Sergio Oehninger

Dr. O has a long history of success in the field, and decades of experience which began working directly under the doctor who pioneered IVF in the US. He excells at giving informed, detailed comparisons between different established treatment options. Our discussions led us first to try 4 rounds of IUI, the first 3 each leading to a very early miscarriage, and the last failing to develop a viable egg. Between attempts, he was very hands-off. We had to initiate the next step on our own when some encouragement would have been helpful. When we had consultations to determine the next course of actions, he didn't always seem as familiar with our treatment history as I would have liked. After the unsuccessful IUIs, we asked again about the clinic's donor embryo program which had been briefly discussed in our first visit, and decided it was the next best step. After being matched with a frozen embryo suprisingly quickly and completing other prequisites of the program, Dr. O implanted the one embryo which survived the thaw. The first couple weeks of pregnancy progressed normally, but after some minor bleeding we were brought in for an early ultrasound and the dosage of progesterone injections was doubled as a precaution. However, there was additional bleeding and discharge a couple weeks later, and another ultrasound showed the pregnancy was lost. At that point, Dr. O was careful not to give us any false hope as we scheduled addtional follow-ups. However, he did not prepare us for the extremely unpleasant and painful side effects of the medications to induce completion of the miscarriage. That experience culminated in a 2am emergency room visit, narcotics to manage the pain, and another ultrasound the next morning when the clinic was open. After this last visit, Dr. O retired and we expect to be transferred to one of his colleagues, most of whom we met at one point or another.

Not applicable since he is now retired.

Dr. O was friendly and offered encouragment when the facts and odds supported it. He also kept a professional distance, but some difficult news was relayed in an abrupt manner which made it more difficult to hear.

We tried 4 rounds of IUI, the first 3 each leading to a very early miscarriage, and the last failing to develop a viable egg. Since my wife has never had regular cycles, medication was needed to trigger it each time. Each time there were one or two visits to ultrasound the ovaries and measure follicles before a viable one was identified and our IUI was scheduled. Semen analysis showed slightly low count each time but good motility. Every completed IUI let to a positive home pregnancy test, followed within days by a negative test. Due to the repeated failures of IUI, we decided that implanting a donated embryo was the next best option. After being matched with a frozen embryo suprisingly quickly and completing other prequisites of the program, Dr. O implanted the one embryo which survived the thaw. The first couple weeks of pregnancy progressed normally, but after some minor bleeding we were brought in for an early ultrasound and the dosage of progesterone injections was doubled as a precaution. However, there was additional bleeding and discharge a couple weeks later, and another ultrasound showed the pregnancy was lost. At that point, Dr. O was careful not to give us any false hope as we scheduled addtional follow-ups. However, he did not prepare us for the extremely unpleasant and painful side effects of the medications to induce completion of the miscarriage. That experience culminated in a 2am emergency room visit, narcotics to manage the pain, and another ultrasound the next morning when the clinic was open. After this last visit, Dr. O retired and we expect to be transferred to one of his colleagues, most of whom we met at one point or another.

Almost the entire nursing staff was very friendly, professional, and helpful in person. Their ability to draw blood from a patient with hard-to-find veins (my wife) varied significantly. Blood was drawn at every check-up, and I don't think they got her on the first try more than once or twice out of dozens of visits. Often it took 3 or 4 tries, and switching to less common and more painful areas. One nurse, who unfortunately managed most of our phone and internet communication with the rest of the staff, was much less helpful than anyone else on the staff. Numerous times our messages were relayed with significant delay as well as inaccurately with regard to tone or even content. We dreaded communicating through the clinic's phone or internet "portal" for this specific reason, and feared any complaint would lead to even worse service from the same nurse. Several times I suggested switching our next treatment to different clinic, even though we were quite happy with almost everything else at this one, specifically because of this nurse and the "portal" communication system. Managing prescriptions from local pharmacies was nightmare, due to convoluted preauthorization rules and documents to be routed back through clinic bureaucracy (combined with the fact the insurance covered almost nothing yet they kept trying to get approval). This often delays which sometimes came close to impacting treatment. However, Mandell's mail-order pharmacy (mostly for injections) was incredibly accomodating and easy to work with, aside from the unavoidable requirement to be home when the medicine was delivered.

