with no viable embryos, Dr. Goldschlag called me several days in a row, sometimes multiple times a day to update me on the situation and make sure I was ok. We spent over an hour talking about the results and what we were going to proceed with and he did not hang up the phone until he knew I was ok, and we had scheduled an appointment to meet and go over everything, despite it being a holiday weekend. I know a lot of people who have cycled with Dr. Goldschlag sometimes are not pleased with their experience because they feel like a number, but I think that is more due to the size of the clinic. Cornell has hundreds of patients cycling through on a regular basis and if you do not stand up for yourself and advocate for your care, you may get lost, but if you are able to do that, you will get excellent care at a top rated clinic.

Jamie - Only had her the first cycle. She called me the first day and the last to let me know it failed but other than that I always talked with Allison. She gave me the wrong info which had to get changed and was thankfully caught before I gave myself the wrong meds. Was weird hearing from her that my cycle failed when I literally had nothing to do with her. She was no longer with Dr. Goldschlag when I came back six months later for my next cycle. Allison - Was there from my first cycle (she caught Jamie's mess up) all the way until my successful pregnancy. She often seemed overwhelmed, probably because of Dr. Goldschlag's caseload and how many phone calls she had to make. She always returned phone calls, and gave clear instructions. She was also a lot more down to earth than some of the other nurses I came across there, which was nice. She also was SOO happy when she got to call me with my positive pregnancy test after our fourth cycle, we were both crying on the phone together, because she had been with me through it from the beginning. Cheryl and Tamara - Dr. Goldschlag's nursing team this time is a little more haphazard, but they call me back and they seem to have things together. I dont have a real feel for them yet because I just returned to the clinic in the past month, but so far nothing bad to say.

Dr. Goldschlag is very patient, always asks me how I am doing, how I am feeling - he knows after our three year journey how my emotions can get the best of me and he always asks how things are at home. He talks to me in a way that I understand what is going on, but also that shows he respects my intelligence as a health care professional. Dr. Goldschlag also has a way of lightening the mood without coming off as uncaring or harsh. He jokes with me about my reliance on Dr. Google, and he always is up to date on all the studies and new tests I bring up and what is good about the studies or what was lacking in them and why he does or does not buy into the findings. I like that he is constantly researching and learning and not just doing the same thing over and over. No two of my protocols have ever been the same (until this current cycle bc the last cycle we did I got pregnant with my daughter and we are hoping to recreate that!!), he is always taking my latest hormone levels into account and tweaking everything so I react to the meds the best way possible. Also, he always gives my husband and I a few minutes after a monitoring appointment in the room to ask questions and talk about what is going on in order to make sure that we are comfortable with everything. It can be very hard to reach anyone in the office, and almost impossible to reach him on the phone, so I like that he gives us that time. Another thing he has started doing (I am not sure if this is for everyone, but my IVF cycles were not like this), is scheduling monitoring appointments with him specifically, so I am on his schedule and know when I am going to be seeing him so that I do not have to wait as long, and there is a continuity of care, as opposed to seeing which ever MD is on call that day for ultrasounds, and then it taking several days before I see him again and can get my questions answered. Dr. Goldschlag is also EXCELLENT when the cycle fails. We have had multiple cycles fail - very, very difficulty failures - and the way he handled it, my emotions, my husband's emotions, he was very straight forward and honest with us about our bleak situation and what the next steps were. I appreciated the honesty and when he was not being straightforward with me at one point I called him out on it and from then on he gave it to me like it was. I feel for myself and my husband, it is better for us to know the truth from the outset than for us to be under the assumption that we are going to have this amazing experience. Overall he was very willing to work with us and ultimately he was able to help us get to our goal and give us our beautiful daughter.

Give him a chance to get to know you before you assume he is too quiet or hands off. Once I got to know him a little better and we were all able to relax around each other, it got much easier.

As an Orthodox Jew, Cornell has a specific protocol they use to help push off the egg retrieval until a little farther on in the cycle (called the Mikva Protocol), to help shorten the period and keep any spotting at bay. Started with estrogen patches for a few days, then added a Ganirelix shot for three days, then started Menopure and GonalF, then added the Ganirelix back in, then triggered with HCG. My dosages were incredibly low bc of my VERY high AMH levels. First cycle was extended (I dont think the dosages were high enough and I was injecting them incorrectly so I wasnt getting the full dose). Second cycle was the same overall, but higher dosages and I had better quality eggs (more mature) than the first cycle. (Cycle failed due to Male factor component) First IUI with clomid - did not respond well to Clomid, poor follicle and lining Second IUI with Letrazol - started with 5mg a day for 5 days, three days off, then bumped up to 7.5 mg a day for 5 days. Went in and had 2 beautiful 24mm follicles (one on each ovary) and lining was almost 9mm. Triggered with 10kHCG and IUI the following day.

What I do now is schedule an actual appointment, show up then and get seen within 15 minutes of that appointment. At the same time and what I used to do was show up anywhere from 6:30 to 9 am and sign in and wait in the waiting room to first get called for bloodwork and then ultrasound. The MD you see for the scan can be any of the doctors in the practice. Their system is automated, so there is a computer system that tells the tech who the next patient they are taking for blood or ultrasound is and what room to put them in. This keeps things moving assuming patients are not missing in the bathroom or grabbing coffee outside at the cart on the sidewalk. Sometimes there can be close to 100 patients waiting to be seen though, which can make the wait take several hours.

My IVF was covered by insurance but the cost at the time was approximately $12000 for IVF with ICSI (we also did Micro-TESE in conjunction which was $15k out of pocket) My IUI is also under insurance so I am not aware of the costs.

In general I found my experience to be positive. They see a high volume of patients but I've never had issues with wait time, they have convenient morning monitoring hours and it was great to be able to go to the UES or Tribeca office for my monitoring. I appreciated the calls from my nurses with instructions and next steps but feel as though email communication could be helpful in communicating medicine dosages, next appointments, etc. The billing was definitely a bit of a mess and I never felt like I had a clear understanding of what I was being billed for.

Dr. Spandorfer isn't the hand holding type but I appreciated his warm personality and light humor. He was positive, empathetic and helped make a stressful and emotional process a bit easier. He doesn't always explain next steps thoroughly but was always willing to answer questions or elaborate if I asked.

I had two unsuccessful IUIs before moving on to IVF. My first retrieval resulted in 26 eggs that became 13 embryos. Due to my age and good test results Dr. Spandorfer did not recommend PGS testing. We did one fresh transfer which resulted in a miscarriage and then 3 frozen transfers before getting pregnant. Each time we did natural FET cycles. I'm now trying for my second and after doing 2 natural FET cycles from frozen embryos from my 1st cycle, I did another retrieval that yielded 31 eggs and resulted in 17 embryos. This time we did PGS testing and have 7 high quality embryos. We have transferred 4 of those in 3 different FETs, 2 natural and 1 medicated cycle and have yet to be successful.

$10,500 - IVF Cycle (Not including PGS testing or ICSI if needed) $2,630 - ICSI $4,260 - Frozen Embryo Transfer

Dr. Spandorfer recommended eSET but after a few failed transfers he supported our decision to transfer two embryos.

Dr. Melnick's office is great, in a convenient location and runs on time. Unfortunately the procedures take place at the Center for Reproductive Medicine, which is huge and does feel like a factory. Dr. Melnick did not actually perform any of my IUIs, and the location of the hospital is not convenient. This was not properly explained to me at my initial visit, and I didn't know Dr. Melnick would not be doing the actual procedure.

She has a kind and friendly manner and tailored the treatment protocol to my specific situation, and advised against more aggressive treatments that she didn't feel were necessary yet.

I only interacted with Dr. Melnick's primary nurse over the phone. All of our interactions were perfectly pleasant, but it can take some time to get them on the phone (you usually have to leave a message and get a call back by end of day). Sometimes I got a call back from her AFTER the receptionist had left, so if she told me I needed to make an appointment for the following day, I was unable to.

She is young and relatable, so it feels like you are speaking with a friend and makes the whole process feel a little more personal and less clinical. She was kind and compassionate, though sometimes it did feel as if the appointments were a bit too quick and slightly rushed.

Make sure to ask for the follow-up steps for this cycle, as well as what you should do if the cycle is unsuccessful. If the cycle is unsuccessful, you will have to be proactive in making your next appointment on the right day and ordering any medicines to ensure that you have them on the day that you need them. There really isn't a lot of follow-up in between cycles, maybe because they have some veteran patients, so after my first cycle, I was a bit disoriented as far as next steps.

Because my labs were good, my age is "young" for the clinic, and I had given birth less than two years prior, she wanted to be very conservative and initially recommended IUIs without medication because she didn't want me to end up with twins. Neither was successful, so I then tried a third IUI with Clomid, which was also unsuccessful.

