Steven Bayer

**To clarify, we were not undergoing cancer treatments. I must have clicked the wrong Boston IVF option. We were just undergoing standard IVF treatments. Steven Bayer was great in the beginning with the game plan and giving us lots of hope in the treatment plan. After that point, we did not speak with him, see him or work with him until he called us with negative results. During our follow up meeting he did not seem hopeful or committed to finding the right solution.

Go to another clinic.

**To clarify, we were not undergoing cancer treatments. I must have clicked the wrong Boston IVF option. We were just undergoing standard IVF treatments. Boston IVF felt like a factory, where my husband and I were just a number. Dr. Bayer did his best in the beginning to give us hope and lay out the game plan, but the first cycle was very disorganized (mainly with the financial coordinator and nurse instructions) and we did not talk to Dr. Bayer at all during the process until he called to tell us both cycles failed. Our last follow up appt with Dr. Bayer was very discouraging and he did not give us any hope.

**To clarify, we were not undergoing cancer treatments. I must have clicked the wrong Boston IVF option. We were just undergoing standard IVF treatments. Birth control (which backfired), injections and a healthy lifestyle. Birth control to suppress the ovaries. Injections to stimulate follicle growth. A healthy lifestyle to give us the best possible chance.

The nurses were good at answering my questions when I had them, but in general, it felt a bit disorganized because there were several nurses on staff so I didn't feel anyone, in particular, was really monitoring my progress or had a handle on my treatment plan.

**to clarify, we were not undergoing cancer treatments. I must have clicked the wrong Boston IVF option. We were just undergoing a standard IVF process** Strengths: good reputation, big facility with local offices (e.g. they had an office in Quincy which was convenient for us for blood and ultra-sounds) and I loved their acupuncture team in the Domar center. Weaknesses: because Boston IVF is so massive, as a patient I felt like a number being funneled through a factory. No one really seemed to "own" us. Stephen Bayer was very disconnected from our process and my last follow up meeting with him to discuss our failed cycle was awful, not helpful/hopeful and he basically walked me out hysterically crying. I left feeling like a failure with no clear game plan, so my husband and I decided it was time to work with a new facility and team of doctors.

Fortunately, our insurance covers up to 6 rounds of IVF and genetic testing due to my husband's translocation, so we only had to pay co-pays most of the time.

Unfortunately, we didn't make it to this stage during either IVF cycle.

Dr. Bayer was great. I'm a very informed patient (and a RN) and Dr. Bayer always was on the same page with what I was thinking. He was incredibly thorough in his testing, and because of his desire to probe things that weren't quite right, was able to diagnose several issues, including a uterine septum, that would have otherwise gone unnoticed and potentially resulted in a miscarriage. He was very nice and attentive. In opposition to other clinics, the REs at Boston IVF do not do their own monitoring (techs and phlebotomists do it) and retrievals and transfers are done by the doctor on-call and not necessarily your doctor. I heard from my nurse after each appt and only met with Dr. Bayer for wtf appointments or by request. I ended up switching clinics purely because I wanted further testing and to add HGH to my protocol, which Boston IVF does not do. As far as my protocol, Dr. Bayer prescribed the same one as my now current RE. Boston IVF practices very sound medicine, but they aren't very open-minded towards "out-of-the-box" treatments, such as HGH or EFT/E-tegrity tests. This was no fault of Dr. Bayers and I would gladly go back to him if we pursue DE.

I would give this advice regardless of the RE - educate yourself!! You cannot have an educated discussion with any health care provider unless you know what you are talking about and what your options are.

Everyone was nice and accessible.

Normal CD3 testing with HSG (yielded Celiac Disease dx and DOR), since I have a tilted uterus he wasn't happy with the view of my ute he got with the HSG and sent me for a 3D saline sono (yielded endometrioma and potential septum), sent me to surgical OB for hysteroscopy and confirmed septum. Surgical hysteroscopy and lap for septum and endo removal. Antagonist protocol with bcp prep = 7R, 6M, 4F - 3dt of 1 7-cell HIP embryo = BFN Antagonist protocol with EPP = 7R, 3F - 3dt of 8-cell HIP and 10-cell = c/p (added CoQ10 after IVF #1) Then switched clinics for more testing and use of different cycle tools such as HGH.

All of the nurses were great. When my first cycle failed I got a call on a Saturday from an unknown nurse and she was so genuinely sad for my BFN. The manager is also awesome. I did not have a negative experience with any staff member.

Clinic in Waltham with surgery center and Domar Center.

Insurance coverage.