The clinic has been doing this longer than any other in the country. Framed photos of annual Mother's Day picnics with families the clinic has assisted are inspiring at first, but more painful to see after years without success. But the clinic also partners with Operation Hope/RESOLVE, and connecting to that organization was helpful in finding support and dealing with the heartbreak. Many prescriptions from the clinic get routed and rerouted through a lot of unnecessary bureaucracy. As with every other medical estabilishment we've dealt with, bills and insurance decisions are incomprehensible. Payment was easy, and the clinic-provided installment billing plan for big-ticket fertility treatment was helpful (half up front, rest spread over 6 months with no interest) although there was a glitch with the automatic payment system. Unfortunately the clinic insists on useing a "Patient Portal" system which is a gatekeeper to communication with doctors and nurses. The only effective way to communicate in real time is in person at an appointment. The "portal" system was consistenly an obstruction to communication and care. Eventually we learned what almost everything was routed through one specific nurse assigned to our doctor, and we believe much of the problem was with that individual, but the system itself was flawed in theory and practice. We are hopeful that since our doctor has now retired, we may have a different gatekeeper nurse when we begin treatment with a new doctor.

Roughly $15,000 for 4 IUI attempts, donor embryo program and transfer, medication, and associated tests.

We were very confused by apparently conflicting information about the number of frozen donated embroys available to us for implantation, and how many survived which stages of the process. This was eventually mostly cleared up, but it took several discussions with different people. However, the clinic policy of not allowing more than two embryos to be implanted was always clear.

We we're diagnosed through Dr. O and Dr. Brough with azoospermia/male factor infertility. Upon receiving that diagnosis, my husband and I took break for several months before jumping in to treatment. When we ordered our donor sperm and got started with treatment, I don't think my file was reevaluated or not. We jumped right in to three natural IUI cycles , the first of which resulted in a chemical pregnancy. After that, we did two more cycles with letrozole and trigger. Every time I went for ultrasounds, everything looked great. When we had our last meeting before going in for our sixth and final IUI, Dr. O seemed to brush off any of my concerns and requests doe further testing on me to see if there was anything that we could address easily before the next go. It wasn't until after I stopped going to Dr. O that we discovered my blood pressure was significantly above normal range and that my T4 levels were way off normal range, as well. We are happy with our new doctor and wish Dr. O all of the best, but he was not the right fit for us.

Ask questions. ALWAYS. Ask for copies of all of your test results and research on your end that you are within normal ranges.

I feel that because we were diagnosed with male factor infertility and needing donor sperm, and nothing was super obviously wrong with me, he brushed us off as an easy case.

3 natural IUI cycles with donor sperm with monitoring on day 12. (The first of those three resulted in a chemical pregnancy) 2 donor sperm IUI cycles with 5 days of letrozole 5mg per day, trigger shot, and 10 days of progesterone.

The nursing staff there is great.

This is a big, productive group. They produce results for lots of people but they are by no means perfect. Prepare yourself for appointments, advocate and research on your own behalf, and don't get too worked up when they make mistakes or goof up small things.

$250/IUI plus drug costs

NA

Dr. Oehninger answered all questions that I had for him. During my stimulation cycle at appointments where I saw him quickly for an ultrasound there were always other doctors in the room and he let them take the lead and explain to me although it seemed he was the one making the decisions. When it was one on one during the consultation I felt that this Dr. was more personable and shared his experience and expertise with me regarding what I should do next.

He has a quiet and serious demeanor. If you have questions ask them

At first he said very little the few times that I saw him during my stimulation appointments. I currently met with him again for a consultation to discuss my future protocol and get his advice and he was very helpful. He looked at and explained many of the results from my first failed transfer. He told me what we would do differently next time and was able to give me his expertise on some concerns that I had about cysts they found last time. He also had research to back up this expertise.

During my IVF cycle I took Follistim, menopur and ganirelix. After the transfer I was on progesterone oil injections and estrogen patches. During this cycle they found that I have 2 endometrioma cysts. This protocol resulted in 5 eggs retrieved, 4 fertilized and 2 being transferred.

This clinic's strengths are they have a well known rate of pregnancies dated back many years. The Dr.'s all work together and make decisions daily together about the patients. I never had trouble getting an appointment and all messages sent through the patient portal were always received and responded to in a timely manner.

Dr. Oehninger is a very competent physician. We initially liked him because of his bluntness about the procedures and statistical chances of having a child. As days went past during our cycle, it seemed as if we heard less and less from him. He was not available in at least two of our ultrasounds, which to us was a very important time to speak to us. The other physicians conducting the ultrasound screening were not up to date with our progress. Dr Oehninger was not there for our egg retrieval which was very disappointing.

Don't expect coddling. He is very thorough in procedural explanation but definitely do research and ask questions.

The Jones Institute is obviously a very reputable clinic. That is the main reason my wife and I chose it. The institute scheduled our cycle based on the number of people entering the clinic. All of our scheduled appointments were set up to maximize the number of patients per day. It is for this reason that I feel we did not get the attention we wanted. It just seemed like we were another customer just running through the line.

