Arthur Sagoskin (retired)

SGF definitely has a lot of experience treating infertility, as evidenced from the always crowded waiting rooms at the clinic. And while your treatment plan may be personalized, you shouldn't expect to get a lot of personal attention, as you see and communicate with different doctors and nurses during and between each appointment. Have patience and ask for payment receipts as their front desk seems to be switching between payment and scheduling systems. Don't feel pressured to pay your account balance when you check out before receiving an itemized bill -- I was asked to do this several times and got annoyed not knowing what treatments/tests I was being asked to pay for. Despite these shortcomings, I got the result I wanted and am now 10 weeks pregnant, and I know other women who have also had successful pregnancies as a result of treatment at SGF.

Great care! Doctors are sympathetic and sensitive and nurses are skilled and great at managing patient concerns and questions. I have felt supported at each stage of the process by our clinic. I have enjoyed the professionalism and overall great atmosphere of my visits. It’s a busy place, which can create stress and long waits for patients.

Feels a little bit like a number. Different nurses, ultrasound technicians, and doctors every day. Was never given a way to contact doctor directly. However, they were relatively efficient and had their procedures down cold. Embryo lab world class.

Shady Grove is excellent in caring for their patients. The appointments are quick, but allow plenty of time to ask questions or concerns. My only issue would be the delay the Financial department had in receiving the Treatment referral from our insurance. It took me coordinating between my insurance and the finance department for the referral to come through and it was too late to cover the treatment we were receiving. We had to pay out of pocket for the first IUI.

The clinic for the most part is ok. It’s clean, they have convenient appointment availability, and you are in an out. I would say it feels kind of like an assembly line with ladies lining up back to back. It’s not a warm feeling and the vibe feeling more like a commercial business than a doctors office.

You do not see the doctor enough. For as much as these procedures cost, you'd think you'd see your doctor at least once during your monitoring. But you don't. You see other doctors who someones come in to help you understand your monitoring. The billing department is literally impossible to deal with. It doesn't matter if you contract says specifically what they will and won't cover based on your fee, if they have another list (a list you haven't been provided) that says your fee doesn't cover a particular service - even if that service seems completely logical to the IVF process (not something special), you will be charged extra. That said, their shared risk program is pretty amazing if you think you have a chance of not getting pregnant on your first try. Keep in mind, though, that the shared risk program does not cover the injection class (even though it is not stated in the contract that it is not covered, and since it is held at the clinic by clinic staff, should logically be covered by the shared risk program). Also, meeting with your doctor after a failed IVF cycle under the shared risk program to discuss next steps (also seems like a necessary visit that should logically be included in the cost) is also NOT covered in the shared risk program. So basically, you pay your $20,000+ and still have to pay extra to see your doctor throughout your failed attempts. That's super annoying. A strength, though, is that they do have very good medication specialists to figure out your medication coverage through insurance. My first fresh cycle with Shady Grove was with a different health insurance, so it wasn't covered. However, my insurance changed and they have been appealing my insurance denials, and winning! So, if I need to go through another fresh cycle, I will probably have much smaller payments for medication. Fingers crossed. Their care coordinators are great and incredibly responsive.

We have enjoyed Shady Grove Rockville. The offices are beautiful. The desk staff are always so friendly and kind. The nurses who take blood have also been very gentle and kind. The Dr who did both of my IUIs was amazing and so friendly.

Strengths: friendly staff, quick response times, great monitoring appointment times, usually minimal wait. Financial Counselors responsive. Weaknesses: Sometimes it feels like a factory, nurses and doctors lack empathy and need to think before they speak. Sensitivity training/refresher would be great for everyone. Recently added many more doctors and nurses and feels less personal, chaotic at times. What a new patient should know: Be realistic and take off the rose colored glasses. Prepare for failure. IVF is not always the answer, sometimes it doesn't work even after multiple attempts with seemingly great outcomes. Advocate for yourself, do your research, question everything, demand respect. Ask for detailed description of an egg retrieval, from talking to anesthesiologist in triage, to walking into operating room and what and who to expect to see. Take all of your pain meds after retrieval, even if you don't think you need them (you will). PGS test and only transfer normals (don't set yourself up for failure and heartbreak if you don't have to).

Good reputation. Many locations. Open every day. Helpful financial counselors. Feel like a number at times tho due to volume of patients. Waiting room always very full.

Great technology, environment and flexibility in scheduling. Cold, distant attitudes to patients. You will be instructed well but you need to follow up and check in - some of the nurses do not return calls or messages very quickly and need to be chased after. Doctors should also be more available to patients and not just be present 5% of the time.