Elizabeth Ginsburg

Before coming BWH and seeing Dr. Ginsburg, I was a patient at a much smaller fertility clinic called Fertility Solutions. The difference between the two clinics was considerable. At FS, there are just 3 doctors and over the course of my two year treatment there, I got to know each doctor very well and all the nurses as well. Dr. Ginsburg is one of about 12 (this is just a guess) Reproductive Endocrinologists at BWH and she sees hundreds of patients. This does not mean she cares less about each individual, it just means (in my opinion) she has a more streamlined and matter of fact approach simply due to the volume of people she sees. I came to her because my treatment at FS came to a screeching halt due to having to make incredibly difficult decisions. The doctors wanted to help, but I just felt like they didn't have the experience or knowledge at this point to help me make important choices. They were willing to try new things, but it was all up to me. Dr. Ginsburg had seen other women in my situation (severe endometriosis and multiple ectopic pregnancies) and she was able to give me clear direction and guidance. It was refreshing to hear someone make the call for me, when all I had experienced was "sure, we can try that if you want". Sometimes you just want someone to tell you what to do. Dr. Ginsburg is not warm and fuzzy, but she's brilliant and confident, and she shows her true compassion in her own special way.

If you're okay with a direct approach and matter of fact guidance, Dr. Ginsburg is the doctor for you. I would recommend her to anyone because of how brilliant she is at her job, but I would absolutely warn them that they will not be seeing her much (only for initial consultations or meetings to discuss big decisions) and make sure they are okay with very little handholding.

Unlike my other two cycles, Dr. G had me on menopur and much less progesterone in oil. She also increased my Gonal F a considerable amount. I produced about 20% more eggs with her protocol.

I shared this in my review of the clinic itself, but monitoring is very impersonal here. It didn't bother me because I have fairly thick skin, but for those who are more nervous and triggered by the site of pregnant women literally everywhere, the monitoring experience would be difficult. Your ultrasound will be done by a different person every time so becoming comfortable with the process is necessary

My insurance covered most of the costs of my IVF treatment here, but we are moving on to using a gestational carrier and insurance does not cover this at all.

I did not end up transferring at BWH

Dr. Ginsburg is intelligent, funny and straightforward. She is kind but does not give false hope. She listens to our concerns and did not push anything that we were not comfortable with. She explained things to us completely and made sure we had clear instructions for the next steps.

I would say that if you are overly sensitive to prepare yourself for science and straightforwardness. I appreciated this with her, but I have also had my diagnosis for years.

First, she put me on metformin ER 1500mg with the plan to take until 2nd trimester of pregnancy. The side effects were too much for my body so she reduced it to 750mg after 3 months. During the first first she also gave me a 6 month prescription for letrozole 2.5mg to be taken days 3-7 of my cycle until pregnancy occurs. She also had my husband do a sperm analysis and did not assume the problem was me even with my diagnosis. She also suggested I get an HSG done. We decided to hold off on that until the 6 month period was over. I was only 30 at the time so she was fine with that. After the six months, I had the HSG showing no issues. She doubled the dose of letrozole and I am currently on my second cycle of that level dose. The first cycle drastically increased ovulation so they are hopeful it will take this round. If not, we are going to try one more cycle and then discuss IUI.

Some were covered by insurance as it was “Diagnostic”. Consultantations that are not diagnostic are around $200. We have not had many other bills yet. It costs $9 an hour to park in the garage.

Dr Ginsburg knows her stuff! For that reason alone I would recommend her. She will tell you how it is, explain whatever you need explaining. She is very professional and won't sugar coat news. I needed that because I knew I could trust her. She always had a plan for me and our visits were productive. She advocated for me with my insurance company and listened to my concerns. I never felt pressured into trying medication or doing the next step. I cannot say enough positive things about her!!!

Expect honest answers that are not sugar coated.

Leterzole- 3times, 3 different doses. This was supposed to get my body to ovulate. It failed Leterzole (7.5mg) with trigger shot. This made me ovulate but no successful pregnancy IUI- we did not do this because once on injectable medication my response could not be controlled. I would produce more than a few eggs even on a small dose based on my AMH level (15). iVF- we used various injectable medication. I had an egg retrieval that got 28 mature eggs. 16 lasted to day 5. However I had to freeze all because even with my modified trigger shot, I developed a slight case of hyper stimulation. Frozen Egg Transfer- after pills and pio shots, we had a successful transfer. I am currently pregnant from this procedure.

