Kaiser Permanente NorCal

[Kaiser Permanente NorCal] Strengths are definitely the efficiency of the clinic and the availability. They’re surprisingly open all week long (granted shorter weekend hours). Weakness is that the doctors are pretty busy so be ready for very quick visits...The nurses changed quite a bit but there was 1 or 2 that were the most consistent and would communicate very quickly with me. They showed compassion and the front staff were very helpful and welcoming...One major thing is that partners are STILL NOT allowed in. Not even for egg retrievals. That I thought was a bit frustrating.

[Kaiser Permanente NorCal] are very busy and there are too many patients...not enough providers and staff...wait standing in the waiting room for almost an hour for my appointment because there were so many patients...a 6-9 month waiting period and waitlist to try IVF...clinic is also lacking regarding patient education.

Kaiser is definietly hit or miss with their clinics and staff, so dont feel bad shopping around or asking to be transferred. I needed to fight to get transferred mid-cycle because my first assigned doctor was awful, and ended up going to fremont which was an hour+ away because Dr. Tan was so worth it... the nurses...were very nice and compassionate, and didnt mind me baraging them with questions.

Be prepared for brief ultrasound appointments, little injection teaching from the nurses or staff, and to ask questions because they might not be answered otherwise [at Kaiser Permanente NorCal]...told I would hear back in just a few days (even potentially over the weekend )about scheduling a telephone appointment with Dr. Proctor once his schedule was set. I never heard from the clinic. I called them at least 2 or 3 times before I got a call back. I was told he didn't have appointments until the end of the month and I would have to wait.

The Kaiser NorCal reproductive clinic is a machine, I suppose like most other large clinics. They have their systems and processes in place which can make you feel like a number. But that can go away once you're working more directly with nurses and staff on treatments. The nurses are friendly and response (especially the SF branch). Note that some clinics in NorCal only do consultation/IUI treatments and others work specifically on IVF procedures.

The reception staff [at Kaiser Permanente NorCal] are pretty nice and pretty quick on everything...I was seen by several people besides [Dr. Farah-Eways] for various tasks and then Dr. Tan did my retrieval. It did take 3 different staff to run my IV...I just felt a bit passed around a couple times when they were busy juggling tasks...with good results, and lots of professionalism, I highly recommend them

Kaiser is big business, so they have a ton of resources and people and information...liked this approach after being turned away from a small, boutique RE office...downside is there are loooong wait times to get on the schedule, and you can definitely feel like a “number” at times...had two frustrating transfers that didn’t result in pregnancy because the embryos were most likely abnormal. With eset, I would recommend testing the embryos. Saves money and time in the long run.

Strengths [of Kaiser Permanente] Great empathic doctors that took time to explain and answer questions thoroughly Very clear instructions Always felt safe and cared for during the procedures Weaknesses A lot of different people on staff, communication between staff could be better so that the nurses aren't saying different things to me.

Weakness [of Kaiser Permanente NorCal] is too many patients for the nurses and doctors to handle. Everything felt very rushed and panicked. It was incredibly stressful. Was not provided any guidance on supplements. I had to do a lot of research on my own to figure out how to advocate for myself. You have to really hound them to get detailed information about your cycles. Strengths are that they have a decent success rate (just not with me).

We get seen by the doctor fairly quickly and the clinic [Kaiser Permanente] is clean. However, the staff and Dr. Grosskinsky are cruel and unkind. ... There were a few nurses who were very caring and the rest seemed entertained by Dr. Grosskinsky’s terrible behavior. Many times I would see the nurses who were assigned to be in the room with Dr. Grosskinsky and I laughing at his remarks on failed treatment.

Kaiser is such a big operation that sometimes there are communication issues between all the different departments. The upside to that is have a care "team," who all bring something different to the experience. ... IVF through Kaiser will cost about $25,000. ... The medications cost the most, about $600 when doing all menopur shots. The IUI cost about $400 each. ... I started with the least aggressive approach

For me it [Kaiser Permanente-Fremont] is very convienent , all of the labs, radiology etc are located close to each other and since it is all Kaiser the billing is also very centralized. This office is very busy, not that I see a lot of patients when I go, but after referral my initial consult was scheduled over a month later. We booked IVF and were scheduled for 4.5 months later. In review: I really love the convience of everything being connected, love the doctors and staff, but it was a very long wait to do every step because they are so booked.

It was efficient, but busy! They recommended I get there early and as long as I did the wait wasn’t bad at all.... They [Kaiser Permanente NorCal] were also very responsive to any questions or immediate needs. Weaknesses: the clinic is very busy which makes appointments feel rushed at times. Wait times can be quite long.... They [nurses] were always compassionate and helpful. No negative experiences at all.

The clinic, being Kaiser, has its limitations including the level of patient education you receive, the inflexibility around being on the pill in preparation for the scheduled cycles, and the feeling that I was being "shuffled through." I once received an email from a nurse addressing me by someone else's name..... Our doctor and the head embryologist explained what happened very thoroughly and patiently. We were offered a sympathetic "these things happen" but they did not claim responsibility nor did they offer a free cycle.

Very clean. Typical Kaiser office (seen at the Sunnyvale clinic, but transfer done in Fremont). Parking good at both. Chose because of location and proximity to my office. Front desk staff very helpful and remembered my name. ... All [nursing staff] very communicative, but busy office so sometimes wouldn’t hear back until the end of the day.

