Dr. Abbasi cares deeply about her patients. She is incredibly accessible via email, even on weekends. After each of my egg retrievals (3), she called me daily to not only check on my physical well-being but also to give me embryo updates. She performed every single one of my monitoring ultrasounds, egg retrievals, transfers and early pregnancy ultrasounds. I also appreciate her ability to tell me the truth and never sugar coat important information I need to hear. I trust her deeply!
While individual nurses at CFA are lovely, overall as a team they are disorganized, difficult to deal with and can be impersonal. Patients need to have a high degree of self-advocacy skill and overall knowledge of IVF procedures to navigate this element of the CFA experience. Dr. Abbasi is amazing and would be better served with a more organized and committed team.
How was your experience with Rafat Abbasi at Columbia Fertility Associates?
I saw Dr. Abbasi originally as a patient being treated for PCOS/anovulation. After over a year of negative tests and treatments including timed intercourse with injections and IUIs, we moved onto IVF with PGS tested embryos. When my first FET failed, Dr. Abbasi decided to run more tests to figure out why I was having such a lack of success at my age (28) with good egg quality. Her testing determined that I had many immunological and blood-clotting factors which were making it impossible for my embryos to implant. Once we began treatment for these issues I was able to get pregnant and carry to term (and am currently pregnant again after repeating my successful protocol). I am so thankful that Dr. Abbasi took quick action to make changes and figure out what my issues were. She didn't just suggest repeating the same failing strategy over and over. She is blunt and honest and I trust her intimately to tell me what I need to hear to be successful. I will always be thankful to her for being our miracle worker. I have also never heard of another doctor, anywhere, who is as hands-on as her. She performs all monitoring ultrasounds, retrievals, transfers and early pregnancy ultrasounds for her patients. She is incredibly responsive to email and has a dry sense of humor that I love!
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Rafat Abbasi at Columbia Fertility Associates?
Do not be afraid to contact her directly to get the information you need. Ask her as many questions as you need to in order to be prepared for your cycle. Do not expect her to small talk often or give you a sugar-coated consult. Others might say that she is "cold" but if you get to know her you will find that she cares deeply for her patients and shows it through her hands-on care and not her smalltalk. There are not many doctors that call patients daily after retrieval and put patient health and safety above all else (including doing all she can to eliminate chances for OHSS).
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Rafat Abbasi at Columbia Fertility Associates?
Dr. Abbasi cares deeply about her patients. She is incredibly accessible via email, even on weekends. After each of my egg retrievals (3), she called me daily to not only check on my physical well-being but also to give me embryo updates. She performed every single one of my monitoring ultrasounds, egg retrievals, transfers and early pregnancy ultrasounds. I also appreciate her ability to tell me the truth and never sugar coat important information I need to hear. I trust her deeply!
Describe the protocols Rafat Abbasi used in your cycles at Columbia Fertility Associates and their degree of success.
My first retrieval protocol was antagonist with ICSI, lupron trigger, and FET. My 2 successful cycles involved the lupron down-regulation protocol with HCG trigger, ICSI and fresh transfers. For my 2 successful transfers I was also on an immune protocol which involved IVIG, Prednisone, neupogen and lovenox. I switched to the fresh transfer approach after having difficulty during my first cycle getting my lining thick enough for FET. My lining was better during my fresh cycles. My immune testing came after my PGS FET failed.
Describe your experience with the nursing staff at Columbia Fertility Associates.
While individual nurses at CFA are lovely, overall as a team they are disorganized, difficult to deal with and can be impersonal. Patients need to have a high degree of self-advocacy skill and overall knowledge of IVF procedures to navigate this element of the CFA experience. Dr. Abbasi is amazing and would be better served with a more organized and committed team.
Describe your experience with Columbia Fertility Associates.
CFA is small and personal. You will see your doctor often and they will likely do all of your major procedures. They are incredibly accessible via email and will take a variety of "hard" patients that other clinics might deny to keep their stats higher. Their nursing and billing departments, as well as their overall competence as a medical office, can be infuriating and hard to navigate. But the quality of care from Dr. Abbasi made it worth it to me (just need to self-advocate a lot!!)
Describe your experience with your monitoring appointments at Columbia Fertility Associates.
7:30 is always when monitoring was supposed to begin, but really it begins when the nurses show up. As a teacher who had to be at work early, I'd have to get there even earlier to get to be first in line so I could get out of the door fast. However, in my most recent cycle Dr. Abbasi did all of my montioring herself and I always appreciated this level of care!
Describe the costs associated with your care under Rafat Abbasi at Columbia Fertility Associates.
My insurance covered treatment and meds, but the freezing/testing part of any cycle was around $5400 (this was the part my insurance wouldn't cover) and embryo testing itself could be thousands more depending on the number of embryos to be tested. The immunological treatment I did for my successful cycles was around $30,000 per cycle.
Describe Rafat Abbasi's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Columbia Fertility Associates.
Dr. Abbasi is open to mutliple embryo transfer but definitely prefers to do a single embryo transfer with a PGS tested embryo. She does not believe that multiple embryos lead to a higher chance of success (just a higher chance of having multiples).
What specific things went wrong at Columbia Fertility Associates?
- Failed to call in prescriptions to pharmacy
- Lost paperwork
- Lost appointments
- Failed to call with results
- Failed to order appropriate test
- Provided conflicting information
- Failed to convey critical information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Columbia Fertility Associates.
The nurses, while nice, are disorganized and there is no apparent system to manage patients or provide information. It boggles my mind why patients are not given one main nurse to work with (each day you might hear from a different nurse and information gets lost). I have no idea why they cannot use an online portal or online records (back when they had multiple offices they had to physically move files from one office to another and my records were misplaced many times). I had to double check all my medication and treatment calendar items to check for inaccuracies. Their front desk and nurses can also be impossible to reach via phone
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Clinic
Columbia Fertility Associates
Arlington