Verified
Verified
This patient has provided documentation of treatment at this clinic.
2023 - 2024, Unsuccessful
[Dr. Eli Reshef] doesn't understand how his clinic works...Lowest number of oocytes collected and several of them were immature...didn't have the decency for 12 days after the retrieval to tell us the results from the embryology lab...I have in writing from Dr Reshef's clinical care team that "the nursing team will come up with my treatment plan"
[Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago] had too many patients. The quality of care had significantly declined due to overload...wait there for 30-60 mins...Questions over the portal would go unaddressed for several days...kept asking me to do lots of unnecessary testing
How was your experience with Eli Reshef at Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago (Prelude Network clinic) - Gurnee?
If we became his patients, Dr. Reshef promised that the communication will be great and he'd do a peer-to-peer review with my insurance for PGT-A testing. He emphasized that he was on the board of WIN Fertility as if that would help us in any way. He never did either of them. The billing team through financial agreements indicated that the PGT-A testing is self-pay. They wouldn't file for a prior authorization or even a medical claim. This shows that he doesn't understand how his clinic works. We were told by nurses during our cycle that he would call us...he never called. During our meeting, he tried to upsell various procedures (CD138, growth hormone, endometrial biopsy), which all other REs said they are not proven.
Dr. Reshef asked my husband to take DHEA to "improve" his sperm through a nurse. After checking with two urologists and two REs, they told us to absolutely NOT take DHEA, since it can block sperm production. I guess Dr. Reshef and the clinic wanted to make that happen, so that they can upsell sperm donation services, too. When we confronted him later, he said he doesn't recommend this medication for men. It was essentially the nurse providing medical advice on his behalf.
Dr. Reshef was taking pride in the embryology lab. Guess what? This cycle was the worst we have ever done in terms of all success metrics one could quantify. Lowest number of oocytes collected and several of them were immature (so I was not properly stimulated, since we have almost never had immature oocytes in the past). On top of that, the "incredible" embryology lab could not even do in-vitro maturation to mature those oocytes, so they just threw them away. In other words, the lab could not even apply a technique considered standard practice for over 20 years at this point. Dr Reshef made the statement that IVM doesn't result in live birth, which contradicts all medical studies that report 15-25% live birth rates.
He didn't have the decency for 12 days after the retrieval to tell us the results from the embryology lab. When we finally spoke, Dr. Reshef said I have "fragile" eggs. We asked embryologists about that and they said this is the common excuse fertility clinics use to cover mistakes of inexperienced embryologists who damage eggs during ICSI. He seemed disengaged and not interested in our success. Terrible professional conduct and ethics.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Eli Reshef at Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago (Prelude Network clinic) - Gurnee?
Read this clinic's Google reviews mostly talking about frivolous and deceptive billing practices (though, they're actively taking down any negative reviews). Go elsewhere and don't believe the success rates they claim they have. The clinical communication is already bad and you won't understand your treatment plan, which wouldn't work eventually.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Eli Reshef at Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago (Prelude Network clinic) - Gurnee?
The clinic had too many patients. The quality of care had significantly declined due to overload. Every day, I'd go to the clinic and wait there for 30-60 mins until my name is called. Then, brought in for blood draw and ultrasound for only 2 mins. They did a poor job finding veins (sticking the needle all over my arms 4 times a day) and not measuring follicles with accuracy. It is a weird combination of delaying me but also rushing me through the appointment at the same time. I didn't feel like our concerns were addressed at each step. I'd receive a call from a nurse each day to repeat the same from the previous day without any answers. Questions over the portal would go unaddressed for several days. It felt like it was all automated.
Describe the protocols Eli Reshef used in your cycles at Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago (Prelude Network clinic) - Gurnee and their degree of success.