It was about $1,200 per IUI. My insurance should have covered my doctor visits and ultrasounds, but they took it out of my deductible.

n/a

Dr Davis is great and very knowledgeable. Be your own advocate with the nurses and ask questions. When necessary ask them to double check with the doctor. The billing department is inefficient and annoying.

Dr Davis was always knowledgeable About my situation. The nurses did not seem to always be knowledgeable and i felt like a number with them.

They have made mistakes. Often i ask them to double check with dr Davis and their directions would change as a result. They did not seem to be able to answer my questions. Generally unimpressed. I had Katie last time and i thought she was on top of things. This time the nurses keep changing and i have not being impressed.

I would 100% recommend him if he had a different staff. He is always knowledgeable about my situation, answers my questions and seems to be on top of his game. Usually he calls me back immediately. Once i had been notified of a chemical pregnancy but he didn’t call me until Monday (i asked to speak to him Friday morning).

Be your own advocate with the nurses. Get the plan from dr Davis and question the nurses if they are incorrect or if it was different than the plan dr Davis mentioned.

First time i got pregnant in 2016 after a natural cycle iui with estrogen priming for an ivf cycle i did not need to start because i was pregnant. I then did 3 natural cycle iuis (because it was successful the first time). Started Estrogen priming for ivf but had to Stop protocol Because i had a positive pregnancy test. Turned out it was a chemical pregnancy. Starting ivf next cycle.

He was out of pocket. So expensive

The people are very compassionate and friendly. I feel everyone there is competent at their job. I am always able to get an appointment when I need it. The fertility process is very time sensitive, so I really appreciated the coordinators making sure I get the correct meds at the correct timing. The only weakness, is it can be difficult to get someone on the phone if you have a question. I usually have to leave a voice mail, and then they call me back a few hours later. It would be much easier if they communicate via email, since I can not always get to my phone if it is a busy work day.

Dr. Goldschlag always asks how I'm doing and gives thorough explanations of treatment and option. I always feel like he is doing what is in my best interest. He has never pushed ivf treatment like some other doctors might do because that is where the money is.

She has been very organized and thorough. She was able to communicate with my insurance so I had a clear understanding of what part of the treatment is covered, and what I should expect to pay for. There was no surprise bills. She has also been helpful in letting me know what is the next step in procedure such as when to get blood work, when to take meds, etc.. The only negative I can say, is it can be difficult to speak with them on the phone. There is some phone tag. It would be much easier if they can communicate via email.

Dr. Goldschlag is very mild mannered, soft spoken, and always asks how I'm doing. I am 40, and have been trying to conceive for 1 year. He did not jump to ivf, he first made sure my body is in the best condition it can be to to conceive before proceeding with further fertility treatment. Since I have hypothyroid, he had to make sure it is at optimal level. He has also surgical removed a polyp in my uterus, which has been blocking egg implantation. It is something my regular obgyn failed to inform me about. I have now done 1 round of IUI, but has failed. I will continue 2 more rounds of IUI before moving onto to IVF. He does seem to have a full schedule so appointments can be quick. I sometimes have to rely on his assistant to explain the next steps.

Don't wait! I waited a bit to go to a fertility doctor because I did not want to be pressured into ivf. But, that was not my experience at all with Dr. Goldschlag. I wish I had seen him sooner so I can understand what is going on with my body. My only other advice is to ask a lot of questions. He gives a good explanation of your fertility plan, but the steps you need to take such as when to get blood work, when to take the drugs, and etc.. sometimes needs to be clarified.

His treatment made sure my body is in the best condition it can be to to conceive before proceeding with further fertility treatment. Since I have hypothyroid, he had to make sure it is at optimal level. He has also surgical removed a polyp in my uterus, which has been blocking egg implantation. I have now done 1 round of IUI, but has failed. I will continue 2 more rounds of IUI before moving onto to IVF.

The costs you are responsible for really depend on your insurance. I had to cover cost of sperm washing for IUI, which was $375. Other then that it was just co-pays. The coordinator was very helpful in informing me what is covered. And, if it is not covered giving me alternatives labs to use for some tests that are not covered.

Weill Cornell is unlike any doctors office I've ever been to. It is clean, everyone is extremely friendly and remembers your name, and they are always on time. I never waited more than five minutes in the lobby before being taken back to the exam room.

Dr. Reichman remembers every detail of his patients' life and their cycles. He is friendly but not fake, which I appreciate.

The entire nursing staff at Cornell is amazing - they are caring, take the time to walk you through every detail of your protocol and answer any and all questions you have.

Dr.Reichman is friendly, easy to talk to and caring, but also very to the point, which is so important to me. He doesn't beat around the bush and explains every possible outcome in detail, which is so important throughout this process. He is also sarcastic and cracks jokes - SO needed with all the stress infertility brings.

He is blunt at times - some people might not like this, but I really do. I want to know the good and the bad, with nothing sugar coated.

Our first round was just Clomid, taking 50mg per day. My body responded too well to the medication and we had to cancel due to three matured follicles. The second round, we reduced the dosage of Clomid to two days of 50mg then three days of 25mg. My body did not respond enough, after the 5 days of Clomid, we didn't have any mature follicles. At that point, we added in daily Menopur injections. We did about 10 days of injections, at differing dosages, which Dr. Reichman adjusted day to day. We had two mature follicles, which was great, but unfortunately my estrogen had dropped to basically zero over 24 hours between injections. We decided to trigger ovulation and see what happens. Unfortunately due to my low estrogen the cycle did not work. We are now starting a third cycle of Menopur injections and hoping we can get my body to ovulate with the perfect amount of follicles. If that doesn't work, we will move onto IVF.

My insurance covers all infertility treatments, except IVF, so luckily everything up to now has been covered. My only costs are my regular copay for office visits and medication.

N/A

I trust the technical expertise of the Weill Cornell Centre for reproductive medicine completely. I trust their research and methods and skills at performing procedures. I was very happy with all procedures performed by the team of doctors including IUI, egg retrieval and transfers. On the other hand, the administrative/ billing team was not familiar with Aetna insurance which led to multiple, time wasting, and high stress instances of the admin team incorrectly telling me I was responsible for meds out of pocket when in fact I was 100% covered. At one point i was on vacation to de-stress from the cycles and them emailed to tell me i would be responsible for bills of $10k for medication - this was incorrect due to poor research on their part. (Dr. Reichman actually volunteered to help get it sorted by reporting the errors to the head of the Weill Cornell insurance billing team, who then worked with me directly). I also had billing issues, receiving bills for thousands of dollars, when I had already paid for a complete IVF package in full. This all got rectified, but was extremely time consuming and stressful.

Dr. Reichman formed a relationship with us, asked after my husband on the occasions I had solo appointments. He was extremely responsive on emails, days, nights and weekend. He offered sincere condolences when cycles were not successful.

My main nurse coordinator, Hannah, was very helpful with treatment and appointments and trying to resolve issues with my insurance coverage. The IVF training nurse was excellent, helpful and compassionate also. And the nurses that drew my bloods each day were skilled, gentle, upbeat and friendly.

Dr. Reichman performed a thorough work up of both me and my husband. He explained the tests. He was very friendly and we looked forward to our visits. On the occasions that I was particularly hormonal/emotional/struggling with what felt like a long period of treatment he was not overly supportive. I felt he was more comfortable at appointments if my husband was present. As part of treatment there are a lot of transactional ultrasounds and I found that he (as well as other male doctors) are less gentle than my subsequent experience of female doctors. That said, I fully trusted Dr. Reichman to get us the result we wanted - without question - and therefore was fine with the minor discomfort.

If patients have worries about treatment or symptoms during treatment I recommend framing the question to Dr. Reichman as “this is happening - is this because of the fertility treatment or does this pose a challenge or risk to my cycle?”. Dr. Reichman is not a primary care physician so if any symptoms are not a result of, or will impact fertility treatment he will direct you to your regular doctor.

Gonal-F 900 IU Menopur 75 IU Cetrotide 250mcg HCG shot Lupron 2 week kit Progesterone in oil Medrol Z-pac

Timing was convenient - early morning before work. Wait times were not an issue. Equally, I called once to say I was running late due to a subway breakdown and they calmly assured me I would be seen no problem when I would get there. If I had too many questions for a morning monitoring appointment, Dr. Reichman would arrange to see my husband and I later that day.

~$28k out of pocket

Dr. Reichman strongly encouraged elective single embryo transfer. I was happy with this approach.

