Brooke Hodes-Wertz

Doctor Brooke is warm and i believe a great physician but i think the NYU set up is not conducive to spending time with any of their patients. Communication is hard since you have to go through a portal or an email. Answers most always come via a nurse and that nurse will be a different person every time. This combined with perhaps a complex case, makes a recipe for a lot of confusion.

Do tons of research and have a lot of questions prepared. I would suggest for anybody to visit an endocrinologist first prior to starting any fertility treatments. I would also suggest to ask if there will be a lead nurse on your case.

During the 3 cycles, only once was the treatment adjusted when i had poor response to the fertility drugs. i showed better results then. Not further tests were done to understand if there was another condition other than the obvious factor of age. Later, found by another doctor on the first visit, it was discovered i had a benign tumor on the pituitary gland that was causing lots of issues. this was discovered by simply checking my prolactin levels. I am told by other doctors this should have been checked.

the 3 rounds went pretty much the same. Gonal F + Menapure was always on the list with the same dosage indicated. the one time i showed better results was when Lupron was added for few days.

During your cycles at NYU you will see a slew amount of nurses. Most of them are nice and warm but the issue here is that there is nobody really following your case, nor they have the time. for example: 1) i asked via email what to do with my leftover lupron? and why i had an unused medication called vivelle and what were those for? to that i was left a voicemail that said lupron expires in 30 days. 2) i was told once by one nurse during a cycle, i am confused by your protocol not sure what to do. 3) during the beginning of one of my IVF i realized i had a lot of medication left over from cancelled cycle. i requested that the nurse only provides a prescription for what i needed. but again since nobody is really following your chart she said she could not do that and would leave me on my voice mail the amount she requested to the pharmacy so i can cross reference with my inventory. Then, i called the pharmacy myself to reduce the count of each medication. it is important to call out that fertility medications like Menapure or Gonal can quickly add up to a bill of 5k to 10k depending of the amount. so for me it was really stressful and careless to have gone about it in this manner.

NYU fertility is a renowned for their in-vitro success rates. However, from the computer check in, to the check ups done by whichever doctor in practice available that day, you will begin to understand that if your case is slightly out of the norm and needs a bit of one on one, that you must go to another clinic.

I felt like she had hesitation when I asked if any of the fertility treatments were linked to causing cancer. Once she told me no, other times she would say "well you wouldn't want to do 10 cycles"! And it left me feeling very uneasy and unclear. I also somewhat felt like a lot of her recommendations were a shot in the dark guess rather than specific to me and my needs. She also hasn't followed up with me in months. I feel like she only wants to push IVF because it's most profitable for her. Another reason why I felt like just a number in all honesty.

Ask questions and demand clear answers. She has a way of talking in circles. She wants to tell you what she wants to tell you. Not necessarily what you want to know.

I feel like a number because she doesn't call me to check in and see how I'm doing. She's very quick and always feels like she's in a hurry during appointments.

From day one she wanted me to do IVF. However after my persistence, She put me on clomid for an IUI and it sped up my cycle too quickly and I missed the iui opportunity (because I ovulated on like day 5!). So we lost 2 months because of this. Then she switched me to letrizole which made my cycle a normal 30 days but still no luck with the iui.

There are many nurses and they all seem somewhat confused and overworked. The issue is their phone system. You can't call anyone directly. You have to always leave a message and they call you back. I really dislike this.

Biggest issue is you can't get anyone on the phone. They have an answering service where you leave a message and they call you back at their leisure and what's convenient for them. I'm sorry, but for the money they make they could hire an actual receptionist that works for the doctor.

Co pay only at this time. Insurance covered everything else.

She is pushy for just implanting 1 embryo at a time. She herself has twins (from doing IVF) so I can only assume it's because she wants the potential for more money. However I was told I would have final say and could implant a max of 2 embryos.

I liked her because she doesn't show any emotion. She tell you what she thinks right directly. But I felt that she didn't give me numerous options. "It's only one thing that you should do is this" something like that. She is not bad person, she is good person but not friendly person. She tells me what's happening and what's going to happen to me without comfort. If you want just get to the business without emotional support then she is right for you.

I believe she is experienced doctor with knowledge. But you have to ask her. She is not gonna tell you 1 to 10. I think you should write down what you want to ask before visit. She is not gonna tell you extra info unless you ask.

I don't say it's her fault. But Because of big fertility center like NYU, I didn't feel connected with doctor. She pretty much gives you straightforward answer. There is no hesitation.

She told me I might have PCOS. But not quite sure. I've tried letrozole 2.5mg for first IUI. Then increased dose to 7.5mg at 4th IUI till 6th. I 've tried clomid one time. I have unexplained infertility. So her strategy was normal treatment that increase dose of letrozole.