We used an antagonistic approach

The nursing staff was very nice. There did not seem to be much communication between the nurses and between the nurses and doctors.

The clinic is generally quick to get a new patient in. It is likely due to that process that patients are not coddled. It is very straight forward. In and out during ultrasound and bloodwork visits. The nursing staff was very nice and accommodating during our retrieval and transfer appointments. We only had 3 eggs with one mature which had a failed transfer. Our retrieval procedure time was very short. Aspirations took under half an hour. All indications pre retrieval, showed we had at least 8 eggs. After speaking with another clinic, they informed us that their retrieval was much more thorough. It is for this reason we believe we had a failed cycle.

We went with a single cycle option. There was an available shared risk program that was double for a single cycle.

Multiple embryo transfer was explained to us. The Jones institute protocol was to transfer up to two embryos only.

I went into our IVF cycle expecting to be seen by Dr. Oehninger, as our assigned RE. I had really appreciated how much time and information he gave us at our consultation visits and looked forward to him being involved in my care. However, I didn't see him much during the monitoring cycle. Even when I did, a training doctor performed the actual ultrasound. The Jones Institute is part of EVMS so you can expect extra sets of hands and eyes in the room in most cases. My egg retrieval and subsequent transfer were both performed by another member of the practice. When my beta was negative, I would've liked to receive a call from Dr. Oehninger since he was my main RE. Instead, the RE who actually performed my transfer called.

Do your own research so you can keep up with him in conversations. He won't slow down to explain the basics for you automatically so educate yourself beforehand. Also, be prepared to not see him during your course of treatment as it just depends on the REs schedules.

I rarely saw Dr. Oehninger once I started my cycle. Lower level staff or the other REs performed almost all of my monitoring ultrasounds, as well as my egg retrieval and transfer. You don't get to choose who performs your care and it's not consistent.

I was given a standard antagonist protocol following three weeks of birth control. Despite great ultrasound monitoring results leading up to retrieval, the majority of my follicles didn't produce an egg at retrieval.

The nurse who handles blood draws is incredibly sweet. The OR nurses are really wonderful and compassionate, too.

I would've strongly preferred to have received my monitoring results on a regular basis, instead of having to beg for them after the cycle was complete. I kept being told everything was progressing great, but now that I have my blood results on paper, I see that maybe I could've been asking more questions along the way and perhaps our egg retrieval results wouldn't have been so utterly shocking. I think that they have so many patients it's easier for them to just shepherd you through the process and would rather you not have too many details, but I felt a bit like I was naively trusting a process that ended up failing. I was also not pleased at how scarce the embryo development reports were. I would've liked daily communication from the embryologist - but that may be wishful thinking on my part, and just not possible!

The baseline package was $11,500. Meds are of course purchased through a third party pharmacy, but the IVF coordinator really helped us out by telling us about a discount program we were able to apply for.

Had we had two viable embryos, Dr. O had planned to transfer two.

Dr. Oehninger is extremely experienced and intelligent in his field. He is a little rough around the edges as far as bedside manner goes... meaning he is very cut and dry with giving you information and does not sugarcoat it at all. In some instances this worked very well for us because we wanted to get the show on the road but at other times we really kind of needed someone to talk to and we felt rushed. Overall though he is extremely professional, very respectful and you can tell that he truly has our best interest at heart .

Definitely take his advice because he certainly knows what he's talking about however take the time to prepare for appointments and write your questions down before hand otherwise you may forget with how fast he moves through protocol. Definitely be your own advocate. Lastly, don't take his abruptness to heart. Although he may move through appointments quickly he really does care about your success and will remember your quarks and situation dencently well.

I felt like I was treated like a number sometimes because appointments felt really, really rushed. The appointments that I felt like I got the information that I needed were solely because I spent a lot of time prepping for the appointment myself like reading books and articles and coming in with a full list of questions to help guide the conversation. When I didn't do all of this pre-work, The appointments were very quick and my doctor just assumed which way we wanted to go wrote the plan out gave it to us and sent us on our way. I will say, that when our IVF cycle failed and when we were first diagnosed and very motional he did take the time to talk to us and coddle us a bit. I think that he recognizes that this is a very emotional journey for everybody however at the same time he knows that in order to be successful in a lot of cases you must move quickly. I think he also has so much experience specifically with male infertility that he generally knows the best decisions to make and because of that forgets that we've never been through this before so we may need it explained.