They have an excellent lab, are organized. Definitely felt like a number in the NYC office, but the Mt Kisco satellite office was much more personable. Often very long waits for monitoring at the NYC upper east side and a complete cattle call. Monitoring hours were 7-9am which was tough for me to make.

Dr Elias frequently checked in with me and was always very quick to respond to my emails. More to the point, when my ivf cycle failed he left me a voicemail and expressed his sympathy. During our follow up appointment soon after, he was caring, but also realistic presenting all the facts.

The nursing staff in NYC upper east side was very busy and I felt like just a number - which was fine. I had most monitoring visits in the satellite office in Mt Kisco and the nurse there wasn’t too friendly not talkative, but she was overall ok - that didn’t bother me.

Dr Elias is extremely intelligent and knows his stuff. Among other tests, he did a HSG and felt one of my tubes was questionable and told me I would need a lap. However, when the radiologist read the images, the radiologist read them as normal. Dr Elias then said we should hold off on the lap and try some clomid cycles, some with IUI. They didn’t work and finally I told him I wanted the lap and to move to ivf which he agreed to readily. Turned out my left tube was completely blocked, Black, twisted, a total mess and had to be removed. I wish Dr Elias had been more aggressive and gone with his gut feeling after the HSG that the tube was not right and recommended a lap from the beginning (which I would have been fine with) - especially since previous to developing the tube issue developing, I’d always gotten pregnant on the first month of trying (although many ended in miscarriage). I wasted 7 months and a large chunk of my insurance money on IUIs and clomid cycles that were never going to work with that tube. At the age of 42, the wasted 7 months was the hardest to swallow. Shortly after tube surgery, i had a failed ivf cycle, but then got pregnant naturally 2 months later. With that said, Dr Elias knows his stuff and is a kind and caring doctor - wish he’d been more aggressive particularly with my age.

If you want to try something other than what Dr Elias suggests, bring it up - you don’t always need to follow his advice. He is pretty amenable to doing what you want at the end of the day. He was even willing to work with a reproductive immunologist (Dr Braverman) and make changes to the ivf protocol that I suggested.

2 clomid cycles with timed inter course. 1 clomid cycle with IUI. 1 ivf with estrogen prime, menopur, gonal-f, cetrotide - produced 9 eggs, 4 fertilized, day 3 fresh transfer of 3 embryos (bfn) and the other 2 embryos didn’t make it to feeeze.

NYC Upoer east side was a cattle call - I only went there on weekends and would sometimes have to wait 2 hours With every seat taken in their extremely large waiting room. Mt Kisco Office was much better, much more personable with sometimes no wait, and never more than 45 Min wait.

They were covered under my Fertility insurance, but the costs at Cornell are very high. About $15K per cycle plus then add on service - freezing, ICSI etc

Dr Elias said with my age, 42, he recommended day 3 transfer of 3-4 embryos to give me the best chance of pregnancy (embryos do better back in the body) and PGS testing on remaining embryos to freeze.

The Tribeca office of Weill Cornell CRM is a hidden gem. The facilities are new, the waiting room is never packed, and the front desk staff are wonderful. My husband and I visited the main office on the UES once, for our IUI, and it was a night-and-day contrast to Tribeca - incredibly crowded, seemingly somewhat dated, and huge. Given the large number of doctors and patients, I would be surprised if they are able to support the same continuity of the Tribeca office (as in, always seeing your doctor for each monitoring appointment, which was amazing!). I suppose if there is one downside to the Tribeca office, it is that on weekends, holidays, and for procedures like an IUI or embryo transfer, you will need to visit the UES location.

Dr. Reichman knew exactly where we were in our treatment cycle, every time he saw us. He needed no prompting about any of my personal details, or what our plan was. And when I had emotional moments, the level of compassion he showed me was well beyond what I expect from even the best-trained medical professionals..

I didn't have a great deal of interaction with the nursing staff, as I did not undergo IVF. I called a few times with questions, and they were very helpful in their responses. I wasn't assigned a specific nurse, but when you start treatment at CRM, you receive contact information for your specific doctor's team, including nurses whose duties are divided and specified. The nurse I typically reached out to (based on these descriptions) was frequently out of the office (it was during the summer, so this may not be the case year-round). When I left messages on Dr. Reichman's general nursing line, however, they were always quick to call back.

Dr. Reichman was, in short, a dream to find, in a city full of top REs. From the moment we sat down in our consultation, it became clear that he was not only an excellently trained physician, but was also passionate about his specialty, and sincerely empathetic towards his patients. This combination allowed me to truly relax and leave myself in his hands (e.g., no more endless googling!), in a way I never really did with my first doctor, and I think that made a difference in our outcome, if only by improving my mental wellbeing as we went through our cycle. We saw him at every single monitoring appointment, and when questions arose, I emailed him directly, and heard back without fail in a few hours or less. From what I understand from friends, these are unique qualities to find in a doctor at the top clinics in NYC, given the huge numbers of patients they churn out. In short, even before our first (and only) cycle was finished, my husband and I were thrilled with the level of care we received from Dr. Reichman.

If you find yourself overwhelmed by science or statistics, don't be afraid to ask questions. He will respond with patience and kindness.

We saw Dr. Reichman after completing four cycles with another doctor. On the surface, Dr. Reichman kept the same protocol, as I had a good response to the drugs: 5 days of .5mg of letrozole, an HCG trigger shot, and an IUI. My monitoring appointments at CRM, however, were much more frequent. I believe we had four or five ultrasounds before Dr. Reichman decided I was ready for the trigger shot, which ultimately took place a few days later in my cycle than previous treatment. This meant my uterine lining was thicker than it had ever been, and we had one great sized follicle plus another potentially mature one. He also timed the IUI differently than my previous one - this IUI took place about 28 hours after the trigger shot.

My husband and I had recently moved and were waiting for our new insurance to kick in during our cycle with Dr. Reichman, so we paid entirely out of pocket. Our costs were about $5500. This included our initial consultation and baseline ultrasound, required blood work for myself and my husband (Hep B/C, HIV, mumps, etc.), three monitoring ultrasounds, the IUI, two pregnancy blood tests, and five OB ultrasounds. Because we were paying out of pocket, Dr. Reichman charged us a reduced rate for everything outside of lab costs.

This is a highly professional organization. I would recommend this clinic to anyone in the area. They know what they doing. Trust their process. It works well. The wait time to see the doctor or have blood taken was very short. They were very responsive to questions and returned calls quickly.

Dr. Reichman was very caring through out the process, familiar with the specific facts of my case and my concerns, and willing and ready to answer all my questions.

I was very impressed by my nurse Hannah Giamo and all of the nursing staff. Everyone was very knowledgable, responsive, caring and kind.

Dr. Reichman is very knowledgeable and caring. He made sure he understood my husband and my concerns, outlined all the options, and guided us to choosing a strategy that best suited our needs. He is very on top of the latest developments in this field of medicine. I also liked that I saw him on each visit. He kept me informed and made the process as smooth as possible.

I recommend him without hesitation. Trust his advice and the process.

I learned to my surprise that I had a low egg reserve for my age. I would like to have multiple children and Dr. Reichman proposed doing IVF as soon as possible, genetically testing, and freezing the embryos. This proved to be a good option for me. I am pregnant now and have embryos stored as well. I am hopeful that I will get to have multiple children as I wanted. I took Follistem, Menupur and Ganirelux.

The monitoring hours were in the mornings. I went in and then headed to work. They were efficient and I never waited very long to be seen or to have blood taken. They have a nice waiting room and very friendly front desk staff.

Since the embryos were genetically tested, we only did a single embryo transfer.

Amanda runs the office very efficiently and compassionately. She makes sure that we are well informed and cared for every time we visited the clinic. Amanda and the clinic staff are the main reason the clinic runs so efficiently. Whether it is the appointment schedule or billing queries she ensures all our questions are answered promptly. Shannah and others in the clinic made every visit easy for us. They always greeted with smile and compassion and make the start of your day and IVF journey cheerful. Shannah remembers everyone's name and greets them in a personalized way making the connection very honest and authentic. We have rarely sat at the reception not knowing when our turn will come, overall a great experience right from Dr. Reichman to Hannah to Amanda and others

Right from the first time we met Dr. Reichman, he came across as a good and caring human being himself. He had our best interest in mind and devised a treatment plan to help achieve our goals. He has always been kind, compassionate and extremely well read which gives one tremendous confidence in his abilities.

Nurse and nursing staff were always available for any questions. We got prompt call backs for our daily monitoring results as well as any ad-hoc requests we had. Hannah always had smile on her face when we interacted with her, made us feel warm and welcome. Hannah's approach is very similar to Dr. Reichman in terms of compassion and care.