There were nurses that I see at visit. But I don't know them well and they don't know me well either. Most of them are well trained nurses. But because there are so many patients. Again they are doing their best. But you feel like you are on assembly line.

There is many nurses and workers at facility. They won't remember you. They do their part. So you just show and tell your problems and they will try to fix them. There is no comfort or friendly atmosphere. If you don't want close relationship with doctor or nurse and just focusing on issues, this clinic is the best for you.

It's NYU. I think it was expensive. But most of insurance will cover. Website of NYU says The self-pay fee for an initial consultation with physician is approximately $500. The cost of an IVF cycle using fresh eggs, without genetic testing, starts at $12,650.

I was not there yet. But I think she would transfer one or two embryos. She didn't want me to have multiple babies.

Dr. Hodes was very honest on our first meeting. I was expecting her to turn me down with my numbers but she explained age is the underlying factor and we still had a chance. She did express that we were quickly running out of time and needed to jump straight to IVF. I was not immediately made aware that I should try and bank eggs.... I found this out at a later appointment. To which she also said I’d probably need a few cycles until we were successful. She gave honest expectations but was never hard about it. I feel she truly cares for the success of my cycle and was excited when we started. I was lucky to see her for all of my week day appointments and she even did my egg retrieval. After receiving the results from genetic testing I requested a call with her in which I heard back in 2 hours. She assured me I can set up a call whenever I need to answer any questions.

Ask as many questions as you’d like. She will answer them all. But also do some research on your own so you have questions to ask. She is the expert, use her !

The entire process of IVF has to be somewhat assembly line like or it would never work with the amount of patients. NYU made me feel like a person to the best of their ability. The west side is a smaller office. Dr. Hodes secretary always answered my emails in a timely fashion. She knew who I was everytime I walked in. All the of the nurses I dealt with were genuially happy to see my cycle progressing well.

150 menupur 300 gonal Ovidrel to suppress Lupron trigger shot (2 to trigger) Everyday this was the protocol there was no adjustments. Produced 8 follicles, 5 mature. Fantastic results for someone with amh of .008

The nursing staff is very knowledgeable when calling with questions. The nurses line is an answering service, you leave a message and they get back to you same day. They are friendly when coming in for appointments. On the day of retrieval everyone was very positive. It gave a good feeling.

Make sure you educate yourself. The more you know the more you can ask and understand what you can be doing to help in anyway. Google can be scary but it can also can be used to educate and ask. The lab closes twice a year end of July and beginning of December. This was really upsetting as no one told me this and I had my consult beginning of July. I found out when the coordinator called to schedule tests and classes...I have short cycles and missed two cycles due to the closure. Between end of August and December is only 4 cycles. For someone with “not a lot of time” this was devastating. But you have to learn to just roll with it- ivf is a long hard journey, any thing can get thrown off any day.

Covered by insurance. Out of pocket $3,600 PGS testing

Dr. Hodes suggested we do pgs testing due to high FSH (when first tested 16 but then dropped) she said it was the best option for us since we were running out of time. Since all embryos will be PGS tested, NYU supports single embryo transfer.

Dr. Hodes-Wertz is very kind and patient. She is also very smart and professional. This balance is very comforting as a patient, especially when dealing with a sensitivity of fertility. Dr. Hodes-Wertz took the time to call me on a couple occasions when she needed to provide unpleasant diagnosis and spent the time to answer my questions on the phone and in person in follow up appointments. She never made me feel judged for asking many questions about the diagnosis and treatment. I felt comfortable moving forward with a Salpingectomy because she made me feel comfortable and confident about the surgery and outcome. After getting pregnant from my first cycle of IVF and later experiencing a Pprom, Dr. Hodes-Wertz provided treatment that my OB did not offer such as an Endometrial Biopsy. I am currently in my second IVF cycle with Dr. Hodes-Wertz and I have a very hopeful outlook on a successful pregnancy due to her care.

Don't be afraid to ask her any questions. She is very patient and kind. She will provide straightforward diagnosis, but she is very kind, professional and confident in all of her treatments.

Dr Hodes-Wertz knows how to balance giving blunt diagnosis with warm bedside manner. She has never rushed me and has always spent time to listen to my concerns. I did not feel judged for any of my questions. Dr. Hodes-Wertz is both professional, talented, confident in her practice and kind.

Dr. Hodes-Wertz found that I had a blocked tube and suggested a Salpingectomy in order to avoid complications with getting pregnant. She performed the surgery and I recovered so quickly that I was able to be up and about the next day. She also suggested genetic and PGS testing, which I carried through with and gave me peace of mind when I got pregnant and also when I had a PProm because I could rule out genetic factors from being the cause.

The nursing staff is extraordinary at the NYU langone practice. They would always provide clear instructions about my medication and injections. I always received a return phone call, if I had questions. They were so kind during my morning monitoring. I have been spoiled by their treatment!

