Fertility Solutions of New England

Dr Huang showed a great deal of compassion towards our struggle from the beginning, and the moment I met her I knew she would do everything she could to help us. She is devoted to ensuring her patients receive individual and personal care. It’s Dr Huang’s mission to make everyone feel safe and comfortable and she certainly succeeds in this. If you’re looking for a clinic where you’re not a number and your hand is held every step of the way, this is the place to go. However, as more information about my condition was uncovered, I felt as though next steps and the “right thing to do” was a guess. I know fertility doctors do not know it all by any means, but I wasn’t sure the complexity of my case was within her realm (and by the way, my case was very complicated and somewhat a mystery!). Often times I craved upfront and candid direction but was instead given a range of choices that could work, or could not work, it would all totally depend. Again, infertility is frustrating and unclear for many, but at a certain point, I needed a more experienced doctor/surgeon to take over my case so I moved on to another clinic for another opinion.

Smaller clinics like Fertility Solutions certainly have their benefits (more individualized attention, personal experiences, safe and comfortable environments), but because they see a smaller number of patients, they tend to not “see it all” in terms of cases and conditions. If you have a complicated diagnosis, go with a larger hospital or clinic with more doctors.

I started with IUI as most fertility clinics do. This was when I didn’t have a diagnosis of endometriosis yet. All 3 cycles failed. I moved to IVF and I was put on 225 units of Gonal F and cetrotide. I remember thinking my Gonal F needed to be increased more after a certain stage of egg development but they kept it about the same. I had 23 eggs retrieved. No hyper-stimulation. Did a fresh transfer which resulted in an ovarian ectopic. I sadly lost my ovary in the surgery I received to remove the pregnancy. But I bounced back fairly quickly and transferred the remaining 6 embryos I had left, month after month. All failed. I did one more egg retrieval with Dr Huang with my one ovary and they retrieved 9 eggs. 3 became embryos and we did PGS. Only 1 was normal and sadly, I had another ectopic. This was when we decided to switch clinics

I could go in between 7-9am and I actually enjoyed my monitoring visits! The reason is because I loved the staff at the Woburn office. Jaime, the woman who draws blood there (she’s the only one!) is warm, sweet and nurturing. It was a pleasure talking to her - she distracted me from the pain and stress and made me smile every single time I was in. I am so grateful for her and for Deb, an admin at the Woburn office as well. What a wonderful team they were.

I was lucky to have insurance cover the majority of my treatments, so I did not pay much out of pocket.

We did eSET which I thought was the right choice

I am very pleased with my experinece at Fertility Solution. Dr. Carol is extremely professional and smart. She is also kind and have a good sense of humor. But also Dr. Pei-Li Huang and Dr. Ania Kowalik are fantastic. You will get to meet them all. They are a wonderful team of brave women that know exactly what they are doing.

After the first time I met Dr. Anania I felt good, I knew she was the right Dr. for me. I did have a second opinion with many other Dr.s before her but none of them made me feel I was in the right hands. She is honest and smart and kind. I will recommend her to anyone. I would also recommend Dr. Ania Kowalik or Dr. Pei-Li Huang. They are a very close team so it doesn't really matter who you choose. They are all fantastic. Dr. Ania did my retrieval and transfer and she was great.

She used a OCP antagonist protocol.

All the cost were covered by the insurance.

Dr. Huang took great care in connecting with me as a human. She understood my goals and respected my wishes for treatment. Even when I later moved out of state, I was able to rely on her for medical counsel and compassion. She’s a really special medical provider.

Dr. Huang explains why she recommends each treatment and procedure so even if you don’t think of all your questions she will be super helpful. You can rest assured you will be in great hands.

With Dr. Huang I did unmedicated IUIs at my request and she respected my wishes on that. It felt like a very collaborative approach.

Almost nothing. My insurance covered over 95% of treatment and meds (other than donor sperm).

I haven’t done any embryo transfers.

She was always attentive. She called us with results. She was always available to discuss questions/concerns we had. Very knowledgeable and thorough in our pre tests and throughout our cycles. She always went through the various options we had and the pros and cons of those.