Dr. Reichman is the most extraordinary doctor and human being we have ever met. In a difficult journey of Infertility, you cannot find someone better than Dr. Reichman to be on your side. We wish we knew about him when we started this journey three years back. Right from the first time we met Dr. Reichman, he came across as a good and caring human being himself. He had our best interest in mind and devised a treatment plan to help achieve our goals. He has always been kind, compassionate and extremely well read which gives one tremendous confidence in his abilities. Compared to our experiences with other top doctors and fertility clinics in New York, Dr. Reichman has set a benchmark of care, treatment, knowledge, compassion and effectiveness which in our opinion is hard to beat. He is always two steps ahead in the treatment plan. He is very efficient and always gave us ample time during each visit. Our appointments were always on time and he was fully aware of our current and past medical data to make the most accurate decision on treatment plan. We highly recommend Dr. Reichman.

Start your journey with Dr. Reichman, it will only get better. He is direct in his communication which in our view is very helpful. Go to him!

Low dosage gonal F and Menopur followed by cetrotide with HCG and Pregnyl trigger.

Very efficient and smooth

comparable to other fertility clinics in new york

Being one of the best clinics, it's also one of the busiest. It's not the place to go if you need hand holding. Patients do not have any contact with the Embryology Lab which I found frustrating at times, but rest assured they are top notch. Dr. Palermo, the developer of ICSI is the Director of Andrology Lab here. Your doctor can also contact the lab for any specific questions you may have. Morning monitoring hours are extremely busy. I went between 6:30am-7:30am every morning to avoid waiting and I preferred the Tribeca location. You need to be extremely proactive with your insurance and coverage, especially if you need anything from the Pre-Certification team, who were not very responsive and often times dropped the ball.

Dr. Reichman always responded promptly to emails. There were many ups and downs during this process and he took time to have multiple sit downs to regroup and strategize throughout the process. I felt like he genuinely cared about our case.

Hannah was my primary nurse, but you will often have a different nurse call you each day. At first I was weary about speaking with a different nurse each day, but they are very well organized and able to answer all your questions.

I've been seeing Dr. Reichman for almost a year now. We did multiple rounds of Clomid and Letrozole, 2 egg retrievals and 1 embryo transfer. I am currently 12 weeks pregnant with my first child all thanks to Dr. Reichman! After trying Clomid and Letrozole for a few months, I was eager to begin IVF. I would like to point out that Dr Reichman did regard me as one of his more challenging IVF patients. I'm very petite with PCOS and a very high AMH so I had to be carefully monitored while stimming to avoid OHSS. I saw Dr. Reichman every day for nearly 2 weeks and he was very good about explaining what the different levels from blood tests meant and his strategy for setting the dosage of meds each night, even during the holidays. As all readers will be aware, this process is very involved and quite intense, and I definitely felt that Dr. Reichman was with me all of the way. I was 35 at the time of my first retrieval and I have to say I thought we would be done after a single egg retrieval since my AMH was so high. We were disappointed when the numbers quickly dwindled from eggs retrieved, to mature eggs, then fertilized, to the ones that made it to day 5. We were only able to get 1 PGS normal embryo from the 18 retrieved eggs. I knew Dr. Reichman was disappointed as well. He outlined what we might try differently if we chose to do another retrieval and was always optimistic he could give us the family we wanted. Not that I had any reason to doubt Dr Reichman, but more because of the time and money involved, I sought a second opinion. I met with another renowned clinic and the doctor there actually said my protocol was excellent and that she would not have done anything differently to Dr. Reichman. That doctor also said Weill Cornell is an excellent fertility center. That was very reassuring and we decided to do another retrieval with Dr. Reichman. I began Metformin (even though I don't have diabetes, some say it helps with egg quality in PCOS women), weekly acupuncture, and drastically changed my diet. I waited 4 months in between egg retrievals since it takes 90 days to recruit a primordial follicle. The second retrieval resulted in 2 euploid and 2 mosaic embryos. With 5 total frozen embryos, we decided to try a frozen embryo transfer. I am currently 12 weeks pregnant and looking forward to seeing Dr. Reichman for the next FET. The ART process is very complicated and there were so many things I had questions about. Dr. Reichman patiently helped me weigh the pros and cons of each decision and he went out of his way to treat me and put my mind at ease. We are very grateful to him.

The morning monitoring sessions go quickly. Do your research and have all your questions ready to go. Weill Cornell is one of the best and therefore one of the busiest clinics.

Few months of Clomid with trigger shot, then Letrozole with trigger shot (no IUI). Very low dose follistim, menopur, ganirelix for egg retrievals with all Lupron trigger to avoid OHSS. Letrozole to prep for FET followed by 10 weeks of progesterone suppositories.

Always go between 6:30-7:30am to avoid waiting and crowds. Front desk demeanor at the Tribeca location was always very pleasant. Tribeca office a much nicer experience than UES office.

Base price approximately $17,500 for an IVF cycle before cost of ICSI, embryo storage, anesthesiology fee, hospital fee and meds. There are also a series of tests needed prior to starting IVF that can add up. Total price varies for each patient and I would say ours was between $22,000-$30,000 for each round of IVF with an insurance ART life time max coverage of $10,000, which was of course maxed out within the first IVF round.

Others have said it and I agree. Cornell is a well oiled machine. I don't think I've had to wait more than 15 minutes to be seen for monitoring. I've found every doctor and nurse at Cornell to be genuinely kind and compassionate. Only once did I meet a doctor who seemed to be in a rush and that was Dr. Spandorfer. He wasn't unprofessional, but he seemed rushed during my ultrasound and didn't count or measure as many follicles as the other doctors. I have heard that the labs at Cornell are among the best. I have confidence in the labs, doctors and nurses at Cornell.. Cornell also does day 3 transfers and will transfer untested embryos. A friend that went to RMA said that they only transfer PGS tested embryos for women over 40. The main weakness is that everything is communicated over the phone whereas online or email would be more efficient and if you have a question for the nursing staff, you need to leave a message for them to call you back. Also, not sure other clinics do this, but the day after your trigger shot, you need to go to the York Avenue office for pre-op at 6:30am which is very early since my trigger shots were usually 11pm to 12pm.

Dr. Pfeifer is a kind and compassionate doctor.

The nursing staff at Cornell is excellent, particularly at the Tribeca office. You are in great hands.

Dr. Pfiefer is compassionate and a good communicator and she’s made adjustments to my protocols to improve my cycles. My obgyn recommended that I see Dr. Reichman or Dr. Pfeiffer for IVF. Dr. Reichman had better reviews but his assistant never called me back, so I ended up seeing Dr. Pfeifer. At 40 years old, my AMH was 2.29 and my FSH was 7.18, so we thought it would be ok to start with 3 IUI. My first two IUIs were unsuccessful. Dr. Pfeifer then found a small fibroid which she removed surgically. I thought this might be preventing me from getting pregnant so we tried 2 more IUIs which were unsuccessful before moving on to IVF. I’ve done 3 ivf cycles using the antagonist protocol, with adjustments and significant improvement with each cycle. For IVF#1, I had 5 follicles and 7 eggs retrieved, 7 mature, 5 fertilized, but there was fragmentation with most of the embryos. For IVF#2 (four months after IVF#1), I had 9 follicles and 7 eggs retrieved, 5 mature, 4 fertilized but the quality was much better – no fragmentation. For IVF#3 (seven months after IVF#1), I had 9 follicles and 16 eggs were retrieved, 13 mature, 12 fertilized and 6 made it to blastocyst. Two were transferred on day 5. Four were PGS tested: 2 normal and 1 mosaic. So far I have had a favorable experience with Dr. Pfeifer. At some point, I asked Dr. Pfeifer if DHEA supplementation could help and she was neutral on it, she said the research isn’t conclusive but it if I wanted to it wouldn’t hurt. I ended up doing my own research and taking DHEA as well as other supplements and my cycles have improved the longer I have been taking the supplements, although I'm not sure if it is the DHEA or something else. I am personally doing a lot to try to improve egg quality, as far as diet, exercise, supplements, acupuncture, yoga, meditation and herbs and educating myself about avoiding fertility harming toxins, and having emotional support of close friends (who have gone through IVF) and family. My second and third cycles were also a lot easier for me mentally since I had been through it before and knew what to expect and was much more adept at administering the medication.

Dr. Pfeifer is a great doctor and you are in good hands. My advice is more in general about IVF: Be sure to have a lot of support from friends and family. Take time to nurture yourself, and educate yourself about IVF so you know what questions to ask. Take the time to educate yourself on what diet, exercise, lifestyle and supplement changes you can implement to improve egg quality because there is a lot you can do. "The Infertility Cure" and "It Starts With The Egg" are good resources. The CCRM fertility supplement list is also helpful.