After your initial consultation with your Doctor, you may see multiple other Doctors in the practice during your follow up monitoring visits, egg retrieval and embryo transfers. I felt comfortable with this practice since the visits are generally very quick.

I was happy with the monitoring appointments as they were from 7am to 9am and easy and quick to get to before work.

Dr. Hodes-Wertz's approach to recommend both PGS and single embryo transfer made me feel safe and confident in my pregnancy.

Dr. Hodes has an excellent bed side manner because she replies promptly, listens fully to concerns and takes the time to explain her answers. She never seemed overly worried and was honest and transparent about things like the risk of engaging in exercise throughout the process. I don't think Dr. Hodes could have done anything better at all really. I recommend my friends to her. On the doctors, maybe what specifically made her bedside manner so good. How did she adjust the protocol from the first to the second treatment. Did she air on the side of conservatism or do you think she was pretty aggressive. Anything she could do differently that would make her better.

Utilize the west side clinic.

In my first cycle, I was on the cusp of having retrieval a day sooner or later. Dr. Hodes opted for later and thus 3 of the 20 eggs I got were "over baked"; however, 3 were still under baked. In the second cycle, I was ready for retrieval two days sooner than the first, so I got less hormones and a better result of freeing 18 eggs out of 23 retrieved. I am not sure if my body just produced better the second time, or Dr. Hodes used her learnings from the first time to make the second time more efficient.

The nurses as well are very nice and knowledgable. They are friendly, yet do there best to get you in and out as quickly as possible. They definitely have their process down to a T.

NYU is an egg freezing machine that kinda feels like a MedSpa.There, I did not always see my doctor for ultrasounds throughout the process, but whoever was on staff, and all of the doctors I had were very nice and talked me through what they were seeing on my ultrasound as well as how much longer they thought I had in the process...I liked the West Side location for blood and ultrasound much better because there was never any wait like there can be on the East and you can go right before 9am (not so early as the East side) and be out by 9:15am. I found it more efficient, faster and easier for me since I live on the West side.

I only saw Dr. Hodes-Wertz 3 times during my treatment, but found her to be very informative with good bedside manner. After our first meeting with her we felt very confident that she knew what she was doing and we were in good hands.

Be prepared to work with her team more than her.

I was seen in 2 different offices. The smaller west side office on W 52nd Street was wonderful. The team is small and very friendly. When I called or came in to the office they knew exactly who I was. I also had to go to the main NYU Fertility center on 1st Ave for blood work and ultrasounds. At the main facility I was just a number. They are incredibly efficient and move people through quickly, but it means that each time I saw different people and to them I was just a name on a piece of paper.

I came to Dr. Hodes-Wertz with PCOS. I was not ovulating and my parter had sub-optimal sperm. I was put on a dosage of Letrozole. The first dosage wasn't enough, but an increased dosage got me ovulating. We were able to use a washed sample of my partner's sperm to do IUI. The whole process was very quick and efficient - only 3.5 weeks from my first visit with Dr. Hodes until the IUI. The IUI was successful and I am now 7 weeks pregnant with twins!

The NYU Fertility Center nursing staff is amazing. After each visit I received a follow up call within 24 hours with test results and instructions on next steps. They were all very warm, informative, and efficient over the phone. I talked to nurses more regularly than seeing them.

They are incredibly efficient and very good at communicating. Even though there are a lot of appointments (bloodwork, ultrasounds, etc.) they get you in and out quickly and you get your results in a very timely manner. You might feel like a number at times, but they are efficient and they successfully got me pregnant.

Dr. Hodes-Wertz accepted my insurance so I had minimal out of pocket costs. Most of my co-pays were for bloodwork and tests.

Dr. Hodes was by my side during the lowest point of my life, and I don't know how I would have gotten through that time without her. She was honest with the chances of success, but she never wavered in her commitment to my case. I was not an "easy" case and the odds for success were not in my favor, but I felt safe and cared for in Dr. Hodes' care. She always took the time to explain things to me and answer all of my questions.

I would caution prospective patients not to be turned off my the fact tha tDr. Hodes is not as I experienced as some of the other REs at NYU. It is true that she has not been practicing for decades, but what she lacks in experience, she makes up for in knowledge, compassion, and commitment to her patients. I never questioned that I was in extremely capable hands.

Dr. Hodes had to delivery very bad news to me, but she did so in the kindest, most professional manner. Despite the bad news and possibly poor prognosis, she came up with a treatment plan that accounted for my unique circumstances. Throughout the course of my treatment, Dr. Hodes continued to communicate with me throughout the course of my treatment. After our first IVF cycle failed, she took the time to speak with us about what happened and how we would adjust our plan for the next cycle. I felt like she truly cared about me as a person.

