Victor Fujimoto

UCSF is a high through put clinic with great procedures and protocols in place and a top notch lab. You don't typically see your doctor for monitoring appointments and procedures. For monitoring procedures you see one of many NPs or doctors, and for procedure you see the procedure doctor of the week. I thought all of the doctors and nurses at UCSF were top quality and knew exactly what they were doing, but if you want to have a personal connection with your doctor or if you aren't comfortable being examined by a large number of clinicians this might not be the place for you. They also don't provide much guidance on lifestyle changes or complimentary therapies like acupuncture, you have to be very proactive about those things. One thing that I really appreciated about UCSF was the genetic counseling. We had a complicated PGD case and the genetic counselor we worked with, Chelsea Leonard, was absolutely fantastic. One of the big reasons I picked UCSF is because they have genetic counselors on staff.

I believe in teaching hospitals and think that is a strength in and of itself. If you are looking for someone to get super creative with how to make things happen for you, I'm not sure this is the right place but both of my protocols have been pretty "textbook" antagonist protocols, so hard for me to judge. It is not a boutique fertility clinic - understand that up front. It isn't a weakness, it just is what it is.

I think the care team and lab are very good and I am really happy with the outcome of my cycle. However, the back office / billing is the worst I have ever seen. Be prepared to get charged for hidden costs and extras, after prepaying for the full cycle. They sent me 5 different bills because they could not get it right. They are being very shady about the hidden costs and there is no transparency regarding the extra charges you will be billed for after the cycle is over. I was a self-pay patient and paid the full amount upfront. After the cycle was over, they came after me with bills for additional blood tests, ultrasounds, office visits that I did not request and medications. They do not explain it to you , but what you pay for the cycle is only the beginning. The bill was full of inaccuracies and mistakes and I had to spend hours on the phone with the billing department to walk through them each time. They sent me 5 different bills with a different amount each time, and still could not get it right or explain what they are charging for. They are extremely unresponsive via email and you don’t hear back from them for weeks. They do however threaten to send your bill to collections on a regular basis. It is now 9 months post my cycle and I had given up on trying to get an accurate bill. I paid the outstanding amount, despite it being incorrect, just so that I can close this chapter and move on. Dealing with their incompetent billing team is the most frustrating experience that I don’t ever wish to go through again. Despite the great care team and lab, I am not planning to go back to this clinic.

The clinic is absolutely top of the line and has the latest research. The staff was warm and caring - even staff members you might see only once. They also are able to help patients get medications at low prices - I saved thousands of dollars. Wait times for an initial appointment can be months.

The clinic is pretty great--in a fairly new building that has other things in it like a restaurant. I don't know why, but somehow it made me feel better that I didn't have to walk into some sort of clinic labeled from the outside INFERTILITY in giant red letters. It felt nice to go somewhere that felt more private, but still spacious and nice. The lobby is nice. I also appreciate that there are dedicated financial coordinators who email you. They are a little bit hard to get an immediate response to, but at least I didn't feel like there were surprises in this (very expensive) process. The rooms were always very clean, and there was a quick turnaround from check-in until the time that I was seen. The Nurse Practitioner led class on IUI and injectables was very helpful as well.

The results were great. Pregnant on the first try with the first transfer. You can't argue with that. (Also, note, not using own eggs, so statistically we were highly likely.)

I had a great experience with this clinic. They always ran on time, facilities are brand new, and all of the doctors/nurses I saw were excellent. My only complaint about the clinic is between the pre-cycle coordinator, patient navigator, and billing dept, things can get very disjointed. I am lucky in that my insurance covered my procedures, but UCSF did very little upfront to help coordinate with my insurance (I had to stay on top of it every day to make sure things didn't fall through the cracks like required tests, prior authorizations, etc.). And there were multiple times I would have not gotten my medications on time if I hadn't been so on top of it.

Fine if you don't have any complications or a super hard case. challenge is you don't know if you are one until you try, so I don't recommend this clinic.

UCSF is a big place, and they have a big program. It's easy to feel lost in the machine like environment that they create. If you have standard needs they will work for you. If you require more individualized care they are not the place for you.

Nice facility, clean, organized, easy access from the freeway. Challenge is all of the building going on in the area and construction makes it a bit of a hurdle to access. There are so many people that it doesn't feel intimate or fit for purpose - it feels fit for volume of patients.

Strengths: high performing and knowledgeable team, availability was excellent for appointments, compassionate, clear they knew what they were doing and have a high % of previous successful patients Weakness: Billing department, seeing multiple people throughout

Don't be shocked UCSF is a large practice and you will see many doctors. Your doctor may not perform your procedures and you will work with many of the other doctors. UCSF is a center for excellence and a leader in the field.

The waiting room was clean and comfortable with resources for support, including a book of advice/thoughts for patients to write in and read. The online communication system is very helpful. They respond very quickly when I message them in the online system.