IVF#1: For my first round of IVF, my protocol was 325 to 400 iu Gonal-F for the first 5 days, then 250iu Gonal F, 150iu Menopur and 1 vial Cetrotide for the next 5 days, and HCG trigger on day 11. I only developed 5 follicles, mostly on my left side, which was not as good a response as we thought I’d have. However, Dr. Chung did my retrieval and we were able to get 7 eggs. All 7 eggs were mature, 5 fertilized and we transferred 4 embryos on day 3 by Dr. Schattman. Dr. Pfeifer said that most of the embryos had fragmentation, so it would be best to transfer them on day 3 since it didn’t look like they’d survive to day five. The four that were transferred were one 10 cell, and three 8 cell. One of them was grade 1.5 (which is the highest) and the other 3 were grade 3 which are “so-so” quality. The cycle failed and I spoke to Dr. Pfeifer about what we could do to improve the next cycle. She said it was remarkable that all of my eggs were mature, even though I had some follicles under size 10 and 11 and that she’d trigger me earlier next time, with a lead follicle between the size of 16 to 17, since my eggs appear to mature at a smaller follicle size. She said she also would have me start Menopur sooner. She explained that they aim to have 90% of the eggs be mature. She said this could help with the egg quality because if you are triggered too late the quality could decline. Later on in my research, I learned that there are studies proving that older women usually do much better when they are triggered at a smaller follicle size. IVF#2: I started taking micronized DHEA (25mg 3x a day) along with other supplements 2 to 3 months before my 2nd IVF. I also saw a fertility acupuncturist 1 to 2x a week who prescribed me custom herbs to take before and after ovulation, did yoga regularly, and I tried to cut down on exposure to bpa/phthalates/fragrances, the use of household plastics and plastic food containers/water bottles. I had a better response for IVF #2. My protocol was 300iu Gonal-F and 150iu Menopur daily, with Cetrotide added mid-cycle. When I triggered, I had 9 follicles (6 on the right and 3 on the left) – which was 4 more than I had with IVF #1. On the morning of my trigger my follicles on the right were size 17.8, 16.8, 16.6, 15, 14, 11.4, and on the left they were size 15.3, 14 and 14 and my E2 was 1944. However, only 7 eggs were retrieved by Dr. Kang. 5 of the eggs were mature and 4 fertilized but they didn’t have the fragmentation that embryos had during my first cycle. All four were transferred on Day 3 and Dr. Pfeifer did my transfer. We were hopeful, since all 4 embryos were graded 1.5, which is the highest grade, but I didn’t get pregnant. I met with Dr. Pfeifer and I asked her a lot of questions, such as should I be tested for natural killer cells, should we test for dna fragmentation, are there any other tests I should do and should I try an ultrasound guided transfer. She said she didn’t believe in natural killer cells and didn’t think any other tests were needed. She said she didn’t think an ultrasound guided transfer would make a difference, but we could do it next time. Also, she said she was happy with how my second cycle went and would keep my protocol the same, except she would have me use the Estrogen patch before my next cycle. IVF#3: I had my 3rd cycle of IVF two months after my second cycle and it was the best so far. The number of eggs retrieved doubled, and the number of fertilized eggs tripled compared to my previous cycle. My protocol was the same as IVF#2 except I took the estrogen patch 6 days before I started stims, changing it every other day. My AFC on day 1 of my period was 12, with 6 follicles on the left and 6 on the right. After 10 days of stims, the morning of my trigger I had 9 follicles, 4 on the right (size 16.3, 16.2, 14.5, 12.5) and 5 on the left (size 17.6, 16.8, 15.2, 17.5, 14.6). My lining was 11-12 and E2 was 2440. I was triggered with 5,000 HCG. Dr. Kligman did my retrieval and 16 eggs were retrieved, 13 were mature and 12 fertilized. This was amazing considering I never had more than 7 eggs retrieved or 4 eggs fertilize. Dr. Pfeifer was surprised with the results since my response was significantly better with virtually the same protocol. This was the first time I had enough eggs to push to day 5. On day 5, I transferred 2 blastocysts grade 3AB and 2.5AB via a fresh ultrasound guided transfer by Dr. Chung, with a visiting doctor from Taiwan present. On day 6, I was told I had four extra blasts which were PGS tested. Two weeks later I was told that 2 were normal and one was mosaic, and I had the option of knowing the genders. Unfortunately, the fresh transfer was not successful but I am feeling hopeful after my recent follow up appointment with Dr. Pfeifer. She said she expects a 60% success rate for each frozen embryo and would recommend a single embryo transfer, and she is encouraging me to do a number of tests that should improve my chances for success. I did a lot of research on questions to ask and tests to do after a failed IVF cycle. I asked if I should do a saline sonogram (to check for fibroids), hysteroscopy, endometrial biopsy/scratch, endometrial receptivity array, and be tested for an infection or blood clotting disorders. Dr. Pfeifer said I should do an saline sonogram (between day 6 and day 10 of my cycle) and depending on the results, we would or would not do a hysteroscopy. She discussed the endometrial biopsy/scratch and endometrial receptivity array and said that it could possibly aid in implantation. However, since I had irregular cycles in the past, I would need to do a mock cycle with estrogen and progesterone prior to doing this test, so I'd have to wait another month before I could do this test since I need to start taking the estrogen on day 2 of my period. She didn't think I was not getting pregnant because of an infection since my white blood cell counts are normal, but she agreed to have my blood tested for clotting issues. She was so pleased with my improvement in more than doubling the number of eggs retrieved and the significant improvement in egg quality that she took notes as I shared with her what I did differently. I told her that I continued with acupuncture and yoga which I strongly believe contributed to stress reduction, and that my husband also made positive changes in lifestyle and also took supplements which I found supportive. I shared with her a very long list of supplements that I had been taking after the first failed cycle, including 500mg of Ubiquinol, 100mg of Pycnogenol, 75mg of DHEA and several others. I stopped taking certain supplements during stims and in the two week wait. I continued to try to avoid exposure to bpa and other toxins. I started doing more cardio and meditation, changed my diet to include more protein and good fats and less carbs and less gluten when possible. I also incorporated more warm, cooked foods, especially vegetables and bone broths. I tried to keep my carb intake under 40% but it realistically ended up in the range of 35% to 45%. I cut out caffeine except for chocolate. I had dark chocolate frequently and I cut down on alcohol except for a few glasses of wine on a few occasions socially. Dr. Pfeifer believes that diet, exercise and sleep are all very important to one's overall health and she encouraged me to keep doing what I am doing.

A well oiled machine. At the Tribeca office, I usually arrived between 7:45am and 8:10am and I never waited more than 15 minutes. Usually it was 5 minutes or less. At the York Ave. office, I usually arrived around 7 to 7:30 and the wait was also minimal. I learned my lesson that if you arrive after 8am at York Ave. you may need to wait a long time.

4 rounds of IUI plus 2 rounds of IVF totaled $48,000. I paid about $13,000 out of pocket after $35,000 in fertility benefits/insurance was used ($25,000 for treatment and $10,000 for medication). Note that fertility medication for the first round of IVF cost approximately $11,500 with insurance covering the first $10,000. When you use insurance, the prices of the drugs are somehow inflated. For the second round of IVF, I purchased the same amount of fertility medication, but since I was paying out of pocket, it only cost around $4,000 instead of $11,500. I do not have the total costs for the third IVF cycle yet.

For a 40 year old woman, she would recommend transferring up to 4 embryos for a fresh day 3 transfer (untested), up to 2 on a day 5 fresh transfer (untested), and 1 PGS-tested normal embryo for a frozen transfer.

The clinic moves quickly. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's good if you need to get to work, but bad if you don't want to feel like a number. Always be prepared with your questions or you will be rushed out the door.

Dr. Goldschlag is a very kind doctor and will answer any questions, but you have to ask the questions or your time with him is limited and not filled with much information. At each appointment he scrolls through your files quickly, before speaking to you. It made me feel like he wasn't very familiar with my case. It would have made me feel more comfortable if he did that before entering the room or at least explained what he was looking at and why to make me feel more at ease.

