Simon Kipersztok (retired)

Dr. Kipersztock was compassionate and seemed to be invested in our success. He was optimistic and yet honest about my condition and our chances of success. I felt that he did the best he could with the volume of patients that he was seeing. I never felt like he did not care. He had good bedside manner during my monitoring appointments and he was understanding and patient when we became frustrated with our insurance company.

Dr. Kipersztok will answer your questions, but you should bring them with you to your visit.

Dr. K called me personally after my retrieval, my transfer, and my chemical pregnancy. He took the time to answer our questions and address our concerns during our consultations and the numerous monitoring appointments.

Due to our insurance coverage, we had to do 6 cycles of a lower cost treatment before going for IVF. Dr. K went with our preferences for timed intercourse/ovulation induction due to our financial restraints. The cost for 6 cycles of IUI was too much for us at the time, so we worked with us to satisfy the requirements for our insurance to cover half of the IVF cost. Dr. K also appealed to the director of our insurance company on our behalf (to move forward with IVF after 4-5 cycles), though it was denied. We really appreciated this. He was very clear that IVF was probably the only way we would be able to conceive.

It is difficult to not feel like "just a number" when you are going through numerous cycles of fertility treatments with a high volume clinic. No matter how wonderful the staff is, you cannot help but feel like part of a herd. The staff asked how we were doing at each visit and explained what was going on at each monitoring visit. They use fertility jargon so you have to come to understand the lingo, which I think is just about anywhere. Our nurse was very prompt and good with explaining next steps and instructions. She was accessible by email and phone, and we felt she cared about our success. The financial coordinator is very clear cut and to the point, which I guess is to be expected. She was patient and explained when we had questions about our bills, but we had to ask specific questions to get all the information we wanted/needed.

I did not know what to expect when we first started out with treatments, but we chose the clinic because of the reputation and its proximity to home and work. The staff was pretty friendly (there has been some turnover since our last treatment), and we got to know them throughout our treatment process. Some are more compassionate about what is going on with you than others, some are more business oriented. I felt they were honest about whether we were good candidates for certain treatments, and about our chances of success. Though they will provide information on financing options, I wish there were more options in terms of payments. In my opinion, the credit company they use is predatory and charges an extraordinary loan interest/initiation rate. You will feel like part of a herd. That's the nature of a high volume fertility treatment. But I firmly believe that you decide what you get out of the staff and doctors. If you want to fly under the radar, you can. If you want to be actively engaged with the team, be sure to have your questions ready. Do not feel bad about asking questions, because you are paying a good amount of money for your care and this is treatment you will be emotionally invested in. If you don't like a particular doctor/nurse, you can change to another doctor/nurse. At my particular office, there was only one doctor and two nurses, but you will see other doctors/nurses when you go for procedures at the bigger offices.

The monitoring appointments were very early in the morning- usually 7am-8:45am. This worked for me personally because of my work schedule, but it might not work for everyone. The phlebotomist was very nice and competent at my clinic. The clinic I went to was smaller than the other ones, so I did not mind the monitoring so much. However, the clinic was closed on weekends and holidays, so for monitoring on those days i had to drive an hour away. At the larger clinics, you definitely feel like a cattle in line. The nurse would call by 3pm with results and instructions.

Due to our insurance, we had to cover 50% of all procedures, sonograms, blood work, and x-rays. We paid for all our medication out of pocket. The cost of IVF was about 9,000 and our insurance covered half. The medication for IVF was about 2,000-3,000. Between our IVF and our 6 ovulation induction cycles, we spent almost 20,000.

Due to my unicornuate uterus, Dr. K was clear with us that a single embryo would be in the best interest of my health and a potential baby's health, especially knowing my desire to not have to terminate a fetus if two embryos did implant.

Dr. Kipersztok very much cared about me as a patient, but it didn't seem to show until after we failed a couple times. He personally made time to call me, even on his days off, with results and other important news during my cycles.

Advocate for yourself. Don't be afraid to ask for the level of communication you need.

For the first two cycles, I felt very much so treated as a number. Different REs did my retrievals and transfers, even though Dr. Kipersztok was my primary RE. For the third cycle, it felt much more like he personally cared about my case, especially since we had two miserable failures preceding this. He requested to personally do both my retrieval and transfer, and that was the cycle that worked.

I started with the generic protocol (Menopur + Gonal-F) for the first cycle. We did an eSET on day 5 that was unsuccessful (chemical pregnancy) and didn't have any embryos that made it to the freezer. For the next cycle, we added Lupron to my protocol in addition to the Menopur and Gonal-F. That produced almost double the eggs of the first cycle. We transferred two embryos on day 5 and none made it to the freezer again. This cycle was also unsuccessful. For the third cycle, we kept the same medication protocol, but transferred two embryos on day 3 and had one embryo make it to the freezer on day 5. That was the cycle that worked.

The nurses sometimes assumed that you knew what you were doing when you had no clue. It was also a toss-up on when they would call you with test or monitoring results. For my second cycle, my nurse forgot to send my prescription for my medications to the specialty pharmacy. We didn't catch that until my baseline scan and I had to scramble to get my meds in time to start my cycle. Monitoring always seemed very rushed in the mornings and there wasn't always a lot of time for questions or personal care.