We first went to Jones Institute after trying naturally for over a year. The first thing we were instructed to do was a sperm analysis due to the fact that this was cheaper than any female test. That report came back abnormal with extremely low sperm counts and due to the fact that I had regular cycles he encouraged us to move straight forward with IVF. We were unsuccessful and the ratio of eggs retrieved to five day embryo survival was very weak. He noted this in our plan and then encouraged us to save our money and really think hard about sperm donation. We took his advice and started our IUI treatments after that, we got pregnant on the first try. In the process of purchasing donor sperm doctor on anger did a great job referring us to a bank, answering all of our questions, helping us through genetic testing, and giving us advice on the emotional journey of choosing a donor.

Dr. Oehninger's nurse, Heather, is amazing. Like him, she does not mess around and get straight to the point. However when you're doing 4-5 blood tests a week I appreciated this. She was lighthearted and easy to get along with and really showed compassion when you called in with a concern or question. The IVF Coordinator on the other hand is awful. She is extremely sarcastic and "hands off "so she truly looks at you like a number and nothing else. We had concerns over timing with her and tried to sit down with her to look at the schedule she had given us and she acted like she had absolutely zero time for us. When she was training us on how to do medications she rushed to the entire thing so my husband and I felt very uncomfortable and had to go back to our regular nurse for reassurance and retraining. She was horrible about calling us back so we basically had to harass her just to figure out how our embryos were doing during our IVF cycle. I think if someone came in and just helped her organize her self a little bit more she would be a lot more successful and reputable among patients.

This clinic is more of a "strictly business" kind of clinic. They are extremely busy and also shortstaffed which makes it difficult to get calls back or information sometimes. Definitely remember that you are your own best advocate. Take the time to research and plan for appointments with questions or concerns ahead of time.

IVF - $12000 IVF Meds - $4500 IUI - $265 Donor Sperm Storage - ~$300ish per year

I felt like I was with a professional. I knew he understood the best practices and procedures and explained everything to me. I wouldn't say he was high on the compassion scale, but it didn't matter as much to me if going through IVF with him meant a successful pregnancy. He was always straightforward and honest, and he made jokes to help lighten the mood sometimes. I enjoyed my experience.

If you want to achieve a pregnancy, use Dr O. If you're looking for lots of warm and fuzzies during the process, he may not be your doc.

He was very thorough, took time to explain everything to me, and made sure we did a single embryo transfer like I had wanted.

We did IVF, retrieved 13 eggs, and 8 became embryos. We had 3 amazing Day 5 blastocysts, and we chose to transfer 1. Even though there as higher chances to conceive with transferring more than 1, we felt confident with a single embryo transfer and he believed and supported our decision.

We didn't love our nurse coordinator

We had a great experience overall! I wanted to go with a clinic that was trusted and respected. I wanted results. I know this process can be scary, but I felt like if I was investing money in IVF, than it needed to be where we had the highest chances of conceiving. The Jones was the best decision.

I know it was around $20k for IVF plus medication and ICSI plus we had a few other costs that drove up our overall price. In the end it was all worth it!!

He supported our decision for a eSET.

I liked that my Dr. was the director of the top program in the area but with that I felt a disconnect from him at times. Luckily there were other Doctors on staff to pick up slack where his was lacking.

Be tough on the things that are important to you to make sure your voice is heard and that you don't get lost in the crowd.

I felt like though there was a sense of them trying to make every cycle and every patient have their personal touch there were still days where I was just lost in the mix. With lots of cycle starts and long wait times during appointments I would often feel like I just needed to get in and out because I was already stressed about being late to work from waiting on my appointment to start an hour late.

I think the care coordinator does an ok job. I think that because there are so many patients to come each day she looses a bit of her organization. I got a few messages on the medication line that were in correct or hard to understand.

I think they do a good of listening to you as a patient and putting the best efforts on the table for you to achieve your overall goal. There are times where they have so many patients in cycle at once, however, where you might feel a little lost in the shuffle. I would tell a future patient to be strong through this process and to not loose sight of what you feel you need because you feel rushed.

He was very educational, and passionate about what he does. He tells you upfront what to expect throughout the treatments. I felt very comfortable going through our IVF cycles with him. He always explained everything throughouly during our sessions with him. He said ‘ let’s make it happen’ and it sure did! We finally got pregnant with twin girls ! It was such a blessing going to the Jones Institute. I would love to go back there to see him for our third child.

He knows his stuff !

He was very upfront about our procedures. He provided a lot of encouragement throughout the process, especially during our miscarriage.

2nd IVf fresh cycle - he didn’t stimulate a much to get better quality eggs!

They were very compassionate throughout the process . Always made small talk with me , and eased my mind !