There is one nurse who is not very compassionate and extremely rude on the phone. She talks quickly and becomes irritated if you ask questions for clarification. She acts as if you should know and understand everything she is spitting at you. My first interaction with her was very unpleasant and I hung up crying. I left a message for a call back, because you never get a live person, and she never called me back, which was extremely stressful with the time sensitive nature. I then had to wait another month, which was fine because she stressed me out so much, I felt completely overwhelmed and needed to take some time to process everything. Every interaction with her has been unpleasant and I have felt dismissed. I explained to her that I needed a specific pharmacy for my insurance to cover the medications and she claimed, "We never had that conversation." My prescription was called in to the specific pharmacy, after being called into a different one, so obviously we had a conversation about it. She was very curt on the phone, which makes a stressful time even more stressful. She was also very rude with me when I asked if my file mentioned to try and call after 3:00pm, because I'm a teacher. She made it clear that that's not always going to be possible. I said I understood that, I just wanted to know if it was in my file because I had asked the doctor's assistant to make a note of it. She is so quick to talk over you and doesn't hear what you're asking. She has taken an already stressful time in a woman's life and made it much more stressful, which is terrible. Just because she deals with this everyday and it is easy for her, she needs to understand that this is overwhelming and patients have questions. It was a very upsetting experience. That being said, Dr. Goldschlag's assistant, Shanise, is lovely and has gone above and beyond to make sure my questions get answered and that I feel comfortable with the process. I mentioned my interaction with the nurse and how upsetting it was to feel invisible and dismissed and she really stepped up and has helped with the process. She told me that I should always contact her directly and she will get my questions to the right place and get back to me with the necessary information. After our conversation I even got a call from the doctor, which I didn't even ask for. It remains stressful that no one answers the phones and you need to leave a message, but Shanise will get back to you within 2 hours.

Dr. Goldschlag is a very kind doctor. He is very quiet when he talks. That quietness and calmness definitely puts you at ease a bit, but with all of the machines running, it can be difficult to hear him at times. He doesn't explain much or provide you with much information other than, "You'll hear from a nurse later with instructions." If you have questions, he will answer them and give you the time you deserve, but sometimes on the spot it can be overwhelming and you're not necessarily sure what your questions are. I wish he was more thorough when in the room, so that questions didn't arise when you left because getting in contact with a nurse, or him, is difficult. You always get a machine.

Come prepared with questions to avoid playing phone tag. Also, have patience because you will never get a live person on the phone. You have to leave a message and receive a call back. If answering the phone at your job is difficult, this can feel very stressful.

My cycle hasn't started yet, but I have been prescribed: estrogen patches for before my period to suppress my ovaries Gonal menopur HCG Leuprolide z pack Cetrotide

Should be around $10,000

It is a very well run place, where you truly feel like you are in the right place to accomplish your goals. The atmosphere can be off-putting at times, and the nurses may not be exactly how you want them to be, but at the end of the day it is a place where I feel my dreams are possible despite our fertility challenges.

Dr. Goldschlag himself is extremely nice and sympathetic to the challenges one faces during this time. Although he is not particularly mushy or compassionate, he does come across as very very understanding and positive. My husband and i found his positive energy to be quite infectious. Even when he had to break bad news, i felt that he was holding my hand through it and validating my emotions. However- the overall feel of the Cornell Reproductive office is very much like a factory, causing you to feel like a number. Although the nurses are nice, sometimes they seem like robots and i felt like i was bothering them whenever i had a question. It often feels like you are just a box they are checking off their list. Dr Goldschlag makes you feel more human, but for the rest of it you tend to feel like a number.

I have a hard time with them. I always feel like i am bothering them, and when they call me with results or instructions I'm just another thing on their list to cross off. I wish I was given one person to reach out to from the very beginning (not just for those who are on IVF...anyone going through this needs help not just IVF patients) who would make me feel comfortable and free to ask any questions to.

He is so positive that it really causes you to become just as positive as well. Its not "if you get pregnant", he says "when you get pregnant". He is very calm and very honest. You can really tell and feel that he wants to hear what is on your mind and how you are coping. He takes the time to explain every thing about the process to you and calls back his patients. No matter how big the matter, he wants you to feel that you can reach out to him no matter what. The only negative is that he isn't overly friendly with his patients. Your relationship with him is strictly about your goal, with minimal small talk. He shows his sympathy as best he could and you can tell he is trying but he would not be described as a warm doctor.

Be prepared for the atmosphere of the office. You feel like a number in a fast paced factory and that s just the way its gonna be.

I was put on the estrogen patch to help my ovulation window be extended during the diagnostic tests and processes. There hasn't been much other treatment involved as we quickly learned my husband has male infertility and the only option for us would be IVF which isa journey we have not yet embarked on.

It is very expensive and insurances usually do not cover fertility associated treatments

I like the fact that the clinic has multiple locations so it makes it easy to go to the daily appointments. I like that there are many nursing stations to take bloodwork but also wish for a bit more privacy.

When I had one on one meetings with Dr. Pfiefer, she always made me feel like a human and not a number. She was attentive and up to date on what was going on with me. When I dealt with the nurses at time, I felt like a number.

For the most part, the nursing staff was good overall. It was nice that someone (not the main nurse) would call you back in a timely manner. There were a few times they did not call back or forgot to after some results but it wasn't during the IVF cycle. The only issues I really had was trying to have the nurse understand the prescriptions authorization process which was different than just sending it to a pharmacy, etc.

Dr. Pfeifer has a very direct approach to explaining things with good bedside manners. There were times where I felt she could do better in explaining the whole picture or long term impact of my treatments. For example, when she mentioned harvesting more eggs sooner rather than later, I didn't realize the long term impact and timing of all the IVF cycles

Be prepared with questions but also asking about the timing of each treatment plan.

1. Both IUI used Clomid and HCG shot - negative pregnancy results 2. IVF Cycle 1 & 2 use the same protocol except cycle 2 had 1 day less on hormones Gonal-F - Total 900IU - 4 pens: 450mg for 4/5 days then decrease as close to retreival Centrotide - 6 Kits Menopur - 10 vials Chorionix Gonad (HCG shot) 3. IVF Cycle 1 resulted in 2 frozen transfers (1 embryo at a time), both transfer took Progesterone vaginal inserts - both transfer resulted in negative pregnancy 4. IVF Cycle 2 was a Day 3 fresh transfer so took Progesterone oil. Transferred 3 embryos, pregnant with 2 and miscarried at 8 weeks

There was a set time for monitoring and bloodwork. You learn quickly what times to go in and to avoid due to "morning traffic". It was fine and the timing was ok that I got to work on time.

My out of pockets cost for 2017 was $14,366. Healthcare benefits was exhausted since last IVF. Medications ~$5,000 out of pocket IVF Fees ~10,000 out of pocket (last IVF I paid $5000 out of pocket as benefits were exhausted) PGS Fees ~2,000-5,000 (depending on number of embryos tested) 1st IVF, I paid for 7 embryos to be tested and did not have any tested on 2nd round Hospital Fees ~1,000 (paid twice for each egg retrieval Other Dr Visits/Lab Work ~2,000 out of pocket after insurance

Because I have never been pregnant before, my hormones levels and reserve was good, my doctor suggested to transfer 1 embryo at a time. Looking back, I would have transferred 2 (because that is all I had at the time). I ended doing a fresh transfer with 3 embryos in my 2nd IVF cycle.

Cornell is truly one of the best. They are efficient, they are friendly, they are professional and they get results. If you're looking for hand holding, this isn't the place to get it. The nursing staff is overwhelmed, so you have to be persistent. They don't use email, which can be really annoying if you have a quick question. I found the doctors to be cutting edge, thoughtful and very professional. I really appreciated that they don't take a one size fits all approach and tailored the protocol to me and my specific challenges. After seeing 2 other doctors at 2 other practices, Cornell was the only place where we ended up having success.

While Dr. Schattman has a ton of patients, he made a real effort to do my scans each morning, especially since we were from out of town. he answered all of my questions, even when rushed, and always called me back within 24 hours.

While I theoretically had a primary nurse, I spoke to someone different every other day. There was very little continuity in terms of my nurses, which was frustrating. If I left a message for a specific nurse, someone else would call me back. i felt like I had to stay on top of every detail b/c none of the nursing staff was consistent who I was dealing with.

Dr. Schattman, while very busy, was always responsive when we reached out to him--and had a very concrete plan in place for me within 20 minutes of us meeting. He tailored my protocol to me, instead of just doing the same thing he does with every patient, which I appreciated.

Come prepared with questions--appointments go really quickly and Dr. Schattman will be in and out super quickly. He's not going to take 20 minutes to chit chat with you. if you have questions, make sure to have them ready to go when you see him.

Monitoring appointments were surprisingly efficient--The earlier you arrive at Cornell, the faster you'll get through monitoring. Since we were cycling out of town, getting results from our DC clinic to NY seemed way more challenging than it should have been. But once we got to NY, everything ran pretty smoothly. I never had to wait more than 30 minutes or so in the morning, so getting to work on time was not an issue.