I only did a phone consultation with him because I was out of state, I never met him in person. But in the phone he was very positive, let me ask questions and answered them fully. I wish I had met him in person but it didn’t happen

Make sure you are heard

I was out of state he was very nice and professional

We used an egg donor at this facility (it didn’t give me that option for this review)

Our clinic was in the middle of a merge when we did our fresh egg donor cycle. Amy Alix/Jenna Horton was my nurse and she made me feel like I was her friend. When we came to do our frozen embryo transfer Michelle was my nurse, she made me feel like just another patient. When it came to our pregnancy test our labs were put in the system wrong so I’m the patient portal it said that I was pregnant but it was actually my progesterone levels. She didn’t call until late in the afternoon and said that we weren’t pregnant and it wasn’t until I called back that we were told that our labs were put in wrong. For almost 3 hours we were under the impression that we were pregnant but we really weren’t.

communication needs to be better, if you know your patient has access to lab results through your office and you don’t call until late in the afternoon, you should expect them to look at the patient portal. The mistake should have been told when the phone call was made. When I told Dr. Bauer about the mistake he had excuse for the nurse instead of apologizing right away for the mistake

We only paid $12,000 for our egg donor cycle and we had one from frozen embryo transfer

It wasn’t an option for us

Dr. Bayer is extremely nice, however, most of my contact is with his nursing staff. The nurses are not very forthcoming with information and it appears Dr. Bayer is not very involved in my case as I have only spoken to him once, which includes my initial consultation. Our second meeting I had to initiate on the advice of a friend, due to the number of unanswered questions I had.

Be prepared to be in the dark and spend a lot of money.

Staff was only forthcoming about how much they were going to bill me. Otherwise, treatment and results were vaguely explained. I seek most of my information elsewhere, which is extremely frustrating.

Three natural cycles and three cycles with medication.

Always polite, but not forthcoming with information about procedures or treatment plan.

Boston IVF has a lot of availability, which is helpful for scheduling. However, you have minimal contact with the providers on your case. The facilities are well maintained, but I feel they are more interested in finding ways to bill me, than helping me conceive.

My two office visits with the doctor were covered by my insurance, except for my co-pays. Each insemination was $450, which is performed by a nurse. I was offered a "trigger shot" last minute, with no explanation of its purpose or benefits, at the cost of $650.

Dr. Bayer was attentive and flexible. I suggested back to back IUIs on my last cycle and he was willing to do this although was not what the initial plan was. He was always very calm in delivery of information as well as very patient.

No advice because you are truly in good hands but asking questions , as many as you need to fully understand, is always a good rule of thumb with any doctor

His support staff were wonderful as well as he. Very warm and attentive.

I had 3 IUIS, the third was a back to back (2 days in a row) IUI. I tried Clomid for the first IUI cycle but it affected my mood too greatly so switched to a different medication. Back to Back IUI is what ultimately resulted in a successful pregnancy.

Excellent. Nothing less. I am going through fertility tx currently with another doctor (because Dr. Bayer's office moved to Brookline :( and it was way too far for me) and the current nursing staff is not as good as Dr. Bayers.

It's like a factory, as is very big and they churn out blood work and ultrasounds in the morning, particularly. If you are not on time,usually you have to wait but they will double and triple book for blood work and ultrasounds. Wish it was a bit more intimate and private in his waiting area

Just copays and deductible. My insurance covered

Very kind and intelligent, the only bad things were that he seemed so confident in having a positive outcome and when we didn’t I felt like he didn’t dig into why and just chalked it up to bad luck and didn’t really change cycle protocol

Be prepared not to have contact and commiicafon with him-it all had to be filtered through nurses and he won’t mecessaily do your egg retrieval or transfer

Kind, explained all my questions, spoke in a really respectful way, encouraged us and gave us hope

But on regular ivf cycle-regular protocol

The nurse was VERY prompt in giving results and answering questions. He manner or tone was sometimes a bit cold, but I just think she was like that because she wanted everything to be really clear (which it was.)

It has too many people, patients doctors don’t always do physical transfer etc., their billing department is confusing, disorganized and not helpful. However, they have a lot of doctors so you can find a right for, they have easy to get to locations and they have ALL types of programs so it’s like one stop shopping for fertility.

We spent over 90k on all treatments there and on our gestational carrier.

He would have been fine with putting in two embryos if we had wanted.

Dr. Bayer cared about all of us, Parents and Surrogate. He communicated to all of us equally, and didn’t shrug things off or treat you like another dollar sign. He gave great advice, and education in a way that we all could understand. We all felt extremely cared for and relaxed- opposed to the first time with another provider.

You will love him. He will make you feel at ease.

He would call you himself. Communication was clear. Returned calls in a reasonable time. Actually cared.

Progesterone IM every 3 days, two pills of estrodial vaginally twice a day, and progesterone vaginally twice a day. Then we did the transfer two embryos each time. First pregnancy with him was a singleton, second was triplets.

Amanda, Julia and Dawn were all contacts at one point and were very responsive.