First of all, I have in writing from Dr Reshef's clinical care team that "the nursing team will come up with my treatment plan". The doctor disputed that later saying he made my plan. That aside, they used Antagonist stimulation protocol without BCP. I used 450 IUs of Gonal-F and 10 units of low-dose hCG. Midway through, these dosages were increased to 525 IUs of Gonal-F and 15 units of low-dose hCG. Starting day 4 of stimulation cycle, I used Cetrotide. My stimulation lasted 15 days. I was dual-triggered with 80 units of Lupron and 5,000 units of Novarel an hour later. The next day I did another 80 unit Lupron shot after bloodwork.
The rationale we were given was because it was a simple protocol. Nothing specific in terms of clinical outcomes.
In the end, I got 5 eggs collected, 3 of them mature, 1 fertilized with sperm, but 0 blasts.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago (Prelude Network clinic) - Gurnee. (Assigned nurse: Molly, Denise, Amanda, Maria, Lizbeth)
The nurses kept asking me to do lots of unnecessary testing. Since we came from another clinic, we had all the diagnostics completed there and I sent a bunch of LabCorp results. They insisted to repeat Vit-D, AMH, TSH, CBC, Hysteroscopy, and Pap Smear. I got the tests done with this clinic too but I never heard back about those results from anyone. For example, some labs came back abnormal but they didn't do anything about them. Also, why do a Hyteroscopy / Polypectomy prior to egg retrieval since stimulation hormones might increase the chances of developing more polyps. Finally, Pap Smear is needed for transfers, which we never got to that stage. They shouldn't be going through my cervix in an egg retrieval.
My husband also had to do Gonorrhea / Chlamydia tests despite CDC doesn't recommend them for men who are in a monogamous relationship with women. He uploaded those results to the portal and they would still keep asking for them over and over. He couldn't make any appointments since no one would respond to his messages or calls. Once I finally got his Sperm Analysis appointment for him, they wouldn't send him the results for days. I asked several times in person for his results to be released. They were insisting again and again to freeze his sperm saying that it was the doctor's recommendation. Though, the doctor later denied that, so essentially the nurse was practicing medicine. My husband declined it multiple times in various consent forms. As we came closer to the retrieval, my husband received a message through the portal (yes, we have that in writing) saying that sperm freezing won't be charged.
I again made his Sperm Freezing appointment at the Gurnee location 3 hours away from our home. After he produced his sample taking 6 hours off on a weekday for the round-trip, they forced him to sign a consent form that he agrees to pay $200 for sperm freezing. After several follow-up portal messages, they finally responded trying to convince him that they meant to write that the sperm storage would not be charged, although the message clearly talked about freezing. Several weeks later, they finally admitted in writing that the service was never performed and he shouldn't have been charged. However, getting that money back took several weeks. They gave him 9 days to pay but they take 30 days to refund the charge.
I would go there every single day, 2-3h drive one-way. Total of 13 visits. Wait in the lobby for 30-60 mins to be called in. Their phlebotomists were incompetent. They literally couldn't draw blood and kept saying "your veins roll", which is news to me. Up till this age, I've been to various labs around the US and been treated at another fertility clinic for 2 years with no such complaints. The ultrasound technician would just take a video of left and right ovary, without any measurements done. Then, I would leave and wait for them to update my portal and give me a call later in the afternoon to repeat the same for the next day.
Doing an ultrasound every day was confusing since we would see follicles grow one day and then shrink the next. Different technicians taking measurements with the aforementioned scrappy method, even Dr. Reshef himself was getting confused to the point that he wanted to cancel my cycle since he thought my follicles weren't growing (while estrogen levels were steadily rising). Next day, I went in for an ultrasound and, of course, follicles had grown compared to 2-3 days ago. They were probably doing that so that they can charge my insurance more although it was unnecessary and confusing even for the doctor.