Not just Dr. Kowalik. Any fertility clinic, be informed. Make sure you are as informed as the doctor on the procedure or the protocol so you can ask the right questions. Dr. Kowalik was always good about getting us all the information we needed/wanted and helping us through any questions.

We had the unfortunate experience of attempting to work with Fertility Solutions to help begin our family and it was one of the worst experiences we've ever had with a Doctor. Dr. Huang had an extremely negative attitude towards us from the beginning, making it clear to us that we were ultimately not going to work with her. It all started with her telling us that the chances of us obtaining a viable embryo were extremely unlikely due to my age, and the age of our egg donor. She encouraged us to choose a different donor instead, which we declined. She continued to raise this point at least three times during the meeting even though we told her we weren’t interested. We went on to discuss the medical history of my family, and she then told me that I will likely end up with prostate cancer because a family member had it, and because I am taking a medication that promotes it. All completely inaccurate. The conversation continued to fall apart when she told us that they would not even attempt to bill our medical insurance, because we're a gay couple, and she didn’t think that insurance for fertility was intended to cover same sex couples. She said we would need to pay in cash, and that she wouldn’t feel right even trying to have insurance cover the cost of any portion of the fertility treatments. The nail in the coffin was when she informed us that if we moved forward with them, and did obtain a viable embryo, we would not be allowed to know the sex of the embryo or be allowed to choose which embryo we wanted to use. She stated that they did not believe in "discarding embryos" that were not the gender we wanted to start our family with. Not once did we ever tell her we would ever discard an embryo. Who the hell do these people think they are? She was so insulting and offensive to us and we left the appointment feeling completely defeated. I walked away from that saying that I was done, and that I gave up because I was so upset. My spouse on the other hand was talking with another clinic in Boston and we ended up having a consultation that was a complete 180 from our awful experience with Dr. Huang. Not only did our new doctor tell us that everything she said was bogus, he said that with current medical technology the chances we could obtain viable embryos were much much higher than what Fertility Solutions told us. They also said that they would absolutely try to get our treatments covered through insurance and would help us as much as possible through that process. Months later, both us and our donor are ready to go, insurance IS covering the treatments, saving us $50,000, and we have a very high likelihood of viable embryos based off of the tests we've all had done to prepare for retrieval. I can see based on reviews that Fertility Solutions has done a lot of great things for a lot of families, but for us it was nothing short of a nightmare from the beginning. For some reason they treated us very differently. I am so thankful we found a fertility clinic that has treated us respectfully, and with optimism.

Avoid her at all costs.

Horrible! She had no compassion for our needs and seemed to discourage us from trying to start a family.

I like her because she is clear and to the point with information without it being overwhelming. She presents all options and gives her opinion on which will be the best course of treatment but makes it clear that it is the patients choice how to move forward with treatment. I personally appreciate a straight forward approach in medical setting so I like this a lot about her, but could see it not being for everyone.

She has so much information and doesn't want to waste a patients time so come prepared with questions and she will be able to answer them!

So I started my IVF cycle on 10 days of birth control, had hormone levels checked and then started treatment to prepare for my egg retrieval. I did 10 days of 200 iui of Gonal-F followed by 2 days at 150 iui. 12 total days on Gonal-F. Days 7-11 I did prefilled syringes of Ganirelix. Day 12 I didn't trigger shot of 10,000 in 1ml of water. The egg retrieval day 14. Then day 5 embryo transfer.

She is extremely considerate of my wife, a trans women, who doesn't have any legal name change but has never once dead named her and made sure her name was on all visible parts of our file and her dead name was only used when legally necessary. The second she was knowledgeable about trans fertility and fertility preservation which is what we were seeking. After that she diagnosed my wife with infertility.

My insurance count them as specialist visit so they are $50. My saline sonogram was $150 after insurance. They also have adjusted self pay options that I have not used.