The front office staff [Kaiser NorCal] is amazing. The team is professional and patient. They swiftly get me checked in and ready for my appointment. Some patients attended the appointment with their baby and the staff would naturally congratulate them, but it stung a little bit. It felt inconsiderate for the staff to celebrate a baby in the wait room around patients who are there because we cannot get pregnant. Maybe the can have blank cards at hand saying: congratulations! Instead of talking about the baby’s arrival in front of patients.

Staff [at Kaiser - Fremont] forgot to give me paperwork required for intake. I faxed and emailed them multiple times but the documents were never received. Staff never told me the timing of my HCG trigger injection and never did an injection training with me. They also failed to call my letrozole prescription in to the pharmacy. Staff told me that for my IUI procedure I could bring my sperm (from a bank) with me at the time of my appointment. I asked multiple times and they all confirmed this was true. I got a call four hours prior to my IUI from the clinic demanding that I drive to their office with the sperm immediately because they apparently want to have it prior to the appointment. I had to abruptly leave work and wait at UPS until it arrived, since Kaiser won't accept sperm bank shipments at their offices. This adds to the cost and stress. When I expressed that I was upset with the last minute stress despite asking multiple times in advance to avoid this situation, staff and Dr. Shen shrugged and said that this always happens the first time so now I will know for next time. Also the number of mobile sperm was not shared with me until after the IUI and they were a subpar number. Dr. Shen insisted that Kaiser do the sperm wash rather than purchase pre-washed IUI sperm, and I feel that the lab must have damaged the sample and that this was bad advice. Dr. Shen told me after my IUI that next month when I wanted to come back the procedure will be better - almost as if she expected it to fail, which was extremely disappointing to hear immediately following and IUI. When the IUI was not successful, she only told me that there is a higher chance of it not working so I should not be surprised. She then asked if I wanted to do the same procedure with no changes. When I asked what we could do differently moving forward, she said there is nothing that can be done differently. Needless to say, this was one of my final interactions with this doctor.

Monitoring was done on specific days and in the morning. The lab for blood work was in the next building. We'd do blood work, walk to the clinic, and wait about 20 mins- 1 hour for an ultrasound. Even with an ultrasound appointment. HINT: You can make a lab appointment which they will honor.... Even signing the paperwork and the class on how to do injections was poorly organized and left me feeling unprepared. HINT: I got my medication at the Disco Rex Walgreens in Palo Alto and they gave me a private tutorial on how to do injections. Much better than the nurses at Kaiser.

[At Kaiser-Fremont] I did a single-embryo transfer from a frozen embryo that was retrieved at another clinic. He was unsure of how to predict success given that the embryo came from elsewhere, but the cycle was ultimately successful...They messed up a billing thing. When I contacted the doctor about it, he said he would let their billing person know, and that she would get back to me. That never happened. I still need to deal with the billing issue. Other than this, and what I have already described, everything was good.

Kaiser does not assign you a primary nurse for IUIs or IVF. The IUIs are all done by rotating NPs-- all of whom are competent, kind, and engaging...For IUIs, they don't perform them on Sundays, so they'll do it a little early or late if the ideal time was a Sunday...They also made you pay to reserve your spot... I was surprised that it was the nurse who gave the results; not Dr. Harris...When the nurse called me with my beta, she told me I wasn't pregnant. However, I did have a low positive pregnancy test (17).

All the nurses [at Kaiser - Fremont] are very friendly and nice and truly seem to understand how difficult infertility can be.Everyone was scheduled at a certain time so it could be a long wait, but they were really quick and we got to meet with the actual Dr for each appointment so I did not mind. Plus you could check in and then do your bloodwork while you waited...

The office [Kaiser Fremont] itself is not the best at communicating as you often had to leave messages and get called back and they batch cycle which is frustrating but Dr. shen was amazing and worth the inconvenience for me....You see different nurses each time so I didn't have a point person. The communication system was a bit frustrating because it involved leaving messages and getting called back. The nurses during my procedures were wonderful and they all were very compassionate and helpful.

I liked my doctor [at Kaiser], the couple of other doctors that I've met, and the nursing staff and care coordinators. The biggest weakness is the wait time which has hovered around 6 months for years. Also, the billing folks occasionally have issues (although in my case that tended to be forgetting to charge me for things)...Monitoring appointments are go to the lab across the street when it opens, then come in for monitoring. If you don't want to wait, you have to be early (7am). Not my favorite method, but I get that it is designed for people who have to get to work.

They [Kaiser Permanente] did not let me know about possible issues with my tubes until after we had done numerous cycles and spent months trying. ... You are treated as a number not as a person. Appointments are not flexible and rarely convenient for patients. After going to the clinic for three years some of the staff still didn’t recognize me. They put you on a schedule that fits them instead of working with you.

I felt that the nursing staff [at Kaiser - Fremont] was great and very supportive. They were always friendly and compassionate...The clinic is in a nice building and was clean and comfortable... [Re: monitoring appointments] I didn't love this aspect but in the end it worked fine. There was just one day that I got there a bit later and I had to wait almost two hours...When going to this clinic, see it as a whole team.