We paid out of pocket for this cycle--as we had maxed out our insurance allowance of 25K. The medication was around 5K plus another 13K for the IVF cycle (including monitoring, hospital fees, ICSI, embryo freezing). For our frozen transfer, we spent another 4K for the actual monitoring, medication plus an ERA which Dr. Schattman wanted us to do before the transfer.

Dr. Schattman allowed us to decide whether to transfer 1 vs. 2 embryos--he gave us the pros and cons and I appreciate that he gave us all the information we needed to make the decision.

Clinic is clean, up to date, and you are in and out in 10-15 min. Sometimes you have to go to there uptown office and they are just as fast. There is a nurse always available if you need to speak to one.

Dr Reichman has excellent bedside manners. He makes sure his patients are comfortable. He does not sugarcoat anything and gives you realistic outcomes.

Nursing staff was very helpful and always a phone call away. They always called you when you went in for monitoring that day.

Dr Reichman is always reachable via email which is great. He will answer you within 24-48 hours. He is compassionate and understanding. His approach to treatment is very straightforward and he explains everything step by step. He is a wonderful doctor

If you have any questions, even if you feel they are "stupid" questions, don't hesitate to ask. He will always answer. No question is stupid when dealing with infertility

We started with IUI first, On my second IUI cycle i was pregnant with multiples but miscarried 8 weeks later. The Dr was very hopeful that of we did more IUI's we might have another chance. I took clomid every cycle. Finally after the 6th cycle we decided the next step would be ivf. The Dr explained the entire process, medications and adjusted during the cycle if needed. Daily monitoring at the office was required to see how well i was progressing. I am currently in the 2ww. If the Dr doesn't reach you his nursing staff always do.

IUI was covered under insurance but ivf fresh cycle ranged from $10-12,000. Additionals would be icsi ($2,500) or assisted egg hatching ($1,800), also PGS testing varied ($3,000-8,000)

The strengths of this clinic are in organization, care, available hours, knowledgeable staff, respect of patients. It weaknesses are in not working to understand the root of the issue and also in not recognizing and recommending holistic treatment.

Dr. Kang was very caring and took time to explain every step to me and my husband. The only time I felt like a number was when she would ask if we had any questions and that's because it felt like she was ready to leave the room at that point and hurriedly answered our questions.

I talked and dealt with a few different nursing staff throughout my time with Dr. Kang and they were all great. Very kind, compassionate, and knowledgeable. Any time I had a question, they would get back to me that same day.

Dr. Kang is very knowledgeable and took time to go through each step and potential options with me and my husband. We could tell that she really cared about helping to make us parents. The only frustration was trying to talk with her about diet and supplements. She gave the impression that supplements and diet played no role in helping our chances of conceiving. I wish doctors would take a more holistic approach to treatment.

I would say to expect that Dr. Kang gets right to the point and will work with the patient to find the best course of treatment. But if the person is looking for her to seek the root of the infertility problem, Dr. Kang may not be the right choice.

Prior to working with Dr. Kang, we had worked with another reproductive endocrinologist who had us go through two rounds of IUI. Dr. Kang explained that we had the option of trying more IUIs or going straight to IVF. We decided to do more rounds of IUI and Dr. Kang suggested we use Clomid with a trigger shot. The first round didn't work. Dr. Kang noticed that I only produced one egg with Clomid so she wanted to switch over to a more aggressive prescription (the name escapes me now). My insurance rejected covering the prescription, though, so instead Dr. Kang increased the dose of Clomid. The second round of IUI worked and we learned we were pregnant. Unfortunately, my HCG levels were not doubling as they should; we learned that there were two blighted ovums. I miscarried at twelve weeks. Dr. Kang saw me getting pregnant as positive and decided to try another round of IUI. The third round didn't work. At this point, Dr. Kang said it was time to move on to IVF. Unfortunately, my insurance didn't cover IVF, but my husband's did. We had to wait until December 2017 to enroll in his insurance (this was around Sept of 2017). While we were waiting, we decided to continue with IUIs and we started another round. Right before we went in to do the procedure, we learned that my insurance wasn't going to cover the IUIs anymore so we ended covering the costs for it and unfortunately that round didn't work either. Since my insurance declined to cover any more rounds, we decided to keep trying on our own while we waited to join my husband's insurance. In December, my husband learned that his company was joining a new insurance provider and that they do not cover IVF at all. We were devastated. We don't have $15K so we're currently saving up and in the meantime trying on our own. Once we have the money saved, we'll get going with IVF but we're not sure it will be with Dr. Kang because I have just switched jobs and am now up in the Bronx -- a little tough to get down to Weill Cornell in NYC on a daily basis.

Most costs were covered by insurance so it was mostly the co-pay of $40 plus co-pay of medications which was around $15 for Clomid and $75 for the trigger shot. When my insurance didn't cover one of the IUI treatments, everything (sperm washing, IUI procedure, medications, co-pays, etc.) cost around $900.

Love having the Tribeca office available for most appointments but going to the UES location for weekend monitoring early in the morning and for the IUI was much less convenient. The UES office also doesn't really explain what you need to do and where you need to go for IUI - for example, sign in on 6th floor, then wait on 7th floor for husband's sample to be prepared, then carry it back down to 6th floor and check back in. That said, blood tests always seem to go quickly and waits are not long for AM monitoring.

While some of the nurses treated me like a number, Dr Pfeifer treated me like an individual. She was kind, straightforward, remembered my case,in most cases performed my sonograms and often called me with results (though not regular monitoring for IUI.)

Crystal and Rosie, Dr. Pfeifer's nurses are kind, responsive, and well-organized as is Hiral, her medical secretary. The nurses who called with my daily monitoring weren't as compassionate and I literally had to beg them to stay on the phone with me to answer a few basic questions about the timing of my first IUI.

Dr. Pfeifer was kind in how she explained my results and what we'd try next. After a few losses when trying naturally she seemed to be in my corner and wanted to see me pregnant. She didn't perform my IUI but saw me for my ultrasounds (except for weekend monitoring.)

She had me take 100 mgs of clomid on cycle days 4-8, trigger shot on day 12 and IUI on day 13. I will take progesterone suppositories day 17 until negative pregnancy test (or continue on progesterone if pregnant.) Currently waiting for the results.

My insurance covers most testing and the IUI. I've paid $30 copays for some visits and for some of the drugs. I think I also paid for the trigger shot.

CRM treats women like cattle. You are absolutely a number to them- not a person. It is the least patient centered practice I have ever come across. During my stims and monitoring I never once saw or spoke with the same tech, nurse or doc twice. Some of the docs looked so young I wasn't sure if they were med students. I was getting ready to offer to do my own ultrasound.... There was a range of nice and pleasant people, and then some who could barely be bothered to introduce themselves. Then you have to wonder, though measuring follicles is probably a fairly rote skill, there has to be some variance from person to person. If your actual doc is using these measurements and your bloodwork to make choices about your treatment and there's no consistency, it can have a negative impact. In other clinics there is usually 1-2 docs, maybe 3, doing the measuring and during teh rotation you eventually see your own. This was literally a different person every day. On two days I waited over 90 minutes for monitoring. There were literally no seats available in the waiting room. But My REAL beef is for how they handle pre- op and retrievals. On the day after you trigger, you have to show up at 6:30 in the morning with everyone who is being retrieved the next day. You sit at a conference table with everyone and one by one they take you back for bloodwork and to sign consents- again with whomever is on call. The once everyone has gone you are supposed to sit in a class and go over paperwork together. There is no concern from them if you’ve done this before and therefore don’t need to hear things you already know, and no effort made to separate the fresh from the frozen transfers- because you don’t actually need the same info for those 2 situations. They don’t care. I left the class but not before the nurse told me, “If you screw this up we’ll cancel you.” Nice. Then the actual day of retrieval, I was asked to show up at 7am. My trigger was 10PM so I know there’s no way they’re doing my procedure before 9AM. But they make you come early for their convenience and to keep the factory flowing. When you arrive you have to change into hospital pants, robe, gown etc and then sit in the waiting room with EVERYONE ELSE who is there for the same procedure- this includes the women as well as their partners, their parents, whomever they have brought. There is absolutely NO PRIVACY- which has got to be a HIPPA violation. After I got the IV put in I sat for another hour and waited for my turn. I literally heard the nurse at the desk say “ I have numbers 1-6 checked in.” They literally count you as a number. When it is your turn you go in with a group of 3 women. They seat you in another tiny waiting room where you have the option to ignore the people you’re sitting there with, or engage in conversation. Either way, it is a forced situation. The anesthesiologist comes in to go over your stuff in complete earshot of the other 2 people sitting there. Again, no privacy. And then you go back and have the procedure. You wake up in recovery and they as soon as you can sit up and talk they’re pushing you out to make room for the next. I was happy to get out of there quickly, but if you are someone how doesn’t do well with anesthesia, you gotta wonder how that would go. Again, Dr. Davis is a lovely person. The clinic is the pits. There are so many options in NYC why put up with this?