Beginning at the very first meeting with Dr. Kowalik, it was clear that she was a blunt, smart, no-nonsense, to-the-point type of doctor. Although would have preferred someone with a warmer demeanor, I did not think that her attitude would be a factor in the quality of my treatment, which was a wrong assumption. Her lack of compassion and, quite frankly, her callousness in several of our interactions was a huge factor in me seeking out a different fertility clinic for my second cycle. Dr. Kowalik literally SCOFFED at me on more than one occasion when I asked her medical questions. As if I, a woman with no medical background and no prior knowledge of the IVF process, would have intimate knowledge of what was going on. I felt rushed when I spoke with her and she was often condescending when we spoke. During my cycle, there were unexpected complications at one point and she treated a heart-breaking and terrifying experience in a very apathetic and almost annoyed manner.

Be prepared to do your own research, fill in many blanks by yourself and through other doctors and do not expect a personal touch.

The original plan was IVF with ICSI, embryo genetic screening and then frozen embryo transfer. Unfortunately, only a fraction of the eggs expected were retrieved and then only 2 were successfully fertilized. There was NO back-up plan or any sort of indication that this was even a possibility and so a last minute 3 day embryo transfer instead of 3 weeks was quite a shock. The whole entire process, I was given only the most basic, broad information about a subject I know nothing about and was only given specifics about the next steps when I explicitly asked. I was often left feeling in the dark after our conversations, and yet, whenever I couldn't get in contact with her and had to speak to another doctor or nurse at the facility, I was given so much more information and more accurate timelines.

Costs were mostly covered by insurance. We paid $2,500 for genetic screening, which we ended up not using because of unexpected results. I was never contacted about getting a refund or told anything about my balance until I contacted Fertility Solutions about the issue.

I honestly don't have any weaknesses to list. Dr. Kowalik was great to work with....very clear in her explanations, and honest about positives and negatives along the way. At one point we had a minor setback...a small polyp was discovered during a repeat SHG, which required surgery before we could proceed with our IVF cycle. She performed this surgery as well and I was very pleased with my experience during that process as well.

I found her to be very professional. If you are looking for "warm and fuzzy" she may not be the best fit, but my husband and I felt very comfortable with her expertise. Also, one important thing to note about this practice as a whole...if you are looking for it (it was not a priority for us at all), they do not let you know the gender of your embryos. We were told very firmly that it is against the mission of their practice.

I started my journey with an HSG at a different facility (the hospital my regular OB works out of) in August of 2018. I got pregnant naturally in the same cycle as this procedure, but suffered a miscarriage in October 2018. I met with Dr. Kowalik in April 2019. We first did two IUI cycles, using Clomid and Ovidrel trigger shot, and then progesterone suppositories. Both were unsuccessful. We decided to start the IVF process later in the summer of 2019. My insurance required a repeat HSG since it had been a year. During that process a small polyp was discovered, which required surgery to remove. After my surgery, I was finally able to start the stim / retrieval process in October 2019. After a cycle on birth control I was prescribed Gonal-F and Ganirelix. My retrieval yielded 8 follicles, from which we got 4 fertilized, 2 made it to day 5 and were sent to PGS testing. We had 1 normal embryo. I started a natural FET cycle in December 2019, and transferred my one embryo on December 23, which resulted in the little girl I am holding right now!

Monitoring appointments were very organized. They opened early enough that I was able to fit them in before work. You were given an appointment time to help stagger the number of people in the office at once, so I don't think I ever waited more than 10-15 minutes.

My insurance covered most of it, so it was just co-pays/deductible. It was definitely under $1000 total for all procedures and medications.

Because of my age, we could have chosen to transfer 2 embryos had we not done PGS testing. However Dr. Kowalik did not recommend transferring 2 PGS tested embryos as the chance of success is so much higher.

Dr. Huang is very thorough and while at time I get frustrated because I want an immediate solution I know that ultimately she is doing the right thing. After my last miscarriage she made sure to perform a hysteroscopy herself as the D&C was performed by another doctor's office since I had "graduated" from the fertility clinic where we found pregnancy tissue left behind. She then performed an additional D&C herself where shes corrected the issue of leftover tissue and performed a second hysteroscopy to ensure the tissue was gone. Although I expressed frustrations with all the set-backs she comforted me by saying that we didn't want to place a good embryo in an uterus that was not ready/the most optimal conditions.