Diagnosis: diminished ovarian reserve plus both tubes removed 1st cycle: Agonist (300 Gonal F, 150 Menopur + Cetrotide) - 7 eggs retrieved, 2 mature, 0 fertilized 2nd cycle: Agonist (300 Gonal F, 300 Menopur+ Clomid + Cetrotide) + ICSI - 5 eggs retrieved, 4 mature, 3 fertilized, 2 transferred on day 5 - resulted in singleton pregnancy

I did not really get to know any one nurse particularly well. NYU is a large practice so there are many nurses on staff. I communicated with many nurses, and I found just about all of them to be compassionate and knowledgeable.

NYU is a large clinic, and I know that many people feel like they're just a number. My attitude is the clinic is large for a reason - it's one of the best clinics in the area, perhaps the country. I typically visited the 52nd St location, which is much smaller, and I was able to get to know the staff there. When I visited the main location on 1st Ave, it was definitely busy, but it's run like a well-oiled machine.

Insurance covered almost everything for me (most of medication cost plus $25K lifetime max for treatment). I think a single IVF cycle runs about $12,500 (plus additional costs - e.g., ICSI, biopsy for PGS).

She's the right doctor for me. She's just the right mix of facts and optimism. I didn't see her often, though, and sometimes I didn't know what the next step in the process was. (Though in her defense things didn't go according to plan).

Be proactive. If you want to see her or talk to her, make the appointment. If you have questions, ask.

She's very straight forward. My situation wasn't great but she wasn't overly apologetic about it - she told me the facts and gave me a plan. It helped keep me hopeful and not focused on my bad stats.

We did 3 rounds of IUI with clomid that were unsuccessful. Then we moved on the IVF with Follistim, Cetrotide, Menapur, and Ovudrel. With our AMH and stats, we were expected to produce 0-1 embryos per cycle. We got 5, and 3 were normal post PGS. So we only had to do one round.

I liked the nurses who did my monitoring. They were great. The nurses during and after egg retrieval were horrible.

Ugly, inconvenient offices. Billing is on top of things when they want your money but not so much when you have questions or need a refund. The monitoring works like clockwork.

Pretty efficient. No complaints except that all the monitoring is annoying.

I have excellent insurance so all we paid for was the PGS testing and the cost to biopsy in addition to th cryo fees to freeze the blastocysts

Haven't done that yet. But we'll only do 1.

She is very knowledgeable, adjusted my treatments when one is not working, and honest with the results and prognosis. When I got results that I didn't want to see, she is compassionate, warm and has suggestions for the next round.

Trust her clinical judgment and expertise.

She is honest and compassionate. She returns calls or have her secretary call when busy.

The first IVF was antagonist protocol good for older women. She used minimum amount of medications. The second IVF was also antagonist with increased medications to increase the amount of eggs. However, I had the same results. The third IVF was microdose lupron and had increased amount of eggs and embryos. I chose to do PGS, but sadly, all embryos were abnormal.

The clinic is very busy, but all the nurses handled their jobs well. All are very competent. A particular nurse, Imelda, is very kind, compassionate and caring.

The clinic can feel like a factory and you're just a number.

Monitoring is 7-9 am. I go early so I'm in and out in 20 minutes.

Everything was covered by my insurance except PGS.

She prefers eSET but I never reached transfer so it was never discussed in detail.

Dr Hodes was completely candid from the get go but very confident of a positive outcome. She did everything necessary to prepare me for transfer and adjusted the course if things weren't working, always communicating why and what she was trying to achieve. I felt like I was her only patient!

Give her a chance. She is probably more junior than some of the other doctors within NYU but is very nurturing, honest and ultimately skilled in what she does.

Every step of the way and even now that I am under the care of an OB, Dr Hodes and her nurse Natalie continue to support me. They are are excited as we are at the outcome of our procedure and we always available during treatments and treated us with great respect and honesty.

Natalie is warm, friendly, a great communicator and very supportive. She always took the time to stop by and say hi when she same I had checked in for blood draws which was completely unnecessary but showed how dedicated she is to her patients. All directions were clear and she helped with pharmacies when prescriptions were delayed. I couldn't have asked for a better nurse.

She came recommended by friends and I would certainly recommend her - she's professional and treats patients accordingly. She was available when needed and her staff are great also. she explained things well in a very confusing field.

Do some reading ahead of time and have a list of questions ready. You get overwhelmed once your in there with the doctor

She is very friendly and has a caring manner - her nurses are excellent

Its clean and efficient - reception staff are great and they make you feel comfortable

It was all out of pocket

She was very sweet and caring. When I had a miscarriage, she called to find out how I was feeling. She was very responsive when I reached out to her and very excited with my positive pregnancy test.

You do feel a bit like a number in a factory. However, I wonder if this may be true for every fertility clinic. When I wanted personal attention, I asked for it and got it.

Around $500 for ovulation induction. IVF is likely to cost a whole lot more though