Clarisa Gracia
University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care
Available Lines of Communication
Nurse email
Direct line to nurse
Doctor personal cell phone
Medical SchoolSUNY
ResidencyU. of Pennsylvania
FellowshipU. of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia - Market
3701 Market St.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
800-789-7366
Radnor
250 King of Prussia Road
Radnor, PA 19087
800-789-7366
4 assessments
9
9
Age
30 - 35
Treated
2014 - 2019
Success with this Doc
Yes
Treatment
3 IVF
Diagnosis
Endometriosis, Tubal Blockage, Uterine Fibroids
9
9
She [Dr. Gracia] is a great RE and has always made me feel that she cared about my treatment and wanted me to have a baby. Be educated and direct about what you would like to try and she is often receptive...For my first cycle an agonist protocol was used. I produced a lot of eggs but only had 1 left on day 5 to transfer. For my next 2 cycles antagonist protocols with human growth hormone (both freeze all and then frozen embryo transfers) were used and these were more successful (4 embryos and then 3 embryos to freeze).
My first cycle [at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care] was about $10,500. My second cycle was $5500 ( and $2000 for an additional frozen embryo transfer cycle). My third cycle was $8500. None of these prices included medications which were an additional $2500-$3500 each full cycle. There are also embryo storage fees that are about $250 every few months...Penn Fertility is competent, caring and responsive when there is a concern. They can be a less aggressive than I would prefer in their approach at times but can usually be convinced to try something when pushed.
Age
30 - 35
Treated
2014 - 2019
Success with this Doc
Yes
Race
Black or African-American
Income
$100K - $199K
Occupation
—
Order & Number of Docs Seen
1 Doc Seen
Treatment
3 IVF
Diagnosis
Endometriosis, Tubal Blockage, Uterine Fibroids
9
9
How was your experience with Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care?
I have found Dr. Gracia to be intelligent, responsive and warm. She is generally quite receptive as well but there are times that I feel she could be a bit more open to a different idea or a less studied approach or intervention.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care?
She is a great RE and has always made me feel that she cared about my treatment and wanted me to have a baby. Be educated and direct about what you would like to try and she is often receptive.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care?
She has called me from her personal cell number before when I was worried about a cycle and needed information and reassurance. She also called me back when she was on vacation when I was in the hospital having a preterm delivery and losing my baby at 20 weeks. She greets me with a hug when I have had a hard time or when she hasn’t seen me in a while.
Describe the protocols Clarisa Gracia used in your cycles at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care and their degree of success.
For my first cycle an agonist protocol was used. I produced a lot of eggs but only had 1 left on day 5 to transfer. For my next 2 cycles antagonist protocols with human growth hormone (both freeze all and then frozen embryo transfers) were used and these were more successful (4 embryos and then 3 embryos to freeze).
Describe your experience with your nurse at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care. (Assigned nurse: Brenda E.)
Brenda treated me well and was willing to listen to my concerns. She also helped me to figure out the most cost effective way to purchase my medications.
Describe your experience with University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care.
Penn Fertility is competent, caring and responsive when there is a concern. They can be a less aggressive than I would prefer in their approach at times but can usually be convinced to try something when pushed.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care.
My first cycle was about $10,500. My second cycle was $5500 ( and $2000 for an additional frozen embryo transfer cycle). My third cycle was $8500. None of these prices included medications which were an additional $2500-$3500 each full cycle. There are also embryo storage fees that are about $250 every few months.
Describe Clarisa Gracia's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care.
My doctor was willing to do either eSET or 2 embryo transfer depending on the situation and my preference.
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10
10
Age
38
Treated
2015
Success with this Doc
Yes
Treatment
1 IVF
Diagnosis
Diminished Ovarian Reserve
10
10
She's [Dr. Clarosa Gracia] unfailingly positive and so invested in her patients' outcomes. I had a poor prognosis per my ob/gyn and all my test results and she remained encouraging and optimistic every step of the way. She listened to my concerns and answered all of my questions. She came to the office on a weekend (on a day she was not scheduled to be in the office) to personally perform my egg retrieval and transfer. I really didn't expect my cycle to work at all but it not only worked, it worked on the first try and I have twins!! She is the best!