For 1st FET cycle: Antagonist Protocol - Stimulated using Gonal-F, HCG & Lupron Trigger Shot. We had 19 eggs retrieved, 16 were mature, 11 fertilized and 7 embryos were sent for PGS testing (since I had a history of recurrent pregnancy loss). 5 Embryos came back PGS normal and we transferred 1 5AA PGS Normal embryo which ended in a miscarriage at 8 weeks.

Our costs were primarily covered by insurance but we had to pay about $1,000 out of pocket for the FET cycle and about $4,000 for the PGS testing.

Dr. Huang preferred I only transferred one embryo because although I have a history of pregnancy loss I have had pregnancies last for several weeks+ so we know implantation occurs and she felt that the risks of a multiples pregnancy was greater for me.

Upon our initial visit, we were provided with the potential issues that have lead to our infertility. After 4 cycles of clomid, it was determined that Ivf was the best coarse of action. This was our first time going through the process. Perhaps researching the process a bit more would have been helpful as we did not know what questions to ask. Because of our limited insurance coverage and low number of retrieved eggs (5), perhaps an icsi procedure would have given us a better chance of fertilization. This option was never discussed. We have 1 more chance at retrieval with insurance coverage. Hopefully this next retrieval will be successful. All in all, Dr. Kowalik is a medical professional that presumably does what she thinks is best. We trust her.

Discuss your financial situation and how that limits the number of retrieval’s your insurance covers. Discuss the methods of fertilization to be employed with the doctor that maximize the potential for fertilization.

8 daily gonal (250 ui) injections (increases egg production) 4 ganirelix (75 ui) injections (stops premature ovulation) 1 novarel injection (trigger shot) Total of nine days. Results: no viable eggs were retrieved. We are currently in the midst of a second attempt ivf cycle. Dr. Kowalik has added menopur to the mix. It supplements the gonal injections. Wish us luck.

The satellite office (Providence) hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 730 am to 9am. There is rarely a wait.

A doctor consultation is $200 Blood work and ultrasounds are billed at $200-$300 Ivf Meds billed at $4000 Ivf billed at aprox. $13,000 Our lifetime fertility coverage under insurance is $15,000 and $5000 for meds. Because of detuctibles and other financial mysteries we basically have 2 tries at Ivf. We are in the midst of our second try.

There has been no discussion of this subject.

We came to Dr. Kowalik after a less than ideal experience at another clinic. We were always a low probability case, and she was realistic but very compassionate with us, promising (and following through on her promises) to do everything she could to help us achieve success one way or another. In the month between the 2 rounds we did with her, I actually fell pregnant naturally. However, it was not to be. Dr. Kowalik did everything she could to help me sustain the pregnancy until it was clear that it would not continue, and cared for me through the miscarriage. We made adjustments for the final round and finally, an embryo took. My husband and I were already talking about moving onto donor eggs assuming the final round would fail, and she said that she’d help us through that if it came to donor eggs, but in the meantime, she was 100% focused on the round at hand and needed us to be the same. Her commitment to her patients is unparalleled.

Be honest with her. Let her know exactly what’s on your mind and she will do everything in her power to get you to your goal.

My previous clinic used an antagonist protocol with estrogen priming and crinone for luteal support. I bled before both betas there. The first observation Dr. Kowalik made after reading my records was that I clearly had insufficient luteal support and she switched me to PIO shots. Concerned that the priming was suppressing me too much (I’d had 4 mature eggs in each of my first 2 rounds), she switched me to a microflare protocol (10 Lupron morning and night, 450 Gonal F). In the first round we got 5 eggs, all mature, all fertilized. 1 had arrested and 1 was arresting on day 3- we transferred the other 3 and beta was negative. For the second round, protocol remained the same except we added Omnitrope (.333) for the 9 days of stims as well as EmbryoGen growth medium. We got 4 eggs, all mature, all fertilized. All were still growing on day 3, despite one being graded poor and 2 fair on day 1. All were transferred. We achieved pregnancy and I learned at my first ultrasound with my ob that 2 had actually implanted, though only one developed. I’m currently 21 weeks pregnant with that one.

I remember that pit of pocket, the cost would have been close to $9000, which was comparable to my previous clinic. I am lucky to have good insurance, so aside from the medication costs (about $275 for each round), the rounds themselves cost $40 each and my consultations with Dr. Kowalik were also $40.