The day of the trigger, Molly RNC called. Our first disappointment was the news of 0-5 expected eggs, while we were expecting for more than 5 by looking at the measurements and estrogen levels. She wanted us to stay awake until 1:30 AM in the morning to do a dual trigger. So, I asked if I could go to the clinic later in the day for bloodwork. We were exhausted as they had me go there unnecessarily for several days in a row. Molly replied, "You picked a clinic that is 2 hours away, so this is your problem. It is ok for your life to be miserable and for you to be tired. I also have to wake up at 5AM every day." She's getting paid to do her job while I cover my medical expenses to be a patient there. Plus, I doubt that she's sleeping at 1:30 AM. Draw your own conclusions based on her words about how this clinic treats patients (or to more accurately "paying customers"). She was so dismissive when I asked her about my fertilization results and whether IVM was performed. Molly said, "If your eggs aren't fertilized by today, they were discarded." She had this attitude in every single interaction that she was looking down on us as if she knows everything and we just don't understand, which wasn't the case.
I've never received my embryology lab report (a month has passed) despite asking for it several times. In the interim, I got a call a few weeks ago from a third party coordinator about transporting our specimen (?) from another clinic to AFCC. This is how disorganized they are. Who knows for whom this request was? We obviously don't want anything to do with this clinic. It was a huge mistake on our end to have gone there for a cycle in the first place. The absolutely horrible experience we had with AFCC taught us that we should have appreciated our previous provider and clinic.
Describe your experience with Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago (Prelude Network clinic) - Gurnee.
We went there believing their clinical data. However, it's from 2 years ago when Dr. Irani was still around. After he left, clinical outcomes must have gone south. This clinic isn't doing business in good faith. Our experience was beyond inhumane. We feel defrauded after going to this clinic. Employees were rude and seemed to go to work only to collect their paychecks at the end of the month (including the doctor unfortunately). Finally, the embryologists don't seem properly dressed up for a lab environment.
They are so disorganized that I’m afraid that they might send me a bill in the mail 9 months later for some additional charge even though I had my insurance contact them in a recorded call to confirm that everything was billed to insurance, I have no pending charges, and I have $0 balance as of now.
I should’ve known this from the get-go as they took 2 months to bill my insurance for our initial consultation. When you call to make an appointment the first piece of information they request is insurance details. They send you a link to establish your portal login. One can't create a patient account without scanning your insurance card front and back. However, a month after my initial consultation I received a bill from them. I asked them to bill my insurance instead. They said the didn't have my insurance information. Calling in and messaging for 2-3 weeks, they just couldn't file my claim. Eventually, I had my insurance call them to assist in filing the claim more than 60 days post service date. My insurance denies claims received more than 90 days after the date of service so I was really getting nervous. As a patient going through this type of intense treatment and getting stressed with little details result in bad treatment outcomes. This might indeed be their goal to keep you around for financial reasons.
Additionally, my husband had to fight for a refund of his bogus $200 sperm freezing payment.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Eli Reshef at Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago (Prelude Network clinic) - Gurnee.
All services are charged for outrageous amounts of money. Diagnostics cost $2K. Every single clinic visit costs more than $1K. Retrieval and embryology lab services are more than $25K. Testing is an additional $5K. Medications are a separate $20K.
Describe Eli Reshef's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago (Prelude Network clinic) - Gurnee.
We asked for DET because of my age and our previous experiences. He seemed fine with it.
What specific things went wrong at Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago (Prelude Network clinic) - Gurnee?
- Lost paperwork
- Lost appointments
- Failed to call with results
- Failed to order appropriate test
- Lost results
- Provided conflicting information
- Failed to convey critical information
- Lost or damaged samples
- Scheduled the wrong procedure
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago (Prelude Network clinic) - Gurnee.
Relying only on portal messages with the clinical team and not being able to directly speak to someone makes things worse. Even when you write to them, you may not hear back for a long time if ever. They don't note what was discussed on your chart and someone later has to go through a long chain of messages to figure out what went wrong. That's why they lose results, paperwork, claims, etc. Miscommunications happen frequently. Nurses always say they speak on behalf of the doctor but when we asked the doctor he denied the specific instances. Are the nurses really getting the info from the doctor or are they practicing medicine?
You ask something, you get a response a week later. If you have a follow-up question, too bad, you need to wait for another week. This is really an ineffective way of communication. They're unaware of the inner workings of other departments (even the doctor) so they give you inaccurate information all the time.