I paid whatever was not covered by insurance. Billing was through an app or in office. It was easy to pay but difficult to understand what you were excatly paying for

My doctor prefer to do a SET for my safety. We agreed as that was what was covered by insurance and in our best interest.

Dr. Ginsburg has been very considerate of our desires and our treatment. She has considered all factors, but also been willing to work around situations and numbers. She has explained information thoroughly, and has been available when we've had further questions. She has been open and flexible and has truly made us feel like she is working with us.

To be sure to ask a lot of questions and to be completely open.

We have not yet started our cycle, but we are doing a complicated reciprocal IVF. She had us meet with maternal fetal medicine due to us both being overweight. She tested both of us thoroughly to help us make the best decision as to who will undergo the egg retrieval and who will undergo the embryo transfer.

$22,000

We have requested multiple embryo transfer. Here, we feel that we are slightly being treated like a number now, but there seems to be some flexibility and willingness to work with us there.

Dr. Ginsburg is a very intelligent, calm, confident, and compassionate doctor. She has made me and my fiance more than comfortable and confident that we will be able to become parents via gestational surrogacy. She has walked and talked us through the necessary steps towards gestational surrogacy and has explained everything in great detail. She takes her time when meeting with us and genuinely cares about the success of our future embryo transfer. She has given us hope after cancer took our opportunity to become parents naturally. We met Dr. Ginsburg during a very difficult time in our lives and she gave us the hope that we so desperately needed back in 2015. Having a family of our own is the single most important thing in the world to my fiance and I and Dr. Ginsburg demonstrates that she cares about the success of the embryo transfer just as much as we do. Examples of her compassion: She has helped me fill out fertility grant applications immediately after I emailed her asking if she had time to do so. She made me feel important and hopeful. She recommended different grants/financial assistance options to help pay for fertility preservation costs. She was very easy to get a hold of when I had questions during my IVF cycle regarding medication. She made quick adjustments to a similar medication when my insurance did not cover a specific medication during IVF. She suggested testing my ovarian reserve level every 6 months to help me feel more involved and aware of the changes my body was going through and would email me my lab results as soon as they became available. She remembered little details I would tell her at past appointments about my family and hobbies/social life, she paid great attention to details. She makes me feel like part of the treatment time and keeps me hopeful through her kind/warm personality. She has more than 1 clinic location and has flexible hours making her very easy to get in touch with.

Dr. Ginsburg will explore every aspect of your fertility needs and if there is a way to help you start a family she will most definitely find it.

Dr. Ginsburg had me do 1 cycle of IVF while on tamoxifen (due to stage 3 estrogen positive cancer) back in 2015. My treatment plan consisted of injections and pills. Together, we discussed the options for eggs and embryos and the pros and cons of each. She helped me decided how many I was going to create embryos with. We froze 4 eggs and 4 embryos (originally had 6 embryos but 2 did not make it). She explained that the embryos would be frozen on day 3 to get "as money in the freezer as possible". Her plan is to transfer 2 embryos to a gestational surrogate as each embryo has a 40% chance of success. Her strategy to transfer 2 lines up with our goals, financial needs, and of course safety concerns. She explained everything in great detail.

There was a high volume of patients waiting for ultra sounds during my IVF cycle but I was never waiting for a long period of time. They were open 7 days a week and I was always seen when I needed to be. The results were always available online within a couple hours and my clinic would always call me as soon as they got results. They were very on top of my care during my IVF cycle.

My IVF cycle was covered in full by my insurance. I did have to pay about $500 out of pocket for medications. My estimated hospital costs for gestational surrogacy services were quoted at 10K. The billing coordinator, Gene Diaz, has made herself very available for questions and has broken down the costs to me in great detail both over the phone and email. She emails me back very quickly and provides much detail for each one of the fees I will eventually need to pay for surrogacy.

We prefer to transfer 2 embryos to increase of chance of success on the first transfer. She was completely on board with this decision and also agreed that it was for the best. She assured us this choice is safe and is confident it will result in a live birth.

Extremely knowledgeable with regard to the latest research. Answered all questions thoroughly and knew what gaps to fill in on our testing before starting treatment. Came highly recommended from a friend and lived up to what we had heard!

Have all of your questions written down in advance and don’t be afraid to ask them all.

We used Letrozole with timed intercourse followed by progesterone supplementation. I had a blighted ovum with my first pregnancy and have PCOS. I am now 15 weeks pregnant from our first cycle on that protocol.