Everyone at the clinic [UPenn] is very friendly, helpful, supportive. The only negative was sometimes long wait times for monitoring appointments. It really is a team environment there and everyone seems invested in the patient care and excellent outcomes...[Nurse] Roohi was very calm and caring. She was very organized about all the steps in the process. She had my medications ordered and the prior authorizations completed in advance. She was very supportive throughout the process
Age
38
Treated
2015
Success with this Doc
Yes
Race
European
Income
$50K - $99K
Occupation
Nurse or HC Services
Order & Number of Docs Seen
1 Doc Seen
Treatment
1 IVF
Diagnosis
Diminished Ovarian Reserve
10
10
How was your experience with Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care?
Please see previous answer. Dr Gracia personally performed my retrieval and transfer and was my biggest cheerleader even when I was feeling very pessimistic about my chances of success. Dr. Gracia is optimistic, friendly, caring, approachable, funny, smart, motivated and so smart. I always felt like my cycle and my success were very important to her.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care?
Take notes, she talks fast!
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care?
Dr Gracia (please note it is Gracia, not Garcia) is one of the most fantastic doctors (and people) I've ever met. She's unfailingly positive and so invested in her patients' outcomes. I had a poor prognosis per my ob/gyn and all my test results and she remained encouraging and optimistic every step of the way. She listened to my concerns and answered all of my questions. She came to the office on a weekend (on a day she was not scheduled to be in the office) to personally perform my egg retrieval and transfer. I really didn't expect my cycle to work at all but it not only worked, it worked on the first try and I have twins!! She is the best!
Describe the protocols Clarisa Gracia used in your cycles at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care and their degree of success.
I did a luteal lupron downregulation IVF cycle with Follistim and Menopur. I did not use birth control pills. I used intramuscular progesterone support following egg retrieval.
Describe your experience with your nurse at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care. (Assigned nurse: Roohi)
Roohi was very calm and caring. She was very organized about all the steps in the process. She had my medications ordered and the prior authorizations completed in advance. She was very supportive throughout the process
Describe your experience with University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care.
Everyone at the clinic is very friendly, helpful, supportive. The only negative was sometimes long wait times for monitoring appointments. It really is a team environment there and everyone seems invested in the patient care and excellent outcomes
Describe the costs associated with your care under Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care.
everything was covered by insurance
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10
10
Age
32 - 34
Treated
2013 - 2015
Success with this Doc
Yes
Treatment
7 IUI, 1 IVF, Egg Freezing, Donor Sperm
Diagnosis
Diminished Ovarian Reserve, Male Factor
10
10
She [Dr. Gracia] never hesitated to hug me when I needed one, and didn't blink when I cried. And I cried pretty much every visit. She focused on moving forward rather than my fears of "what if". She was positive without [bs'ing] me.
You need to be aware of how Penn Fertility operates...[nurse] Julie and I just didn't emotional mesh... Julie called me and excitedly told me "You're very pregnant" not realizing earlier that day we were told there wasn't a heartbeat.
Age
32 - 34
Treated
2013 - 2015
Success with this Doc
Yes
Race
European
Income
$100K - $199K
Occupation
Teacher
Order & Number of Docs Seen
1 Doc Seen
Treatment
7 IUI, 1 IVF, Egg Freezing, Donor Sperm
Diagnosis
Diminished Ovarian Reserve, Male Factor
10
10
How was your experience with Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care?
She tried her best to be at my appointments. When she saw my name on the schedule, she requested that I wait a few minutes so she could do the fresh IVF transfer.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care?
She is great. However, you need to be aware of how Penn Fertility operates.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care?
She never hesitated to hug me when I needed one, and didn't blink when I cried. And I cried pretty much every visit. She focused on moving forward rather than my fears of "what if". She was positive without being bullshitting me.