The receptionist’s are very good about making your appointments for you, and calling you to follow up. I feel as though the clinic as a whole is exceptional . From our first visit to discuss infertility treatments, until our last treatment . They have quite the outgoing staff. They were very upfront about everything from out treatments, as well as payment options. I feel as though this clinic is the best one around ! I would highly recommend them to anyone going through infertility treatments.

We did a shared risk payment plan. They were very upfront about the cost for everything . They would bill us in an ample amount of time !

I feel as that multiple embryo transfer was right for us . Higher chances of one embryo sticking !!

We really loved him right from the start. Our experience was amazing and everything happened exactly as it was explained to us. We appreciated how direct and honest he was and knowing what to expect. His predictions and diagnosis were spot on.

Don't wait. Just do it. I think he is retiring, but Dr. Bocca is awesome too.

He always made us feel comfortable and confident. Awesome bedside manner, direct, open communication and very sweet personality.

I had a very typical cycle. Follicle stimulation to produce eggs, retrieval, ICSI for insemination with my husband's sperm (male factor infertility, several viable embryos, two embryos transferred, single embryo implantation, single, healthy live birth. ONE CYCLE SUCCESS!!!

Every visit was amazing! We loved all of the staff and every appointment was uplifting and full of hope!

Appointments were easy to make, staff was awesome and we are looking forward to doing it all again! I really appreciated how caring and understanding all of the nurses were every time I went and the visits were all quick without much waiting. I never felt like a number and it's easy to see why people want to come to this clinic.

There were different charges like OR fees, General IVF fees, extra charge for ICSI and medications (about $4,000) that all added up. In total, about $12,000, and I also have 3 frozen embryos they store for $60/month. It will eliminate a large part of the process when we try to have another child.

Dr. O transferred 2 embryos for the first cycle, but after a successful singleton birth recommends strongly only having one transferred for our second child, unless we want twins

I only saw Dr. Oehninger the first appointment for consultation and then we he canceled my cycle, all other times the staff would rotate. The staff is very friendly and compassionate. I did not feel he would know who I was if someone were to ask him.

I would suggest seeing another physician in that clinic if you go to Jones.

I did not see Dr. O but the staff and other physicians I saw were very caring.

We used menopur and gonal-f, omnitrope. He primed my with 2 weeks of OCP.

The staff was friendly and interactive on visits. They were always smiling and nice.

This clinic is hard to schedule appointments with at times. The staff is friendly. You will see a different doctor as they rotate for ultrasounds and OR. I believe if you can drive to different clinics you may be seen by one doctor continuously however that was never the case during my care.

The cost was approx. 15,000 without cost of medications.

They recommended singleton for transfer.

I appreciated Dr Os commitment to my treatment. He laid out a very clear plan and took immediate action. Good sense of humor. Sometimes a little difficult to understand due to accent.

Make an appointment immediately.

I feel like Dr. O did care about me. He seem to be rooting for us and was committed to doing everything in his power to help us get a positive outcome. There were times during the process that the staff left me feeling a bit like a number. For example during blood draws. When we did get a positive pregnancy test, they gave us a personalized card with ultrasound images which was a nice touch.

Communication could be clearer - feel like there we times that things weren't clearly explained - like when to call for appointment/ blood work

I went to Dr. O and SIRM after having 3 retrievals and 5 failed embryo transfers at Cornell. My last two transfers were FET with PGS normal embryos which failed. My RE at Cornell (Samantha Pfeifer) did not believe in testing for Natural Killer Cells, immunological issues or other "out of the box issues" so I sought another opinion. During my consultation with Dr. O he explained what tests he recommended and why, and what the course of action would be. I did a multititude of tests that Cornell did not check for: bloodwork including NKa testing, an endometrial biopsy to test for inflammation (endometritis) and the Receptiva test to test for endometriosis. My husband also did a sperm analysis and DNA fragmentation test. (Cornell also did not recommend the DNA fragmentation test.) All results were normal except I had elevated NKa (25% vs the normal level of 10%). The treatment for this will involve presnidone and possibly intalipid therapy.

Dr. O is kind but direct and responds to emails via their secure system quickly.

I have not yet begun treatment, only diagnostic testing. Will update this as I advance through treatment.

The nursing staff is great, however my husband complained that getting blood drawn was painful and they collapsed a vein in his arm.

A strength of SIRM is they test and treat conditions that the typical clinic may not even test for. I regret not seeing them sooner. Perhaps I could have had a successful transfer of a PGS tested embryo if I was given proper treatment for NK cells.

$50 to reserve consultation (can be applied to treatment), $50 for sperm analysis, $815 payable directly to Recepitva for endometrial biopsy testing for endometriosis. Other costs were covered by insurance.