I’d had this discussion with my previous clinic. Due to my age and the limited number of embryos we always got, we were always going to transfer all that looked healthy, within SART guidelines.

Dr. Anania was a breath of fresh air in this difficult journey. I came to her very distraught from a bad experience at a previous clinic. She always took her time and had a thorough discussion with me. She actually listens and cares!

She is the best doctor I have ever had!

I was offered a treatment of clomid IUI, but I declined as this had not worked previously. I was not a candidate for IVF with this clinic because they have a strict weight limit and I was 1 BMI point too high in the end. She was patient and allowed me time to lose weight, but in the end I was unable to lose enough weight fast enough and there was concern if we kept waiting I may not have any eggs left. I genuinely tried, but the weight wasn’t dropping fast enough. She was kind enough to recommend a clinic who would treat me, rather than waste time.

I only pay deductible and copays with my insurance.

N/A

Dr.Kowalik is down to earth. I brought in a huge folder of all my past test and bloodwork my first day meeting her and she sat there and went through each page. Most doctors I've had experiences with would have pushed it aside. She even calls with updsates versus having staff do it. She explaines things in "mechanic terms for my husband so he can understand each process we will embark on.

Lay it all on the table, she is very understanding and doesn't judge .

I will be planning on proceeding with an antagonist cycle with Lupron to prevent ohss since I have pcos. I have started with provera to induce a cycle and will start with a month of birth control.

Our consult and bloodwork were about a 1000 Ivf cycle is around 9500 And meds around 5000

She explained that if we have healthy embryos then 1 would be ideal. My husband and myself have decided on 2 either way in which she advised us against it but after deliberation we will be signing a form to allow 2

I felt that this doctor was too busy running her clinic to pay any attention to patients. Instead of giving me a new blood test to check my hormones, they used an old test and therefore I ended up doing treatments for a week longer than normal. The doctor also forgot to give me more medication, and then a major snowstorm hit and I had to arrange with a nurse to leave medication out for me on the front stoop of the clinic. I had to drive two hours in a blizzard to pick up medication because no one checked in with me!

I would definitely not recommend this doctor. I only went to this clinic on the recommendation of a friend who had seen a different doctor here. Dr. Kowalik is in charge of the entire clinic, so you can't expect to have any personalized attention. I definitely felt like just a number and a source of income to them, as no one explained anything to me, even when I asked. I have a PhD and can figure things out on my own, but to not answer basic questions when hormones are involved is practically unethical.

I don't remember the specifics. I do know that the dosage was wrong because they used an old test.

I paid $7000 total.

n/a

We are still in the middle of treatment between our 1st and 2nd IVF cycles with Dr. Huang. I appreciate that she takes the time to make personal phone calls, whereas I know other doctors at other clinics do not call their patients directly. She is patient with questions and explains everything in a way that we can understand. She is hopeful, empathetic and also realistic in setting expectations.

Try to get an appointment with her!

Two medicated IUI cycles- we tried this before moving onto IVF due to lack of insurance coverage. If we had coverage at the time, I would have rather gone directly to IVF, but Dr. Huang was honest that it was reasonable to give IUI a chance before moving on directly to IVF.

Still in progress

She is warm and friendly, a calm personality. She showed compassion for me and why I was there. She didn't try to waste my time or try to suggest treatments that wouldn't be what we needed. She was open with me and explaining what we needed to do and what to expect. She is available to talk to and happily takes the time to do so.

Take the time to meet with her, you won't regret it

Ania Kowalik was open to hearing what treatment we were wanting to pursue and took my health into account. We are carriers of a fatal genetic disease and decided to pursue Embryo Adoption. Dr Kowalik decided to put is on a natural cycle because of no history. The following blood tests and ultrasounds were very easy and accurate. We transfered 2 5 day donor embryos and had a successful transfer.

She based this on the grading of the embryos and decided to do a double embryo transfer.