Describe your experience with your nurse at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care. (Assigned nurse: Julie)
Ugh, Julie and I just didn't emotional mesh. If I had a different nurse during the ultrasound, she would leave me feeling positive. But when Julie would call in the afternoon with my blood results and instructions, she left me feeling hopeless and like the other nurse had lied to me. No one lied to me, Julie was just not as empathetic. She also neglected to call in a very important prescription med, which resulted in hysterical crying on my part, frantic calls to a late night pharmacy and an hCG trigger shot in the bathroom of the pharmacy. I had a miscarriage early in my treatment with Penn and needed to have my hCG levels repeatedly drawn. Julie called me and excitedly told me "You're very pregnant" not realizing earlier that day we were told there wasn't a heartbeat. I think that was what colored my feelings toward Julie.
Describe your experience with your monitoring appointments at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care.
Monitoring appointments were all in the mornings which was convenient for me. The earliest appointment was at 7:45 so I was able to be in, out and at work almost on time. Thankfully my job had some flexibility.
What specific things went wrong at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care?
- Failed to call in prescriptions to pharmacy
- Failed to order appropriate test
Describe the specific things that went wrong at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care.
I should never have been allowed to do 7 IUIs (3 unmedicated, 4 with Clomid) given my AMH levels. I don't know how that test was neglected as when I first started, I had to give 14 vials of blood. How was an AMH level never taken until our 7th failed IUI?!?!?! When I did my IVF cycle, I went to the pharmacy and got a huge bags of meds. Half of the meds were never used with my protocol and one essential medication (the hCG trigger shot) was not included. Which I didn't realize until the night I needed it, which was after the pharmacy was closed, so thankfully the on-call doctor was able to call it in to a local 24 pharmacy and my husband gave it to me the bathroom. If we ever have to do another IVF cycle, I will be more proactive in the pharmacy questioning whether we need all the meds handed to us and whether all the necessary meds were included.
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8
7
Age
41 - 46
Treated
2007 - 2012
Success with this Doc
No
Treatment
9 IUI, IVF, Donor Eggs
Diagnosis
Diminished Ovarian Reserve, Poor Egg Quality
8
7
she [Dr. Clarisa Gracia] was very nice. she came into the clinic near the end of my treatments there. I only moved on to another practice because the donor pool they had was much smaller than I hoped and the wait was longer.... the doctors were very caring in the practice but as in any high volume practice - fertility or not - there always seems to be a time crunch.
[U Penn -Radnor's] IA strength and weakness was size. I was very comfortable there and liked the dotors. However, I wanted to move quickly and the donor pool was much smaller than needed. I didn't want to leave the dpctors but needed to to move ahead in my treat,ent... Their donor pool was small and we decided to move to a larger base. We did do a few IUI's and I recall it was a pain to go into the city to do that specific procedure whil everything else was done in radnor.
Age
41 - 46
Treated
2007 - 2012
Success with this Doc
No
Race
European
Income
$50K - $99K
Occupation
—
Order & Number of Docs Seen
1st of 2 Docs
Treatment
9 IUI, IVF, Donor Eggs
Diagnosis
Diminished Ovarian Reserve, Poor Egg Quality
8
7
How was your experience with Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care?
she was very nice. she came into the clinic near the end of my treatments there. I only moved on to another practice because the donor pool they had was much smaller than I hoped and the wait was longer.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care?
the doctors were very caring in the practice but as in any high volume practice - fertility or not - there always seems to be a time crunch.
Describe the protocols Clarisa Gracia used in your cycles at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care and their degree of success.
It was awhile ago so numbers are a bit vague but we started with clomid, and IUI's. then when I had a blighted ovum decided to move to donor eggs. Their donor pool was small and we decided to move to a larger base. We did do a few IUI's and I recall it was a pain to go into the city to do that specific procedure whil everything else was done in radnor.
Describe your experience with University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care.
IA strength and weakness was size. I was very comfortable there and liked the dotors. However, I wanted to move quickly and the donor pool was much smaller than needed. I didn't want to leave the dpctors but needed to to move ahead in my treat,ent
Describe the costs associated with your care under Clarisa Gracia at University of Pennsylvania Penn Fertility Care.
I don't recall. We did have insurance to cover some of the procedures and I remember that they sat down and went over everything with me. It was overwhelming but they knew their stuff and explained it all.
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