My issue is not with Dr. David but rather with CRM as a clinic. Dr. Davis was a lovely and kind human and seems like a great doc. I actually never saw him at all through my entire cycle except for the retrieval, which was just luck of the draw. But he was very responsive by phone- no email... CRM treats women like cattle. You are absolutely a number to them- not a person. It is the least patient centered practice I have ever come across. During my stims and monitoring I never once saw or spoke with the same tech, nurse or doc twice. Some of the docs looked so young I wasn't sure if they were med students. I was getting ready to offer to do my own ultrasound.... There was a range of nice and pleasant people, and then some who could barely be bothered to introduce themselves. Then you have to wonder, though measuring follicles is probably a fairly rote skill, there has to be some variance from person to person. If your actual doc is using these measurements and your bloodwork to make choices about your treatment and there's no consistency, it can have a negative impact. In other clinics there is usually 1-2 docs, maybe 3, doing the measuring and during teh rotation you eventually see your own. This was literally a different person every day. On two days I waited over 90 minutes for monitoring. There were literally no seats available in the waiting room. But My REAL beef is for how they handle pre- op and retrievals. On the day after you trigger, you have to show up at 6:30 in the morning with everyone who is being retrieved the next day. You sit at a conference table with everyone and one by one they take you back for bloodwork and to sign consents- again with whomever is on call. The once everyone has gone you are supposed to sit in a class and go over paperwork together. There is no concern from them if you’ve done this before and therefore don’t need to hear things you already know, and no effort made to separate the fresh from the frozen transfers- because you don’t actually need the same info for those 2 situations. They don’t care. I left the class but not before the nurse told me, “If you screw this up we’ll cancel you.” Nice. Then the actual day of retrieval, I was asked to show up at 7am. My trigger was 10PM so I know there’s no way they’re doing my procedure before 9AM. But they make you come early for their convenience and to keep the factory flowing. When you arrive you have to change into hospital pants, robe, gown etc and then sit in the waiting room with EVERYONE ELSE who is there for the same procedure- this includes the women as well as their partners, their parents, whomever they have brought. There is absolutely NO PRIVACY- which has got to be a HIPPA violation. After I got the IV put in I sat for another hour and waited for my turn. I literally heard the nurse at the desk say “ I have numbers 1-6 checked in.” They literally count you as a number. When it is your turn you go in with a group of 3 women. They seat you in another tiny waiting room where you have the option to ignore the people you’re sitting there with, or engage in conversation. Either way, it is a forced situation. The anesthesiologist comes in to go over your stuff in complete earshot of the other 2 people sitting there. Again, no privacy. And then you go back and have the procedure. You wake up in recovery and they as soon as you can sit up and talk they’re pushing you out to make room for the next. I was happy to get out of there quickly, but if you are someone how doesn’t do well with anesthesia, you gotta wonder how that would go. Again, Dr. Davis is a lovely person. The clinic is the pits. There are so many options in NYC why put up with this?

I never saw the same nurse tiwce so I can't really comment. I find it aggravating that they ONLY do instructions over the phone and don't haev any online portal or email access which literally every other clinic does now. They are stuck in the 1980s. you can pay cash to have a nurse come to your home and do the trigger shot if that is something you need help with. And Dr. Davis's secrretary, Tramaine, is AMAZING! She is so nice, so organized and so responsive. Can't say enough good things about her.

I met with Dr. Davis once in person and had a very nice conversation with him. He understood my concerns and was very willing to let me freeze up front, which I pushed to do, prior to a fresh transfer. They wil freeze on Day 1 which is different from a lot of places. He was open to me saying I wanted to do a low dose cycle and responsive by phone when I had questions.

He's lovely- the clinic is horrible. The pros of Dr. Davis are outweighed by the cons of the actual clinic.

i was given 5 days of clomid at 100mg and then 75 meno adn 150 follistim. I actually only took 50 of the clomid instead of 100 becuase I had just done 2 cycles elsewhere with 50 and 25 clomid and had responded really well. So I jsut did the same thing- but didn't mention it. I knew it would be fine and my eggs retrieved were exactly the same as they have been for the past 2 cycles.

See above

it was around 15K for a freeze up front cycle. I paid out of pocket. Although because it was relatively low dose, the meds were much less expensive.

NA- freezing

The clinic handles a large amount of people. I think they do a good job of trying to get everyone in ASAP but of course there are delays and hiccups. Overall i am very happy with my experience. I think the biggest thing to take away is making sure you are ready to manage and handle a lot of questions and express any concerns.

He understood this was my first Ivf cycle and really tried to explain things as clearly as possible. One day I had a breakdown and he took time to really address my worries and stress.

Nice, pleasant. Promptly called. But again have to be your own advocate.

He addressed what we needed to do to get pregnant which is exactly what I wanted to hear. He knew what would be the best course and i trusted him immensely. We chose the path set out for us and i could not be happier. I plan to return to Dr. For our two frozen embryos that made it to blastocyst.

You have to be your own best advocate. Doctors have a lot of patients, i put myself in charge and made sure everything happening i was comfortable with. He is wonderful and truly tries to help you achieve your goal of pregnancy.

I have DOR (mild) and my husband and a motility issue. We chose to do IVF given I am 31 and wanted to ensure we could have more children. The dr. Told us our best chances were Ivf with ICSI which is what we we did.

I felt like it was a well oiled machine, I chose to go early and never really had to wait more that 15-20min at the most.

I paid out of pocket for medication with my insurance coverage and the Ivf was covered. I did have some additional fees associated that had to be paid.

I

Very organized - minimal wait times. I never had to wait more than 15 mins, most times I was seen right away. Though you would see a lot of people but clinic really honors the appointment schedule. Everyone from nurses to staff at the front desk have a very personable attitude

Dr. Reichman always explained me everything very patiently, was quite accommodating of my schedule and made sure to give me a personalized treatment. He somehow always remembered every conversation we had over email or in person and it never needed any reminding from my side

Always called the same day with test results and explained them very well, very proactive with appointment scheduling for the next visit

Dr. David Reichman is the best doctor I ever had, very knowledgeable and skilled. I got success in my first IUI with him. The whole process seemed so much easier than I expected - he was very accommodating of my schedule, on my first visit itself he proactively collected my medical history and always contextualized our conversation in light of every detail I mentioned over email or in person, no extra medicines, no extra blood tests, it was all so perfectly timed that things worked out the first time itself! I can't be more thankful to him.

Trust Dr. Reichman! The process may itself seem daunting so adding an extra layer of worry wouldn't help.

When I first met Dr. Reichman, I explained him that my travel schedule may not allow me more than 3 trials and I was fine with going IVF route the first time itself, but Dr. Reichman after carefully reviewing my medical history advised me to try IUI. He clearly explained me the probability of success and time commitment it would require. Before the actual IUI procedure he timed the trigger shot very well such that it worked as per his suggested date and time of the procedure

Strengths — Huge number of cycles and success. Weaknesses — So many cycles that you really have to be on top of things and watch everything yourself. Closely. There were several near misses. Nurses and at times, even other doctors during monitoring try to apply protocol themselves. You have to be vigilant to ensure the plan that your physician set forth is being followed.

Dr Elias was extremely attentive and answered all my questions intelligently. He did it ignore, belittle, or minimize any concerns. I think he’s intelligent and caring.

Lisa Artusa is amazing. So sweet and lovely. Just makes you feel special and never a burden. Reminder of nurses were always nice.

Strengths — answers emails extremely quickly. Objectively assessed my results even when he wasn’t on call — another physician personally mentioned that he called for more information about my ultrasound during morning monitoring one weekend. Weaknesses — clinic can be disorganized and doctors can fall victim to nurses basically trying to apply protocols that don’t always fit — they can’t catch every issue on every patient and still be a functional member of society.

Nothing specific.

He uses an estrogen patch prior to he initiation of a cycle in an attempt to keep eggs growing at a similar rate and retrieve more mature eggs. He did a double trigger (lupron/ovidrel or lupron/bHCG) and also at times extends your trigger-retrieval interval to 37 hours based on recent evidence that 1-2 hours of extra in vivo time will better mature eggs.

Morning monitoring takes a long time. I would get there sometimes 45 minutes prior to opening (6:30) so that I could be first and make it to work by 7:30. If you arrive after 6:30 AM, you might be there for an hour.

Medications cost a lot. Only $1800 was covered by my insurance. The balance of the treatment was covered and I paid co pays and some residual costs.

I transferred 2 embryos. I don’t know what his policy is for other patients.