Minimal on Letrozole cycle... two ultrasounds, consult, follow up, and meds.

Dr. Ginsburg is an expert - not necessarily warm and fuzzy, but super fair and helpful and patient. I was seeking a compassionate caregiver, but also one who could help guide us on the right next steps when you aren't always certain what to do. She's no nonsense. Her nursing staff is super sweet. Her administrative staff sucks (bluntly - rude and unresponsive, hard to make apps, etc.). That part can make it difficult. Also, since she is at a hospital, simple procedures like IUI will cost a lot more (need to pay hospital fee vs. just doing it at a clinic). Luckily she pointed this out, so we went to do IUI at the Harvard Vanguard clinic.

Figure out which simple procedures may be cheaper to do elsewhere so you can avoid expensive hospital fees. For IVF, I believe it's the same cost. Also, figure out a way to make appts while you're there so you can avoid having to call their unhelpful staff.

It’s hard for me to separate my feelings for her from the frustration I felt during the whole process. Sometimes I was angry with her but other times I thought she was knowledgeable. One time my protocol had changed but I still had the instruction sheet from the original protocol. Sometimes I felt like things were missed or I had to remind her of things.

She’s good but all business.

I had no reason for not conceiving other than my age. So she chose protocols to match my diminished ovarian reserve. When the first cycle resulted in all negative test results, she changed it up for next time. She acted surprised each time I didn’t get pregnant because my embryos looked so good.

Didn’t have insurance for the consult, so we had to pay that out of pocket. I forget what it was. $500-$750 maybe? After that it was all about meeting my insurance deductible and huge copays for the medications.

She goes directly to the point and is very clear about possibilities and scenarios. She was quick to adjust my protocol when she did not get the amount of eggs expected. She is knowledgeable about insurances and will keep contact with other providers to ensure everything is ready

Most treatments were the same, Lupron as well as GonalF. My last cycle where she adjusted the protocol to try to increase the egg yield, she added a birth control patch and Menopur

Everything was covered by insurance, we only had to pay deductible, but I believe a full cycle with retrieval and transfer was around $15,000

Dr. Ginsburg was very informative and open about our options. She allowed us to ask questions and she provided us clear, thorough information. She was open with us about the risks and her concerns, but also listened to our concerns and wishes.

To be open to hear everything that she has to say, and to be open about your wishes and your concerns. She is flexible and open to working with people.

Dr. Ginsburg has had both me and my wife undergo various evaluations and tests to ensure we have the best plan. Such as HSG, lab work, and meeting with maternal fetal medicine.

13,000 plus 8,000 for medications

We wish she would be a little more flexible with doing multiple embryo transfer.

Dr. Ginsburg is a caring and knowledgeble clinician. She really took the time to listed to me and review my past fertility cycles to come up with the best plan for me.

Although you may not see her often, she is always behind the scenes directing your care.

One IVF was done with the antagonist protocol. The first tranfer of a day 5 blast took but ended in a chemical/ectopic. The second was BFN.

My IVF was covered 100% by insurance.

Dr Ginsburg isn't warm she seems straight forward which is good but didn't give us the back ground of what was going . Her protocols where very aggressive which I know now is not always the way to go. It is a hospital setting so there is never any thinking out of the box when it comes to immunology issues, nutrition or supplements. You feel like just a number.

She maybe a good Dr for younger women in there 20s and early 30s with aggressive protocols Iwas 36 when I saw her and didn't get pregnant.

High doses of medication very aggressive. 1st cycle 3 eggs implanted 1 no pregnancy 2nd cycle triggered to early lost most of the eggs which makes me question there lab and how they grow immature eggs.

They where great

We chose to do one . She later told us we should implant 3 . I agree with that.

See previous comment. Additionally, she didn't perform procedures. Rather, colleagues or interns did - including doctors we hadn't met, even when we were there for the first procedure (first time) and were nervous/anxious.

Choose another doctor.

If you're looking for someone who is warm and fuzzy, she isn't it. However she is extremely knowledgeable and talented. I would not hesitate to use her again if I wanted more children.

Ask questions

Dr. Ginsburg was straight forward and warm without giving a false sense of hope. She will listen to all of your concerns and explain things completely. She is incredibly smart and diligent. She will help you push forward until you get your miracle baby!

She is very straightforward

I did a single transfer which failed so she allowed me to do a double transfer the next time around (also failed).