I was recommended a different doctor in this clinic by my OBGYN. Since there was a longer wait and I wanted to be seen sooner I chose to see Dr. Kowalik. At every visit she seemed very knowledgeable and up to date with current research. However, overall way too cautious and not aggressive enough treatment wise. I chose to forego IUI and jump right to IVF. I think (and now know) I was very poorly stimulated. I think if you have any other issues other than unexplained than this clinic is not for you. Too scared to treat appropriately

Get other opinions first!

I was on an antagonist protocol of gonal f and ganirelix. Again dose extremely too low given my age and AMH.

Luckily living in MA insurance covered most of the treatment.

I only transferred one I did not ask about doing two

Dr. Huang is a kind and compassionate doctor. Several days following my miscarriage, she called me personally to make sure that I was okay. My first retrieval yielded less eggs than anticipated, and I am curious to see what changes in medications, etc. that she will recommend for my upcoming retrieval. I'm hoping for a better outcome.

Advocate for yourself. Ask lots of questions if you are unsure of anything.

Baseline AFC showed 12-16 follicles. Antagonist protocol was used; started with 250 follistim; was dropped to 150 after a few days because of increased estrogen. Stimmed for approx. 8 days. Protocol yielded 6 eggs, all of which were mature. I was told at the beginning to expect around 12 eggs, so I was disappointed with these numbers.

IVF fresh with included frozen transfer, around $9000.

Dr. Anania was always thoughtful, took time to explain things. She never made me feel rushed or that she couldn’t take time to speak with me. She was honest and always made me feel like I could trust her.

I’ve been going for over 4 years and so t remember specific peotocals. Nothing was very ot of the ordinary.

It was very easy to go in, sign in and be seen. When the time was conflicting with my schedule they made adjustments and offered me a different time to come in. It was very easy!

I was well covered under insurance, but was always advised of upcoming texts that needed to be done before a deadline to meet insurance requirements.

I got pregnant in my first round with my older daughter and loved my care with Dr. Kowalik so I followed her to fertility solutions for my second child. This time I got pregnant immediately but miscarried twins. Dr. Kowalik was so caring and supportive. She was always available and always had time to answer every question from whether I should change my diet to the intricate details of how Ivf works. She is bright and quick and straightforward so I always felt I was in good hands, but she also cares a lot. Having my second child took a number of rounds and it was a long and hard experience but Dr. Kowalik remained attentive and supportive throughout. I am so grateful to her for my two daughters.

Don't hold back. She will never make you feel silly for asking even the most inane questions. If you are wondering about something, just ask.

I found her to be very knowledgeable regarding what may work best for me and had backup plans if we needed to go a different route. If I had hesitations about something she listened to what I had to say and then thought about what would be best for a good outcome

Ask questions if you don't understand something

Dr Kowalik is the greatest dr and we are so grateful to have her. Not only did she spend a long time going over my history and clarifying information, she gave us blunt, honest answers and reviewed things as many times as we needed. She made us feel important and like individuals not just a number. She personally called me with my hcg numbers and I truly felt in my heart and gut that she cared and was there for us. I can say wth 100% honesty that she is the reason we have our miracle today. She is THE BEST!

You are so lucky. She is honest and blunt so if you need sugar coating then she might be a bit blunt for you. But I appreciate that about her

She knows her stuff!! She is calm and listens well. Sometimes comes across as unenthusiastic but it is just her way, not you personally. I can't recommend her enough and the rest of the small team of doctors were great with the few times I needed.

Ask questions!

After initial appointment, I signed up for a package since I was self pay. It saves money but be sure you check what's included!

From the first time I met Dr. Anania I was impressed by her bedside mannerism and her knowledge of ART. She made me feel right at ease. There were times when I wasn't sure what we were doing was right, Dr. Anania and the Fertility Solutions team made me trust them completely. Dr. Anania inspires me to be a strong female and to keep asking questions! She has won Top Doctor status is Boston Magazine for 5 years in a row. She deserves it!

She was great and very responsive but I felt like fertility treatment was more trial and error than science. I liked her as a person and could imagine being friends but I feel like the industry lacks appropriate approaches for someone with fragile eggs.

Know your options and ask for what you need or want. She will listen and try.

Many

Fine

Lots. Most was covered by insurance but one round there was communication problems with my insurance company that resulted in insurance not paying.