She [Dr. Farah-Eways] told me to always call or email her with any questions. when i did, she told me i should be calling the ivf nurses.
They are they typical kaiser robots collecting a paycheck. they dont care about you either. they lack compassion.
How was your experience with Lisa Farah-Eways at Kaiser Permanente NorCal?
she told me to always call or email her with any questions. when i did, she told me i should be calling the ivf nurses. she is all bait and switch. if she thinks she has a patient that has a better chance at being successful and making her stats better then she will take your spot and give it to someone else.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Lisa Farah-Eways at Kaiser Permanente NorCal?
stay away from her. she is poison. she will promise the world and then lie. she lacks compassion and is always in a rush. she is only worried about her own stats. she does not care about you, her ivf calendar is always full.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Lisa Farah-Eways at Kaiser Permanente NorCal?
She is a total bait and switch md. she promised the world and then did nothing but critiscize. she promised she would get me in to her next cycle and then lied and said she never said that. she also wanted to take my spot on her calendar and give it to another patient.
Describe your experience with the nursing staff at Kaiser Permanente NorCal.
they are they typical kaiser robots collecting a paycheck. they dont care about you either. they lack compassion.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Lisa Farah-Eways at Kaiser Permanente NorCal.
$17k not including meds or pgs
What specific things went wrong at Kaiser Permanente NorCal?
Dr. Farah Eways is a mixed bag...She talks very quickly and multi-tasks in the appointment (for example, she is explaining something to you, but is also typing and trying to set up some blood tests. I didn't like her "busy" personality, she is not calm, and that made me feel nervous and uncertain... I felt like I was rushed in the appointment, even though we were in there for a while, she talks a mile a minute. I wish she was more calm, a better listener, and explained all the different levels of infertility treatment...
Nurse practioners [at Kaiser] are exceptional. They are warm, compassionate, and smart. They answer e-mails very promptly. The nursing staff was the best part of Kaiser...Strengths: Derien and all the front desk staff are very, very nice and kind and organized. Nurse practioners are superb, andrology window (sperm drop off) staff are beyond nice and patient. Weaknesses: Very busy office, lots of patients, availability of afternoon appointments is low, doctors seemed overwhelmed and overbooked...
How was your experience with Lisa Farah-Eways at Kaiser Permanente NorCal?
see previous box for full review.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Lisa Farah-Eways at Kaiser Permanente NorCal?
Change to Dr. Harris! He is the best one there. But I would never, ever do IVF at Kaiser. I would only stick to IUIs there. Their IVF is outdated compared to what is out there and their Fremont IVF center is a total mess (two inside sources told me this).
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Lisa Farah-Eways at Kaiser Permanente NorCal?
Dr. Farah Eways is a mixed bag. She seems fake with her empathy and tries to "connect" with you by hugging you when she meets you (awkward!). She talks very quickly and multi-tasks in the appointment (for example, she is explaining something to you, but is also typing and trying to set up some blood tests. I didn't like her "busy" personality, she is not calm, and that made me feel nervous and uncertain. Even my husband, who is pretty chill, told me that she was "strange". I felt like I was rushed in the appointment, even though we were in there for a while, she talks a mile a minute.
I wish she was more calm, a better listener, and explained all the different levels of infertility treatment. I wasn't until I changed REs and went with Dr. Harris that he actually explained the treatment process and I understood it better.
Kaiser can be fine for baseline treatments, like HSG, blood work, even Clomid/Menopur and IUI, BUT if you are thinking about IVF, I would go elsewhere.
We did 8-9 cycles of IUI with various drugs at Kaiser (with the diagnosis of Unexplained Infertility) and it wasn't until we got a second opinion elsewhere, that we actually got a male factor dianosis and mild female diagnosis. We were very surprised/upset/enraged that two Kaiser REs did not find anything wrong with us, but another doctor did. We were just spinning our wheels for a year!
We did an IVF consult with Dr. Harris and he's super nice and reassuring, but then we got a second opinion consult with Dr. Zouves in Foster City and he was the one who actually found "something" wrong with us, just with a simple telephone consult and reviewing our infertility files from Kaiser.
The Kaiser docs and Dr. Zouves have a dramatically different plan for IVF. Kaiser is very, very basic with their IVF. Dr. Zouves is incredibly detailed and believes in getting the body ready with supplements, acupuncture, diet, and exercise. Kaiser docs told us that "there is no evidence" to support diet, exercise, and acupunture. That is BS! There is so much out there on lifestyle.
Bottom line: Kaiser is great for BASIC stuff. I would not do anything BIG with them (infertility or otherwise). They tend to think IN the box and do not have the latest and greatest resources and opinions (they say they do).
If you need IVF I would call Dr. Zouves. Just look at his success rates. We're starting with him for IVF and I just feel better knowing we are out of Kaiser. I also plan to change my insurance after this experience with go to Mills Peninsula for my ob/gyn.
Describe the protocols Lisa Farah-Eways used in your cycles at Kaiser Permanente NorCal and their degree of success.
First, I did a HSG to see if my tubes are open. Everything was normal.
Second, she couldn't find anything "wrong" with us (someone else did 1.5 years later) so she started me with Femara (even though I ovulate beautifully on my own each month) and that only created at the most, 2 eggs. Not a big deal, but I did it 5 times unsuccessfully. The third round I did get pregnant, but it ended up being a blighted ovum (empty sac, no fetus). It wasn't until I suggested we switch to Clomid and lo and be hold, I was able to produce 5 eggs! But still no pregnancy.
I don't remember the rationale for Femara, she said she just likes it better than Clomid.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Kaiser Permanente NorCal. (Assigned nurse: You see all of them, they are fantastic!)
Nurse practioners are exceptional. They are warm, compassionate, and smart. They answer e-mails very promptly. The nursing staff was the best part of Kaiser. Doctors, not so much.
Describe your experience with Kaiser Permanente NorCal.
Strengths: Derien and all the front desk staff are very, very nice and kind and organized.
Nurse practioners are superb, andrology window (sperm drop off) staff are beyond nice and patient.
Weaknesses: Very busy office, lots of patients, availability of afternoon appointments is low, doctors seemed overwhelmed and overbooked. Kaiser in general is not very detailed and cutting edge, they are just basic.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Lisa Farah-Eways at Kaiser Permanente NorCal.
My plan with Kaiser for Infertility was 50 percent coverage. It wasn't too bad. It seemed pricy at first, but you get used to it and in the long run, it's pretty reasonable (if you actually get pregnant). We were not successful with Kaiser after 8-9 IUIs and it seemed as if we wasted a lot of money and were spinning our wheels month after month.
What specific things went wrong at Kaiser Permanente NorCal?
Failed to convey critical information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Kaiser Permanente NorCal.
Dr. Eways never thought my husband's low sperm morphology was a big deal (it was 3%!!). In fact, we were diaglosed with unexplained infertility until we got a second opinion from Dr Zouves about a year and a half later, and he pointed out that out to us. Basically, we didn't know it was a big deal until Dr. Zouves actually pointed it out to us!
Nobody caught that about my husband at Kaiser, maybe because all of his numbers are good except morphology (kind of important!!). I think they have very basic parameters and are not as cutting edge.