The clinic was very clean, easily accessible for even out of state patients, and had ample parking. They also offered beverages and had a good waiting room. They were timely. Front staff was helpful.

I did not handle finances

I’m glad he did two embryos, even with the resulted triplets- it ended up being worth the risk. We were lucky the babies and myself were all healthy.

He seemed very knowledgeable and helped us feel confident that our treatment would work. We walked out feeling comforted and excited to begin treatment. We only saw doctor Bayer a couple times because I got pregnant the first round of treatment which was amazing!

Trust the process!

He was very kind and understanding.

He started us with Letrozole and then the plan was to use a trigger shot to get me to ovulate but my LH was high enough on its own that I didn’t need it. I ovulated naturally and got pregnant!

They were pleasant.

It’s a little impersonal and kind of a wheelhouse but honestly I didn’t care I just wanted to get pregnant and I knew they were the best. I was willing to be treated like a number if it meant I got pregnant so I ended up being very happy with the results since we did get pregnant right away

My insurance pretty much covered everything which was amazing and I’m very grateful for that.

Dr. Bayer shows compassion and goes above and beyond to make sure as a patient you feel his compassion. I have only worked with Dr. Bayer for a few months and his expertise and caring ways have already exceeded my expectations.

Boston IVF has exceeded our expectations over and over again during our short time as their patients. They provided us with tons of information and resources from day one. They always respond back in a very timely manner and accommodate needs by doing so via email if requested to avoid multiple missed calls or phone calls back and forth due to busy schedules. I have even received answers back on the nurses days off which was completely unexpected but a pleasant surprise!

Realistic about low chances for IUI but allowed me to try anyway. Encouraging about acupuncture. Warm and supportive.

Facility warm and inviting. Alternative therapies encouraged. Parking convenient. Doctors warm, nurses responsive but more business-like.

Longer appointments [than Brigham], took the time to review treatments thoroughly and ask questions.

Dr Bayer explains in detail what he knew to be our issue with our 2 known miscarriages. He took the time to explain we could try cloned and gave us the odds of it working. He was very understanding how we felt and truly wanted to be parents. When cloned didn’t work, my husband and I chose to keep trying naturally. Over the last 4 years we’ve endure the adoption option which ended in a disaster with information we were told but didn’t happen. We pulled out of the adoption last year. We then saw another fertility specialist closer to home, he didn’t care as to why we were there, he told me to lose 50lbs and call him once I did. He went as far to say, he’s seen shorter and wider do it do I can if I put my mind too it. I lost 23lbs hurt my back in the meantime and was killing myself to lose. Then decided to go back to see Dr Bayer this year. Upon entering his office we had the typical how are you doings, then lead to say it’s been a very long 4+ year journey for you. How have you been doing with this? He went into detail as options available and told us honestly he felt the best option would be embryo adoption given we had started an adoption process just last year. Dr Bayer leads with his heart, and truly feels what his patients are experiencing. Not once but twice he told us he can help us become parents, our life long dream. I left there with tears of joy and a heart that was full of happiness finally. We started the process in February, found embryos in August and are in the process of waiting for cycles to do the transfer. I can’t thank Dr Bayer and his team enough for all they have done. Dr Bayer has reassured me on more than one occasion, helping couples become parents is “what his team and Garrison” does!! He’s excited for us

Any and all questions you ask, he will answer truthfully and honestly. He’s in this profession because he truly cares for his patients. Highly recommend him

He’s do down to earth and feels for the heart break his patients go through

We tried 3 cycles clomid due to being younger and having regular periods at that time. At this time in order to begin the process for my frozen embryo transfer, we have started and finished medications to induce a period. Once that happens I’ll take 2 and 1/2 weeks of estrogen, have an ultrasound and if the uterine lining isn’t thick enough, we’ll increase estrogen and have another ultrasound. If uterine lining is thick enough, I’ll have the transfer scheduled then begin progesterone for 10 weeks there after. Everything needs to be perfect in order for my embryo to attach. There is still a chance of miscarriage

I’ve had little contact with my nurse, but each time I do, she checks with Dr Bayer so there is no miscommunication. She through when we do discuss lab results or next steps to ensure I understand how it all works.

As a new patient I felt comfortable and knew everyone I had contact with was very helpful and kind. They treat you like a human and not a number or someone that doesn’t fit a mold that some offices feel you should. They are very empathic to your heartbreak. I’m still trying to find a weakness,although I’m sure they have them, my experience has been seamless thus far.

Dr Bayer is part of my out of nextwork coverage so all bills are paid by me until I reach my deductible. That deductible is very high, so that will not happen. His consult was $350 and the cost for the day of my embryo transfer is $4400 that includes 1 yr of storage fees at their facility.

We will do a single embryo transfer as soon as my cycle begins with a followed ultrasound. One embryo transfer is best for me and my baby at this time to ensure a happy healthy pregnancy.