This clinic has a wide network across my larger geographical area. My normal clinic was 45 minutes from my house. It was closed on the weekends, so I had to drive 90 minutes on the weekends for monitoring. Perhaps due to its size, I often felt like a number rather than a patient. Billing can be frustrating to work with, as it is in a separate office and my clinic's staff would simply tell me to call them. It was very difficult to understand billing statements and procedure codes. Since I had to pay a significant amount out of pocket, this was very frustrating.

We paid approximately $7500 per cycle for clinic costs plus approximately $3000 per cycle for medication. That was with insurance covering 50% of both the clinic costs and the medication.

Dr. Kipersztok highly recommends eSET, especially for the first cycle. He will always recommend eSET, but will yield to your decision if you would like to transfer two embryos.

Dr. King is amazing. From the first day, he did everything he could to make sure we brought home a baby. He was thorough, clear and has a wonderful bedside manner. When we went for our FET, he asked about our oldest and asked me to bring her in for a visit. He has a warm demeanor and is caring and funny. He isn't just trying to get through a cycle quickly. I was diagnosed with several issues (blocked tunes, endometriomas) and he made sure we corrected those issues before beginning to give me the best possibility of success. Even when we were very pregnant, he called the check in. I'm glad we stuck with him through our FET instead of staying in Annapolis. He gave me both of my babies!

Don't lie! He needs to know everything. Don't be afraid, just come out with everything so he can give you the best treatment plan.

He was personal. Asked personal details about my life. Followed up with me. He held my hand when I found out about my miscarriage. You can just tell his is just as invested in your journey as you are.

We did IVF with ICSI for both fresh cycles. We did not use Lurpron because of the reactions I have to it. With my lack of my right ovary and damaged left tube, plus my husbands low counts and motility, he knew IVF was our best shot and IUI would probably be a waste of our limited resources. We also did 5 day embryo transfers, just to make sure they were all still growing.

I never met a bad nurse at Shady Grove. Dawn was great and supportive. I had less integration with Sarah. But she was equally ands friendly. There is just less monitoring for FET. There was ands nurse named Jackie who was in the room when I found out about my miscarriage who hugged me for what felt like forever. I think of her all the time. Everyone is invested, just like you.

I don't know if any weaknesses. This place runs like a well oiled machine. My first cycles, they would get behind on bloodwork, but at Waldorf, there were no delays.

Our first fresh cycle was almost $18k. That included prescriptions. Our second cycle, we had a grant from the Cade Foundation, so we only spent about $11k. Our FET was $5000 and we spent around another $1000 on meds.

Dr.K is a big believer in eSET. That was the one aspect of treatment he was the least bit pushy about. He explained the risk of multiples and they rising success rates of SETs.

My husband and I got married December 2015. Of course after you get married here comes the baby in the baby carriage...as the song would say. After trying almost a year before we got married and nothing was happening, I knew it was time to get some help. I reached out to Shady Grove in Waldorf and Dr. K was so welcoming and understanding. He sat down with my husband and I and went over our options. He truly gave us hope.

The one piece of advice I would give is to just have faith and patience; both will truly get you through the process.

The fertility process is so emotional. However, Dr. K had patience and helped me through the process. He was totally a blessing.

I was on Provera to get my period started. Once my period started I had to go in once a week for testing. Next, I had to take meds to help me ovulate. Lastly, once my follicles were at the correct size I had to give myself a shot called Ovidrel to help me the sperm travel to my ovaries. This is a short but brief description.

The entire staff at Shady Grove is amazing. I use to get so emotional every time I would have an appointment and the staff would just give me words of wisdom throughout my treatment. It has been such a pleasure working with them.

The only weakness I would say is my past nurse was not a good communicator. However, since then she and Dr. K have left a few new people have started and I have been nothing but please with the follow-up call and our options.

The IUI treatment equal to $2,000 including treatment, copays, and meds

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I don't know what all else he has going on in his life, but Dr K is not a good doctor. He doesn't have much compassion when things go wrong, he fails to communicate vital information and then blames you for "not reading all the paperwork" that you ever got on this fertility journey. He claims he had know way to know there was a problem with your progress during a treatment when it was a hormone level that was regularly checked. He is quick to pass blame on anyone but himself and not quick to come up with helpful alternatives. My experience with him was frustrating and disheartening to say the least

Find a different doctor. Not all Shady Grove doctors are the same. It's worth the added drive to another Shady Grove location (added over an hour to my drive when I switched locations) but it was well worth it to get a Doctor who had compassion, organization, and good communication.

Dr K always seemed rushed. It's not that I don't think he cared, it just seemed like he was often overwhelmed

Shady Grove Waldorf has an excellent staff. Dana is a rock star who always is helpful and has answers. The rest of the ladies in the office are always great to interact with. Love all of the Waldorf Staff except Dr. Kiperzstok which is unfortunate since he's the only dr at this location