Amy Dhesi

This clinic is very clean, organized, and efficient. The receptionist is always very helpful and respectful of your privacy. The nurses are polite although at times brief, and the doctors seem to do their best to hear your concerns and work with you on the most effective treatment plan for you as an individual. With this said, making an appointment can be difficult, as the doctors split their time between this location and the one on Sunset, making their availability difficult to work around. Appointments can be delayed over a month because of this/the high number of patients seen at this location. You really just have to be proactive and your own advocate to ensure you are getting the treatment you need in the timeline you want.

We saw Dr. Dhesi at both Kaiser Permanente (LA Medical Center) and at Reproductive Fertility Center (aka RFC WEHO, aka Peyman Sadaat clinic in West Hollywood). The following is about the latter, since that is where we did our IVF. Reproductive Fertility Center was good in every way except one: billing. In our initial visit, we were handed off to Melissa, who explained the expected costs. She was friendly and seemed knowledgeable. We therefore thought she was involved with the billing. Not so. After we started the process, I called Melissa with questions about billing and was transferred to a woman named ILINCA HALFORN, who I must vehemently recommend against. I'm still not sure what Melissa's job was -- to explain the billing with a friendly face but to not actually have any responsibility with or for it? As for Ilinca, it wasn't just her general lack of friendliness; it was the antagonistic attitude with which she approached every single one of my questions. We are not difficult people, so when someone stops us mid-sentence before even get to our question and instead immediately takes an air of blaming us, as if "how dare you question me," we knew were in the presence of someone who hated her job. She took everything that was wonderful about the spirit and general operations of the clinic and staff and dragged all of that down to the worst possible level of experience. She left a seriously bad taste in our mouths. Worst of all, on top of being a bad apple in the entire wonderful barrel, is that she directly stood in our way as a threat to our receiving professional, friendly service. Please keep in mind that we paid every charge on time. We just had no ability to do anything other than placate and stroke her ego because she had the ability to derail us. We got the feeling that the staff there felt the same about her but also had no power to do anything. In what was already a heightened emotional journey, we found ourselves having to additionally mentally prepare for any interaction with her to make sure that we were not setting her off in any way. So what was the first question that started all of this? I asked linca for an itemized receipt of one of our large payments. The only receipts we got had their clinic and a dollar amount, which essentially says nothing. She seemed to have no idea why I would want such a thing and never provided one. We were lucky that our insurance covered some IVF costs -- however, whether or not it was Ilinca's doing -- we never got any breakdowns of costs associated with any procedures. These things I had to get from our insurance, and at some point we were just informed that we hit our insurance benefit maximum. It's possible that our procedures did add up to that maximum, but since I could never get any answers to any of the billing, including abnormalities with certain billing codes and certain tests that were farmed out to third party labs, it's not beyond reasonable suspicion to think that she simply billed our insurance as much as possible right up to that maximum regardless of the actual costs. I've never before dealt with any medical facility like this that did not provide even a minimal amount of satisfactory billing documentation. I must repeat that we still very much liked the rest of the staff and everyone else we encountered. But if you're considering Reproductive Fertility Center, please ask carefully about the billing, who is handling it, and if you will get itemized receipts.

Since Kaiser is a large hospital you are provided with a one stop shop experience. Once you have conceived it is easy to transfer to the care of other departments. I felt the pricing is affordable when you have at least 50% coverage. A weakness would be having to see a different person for every appointment. The initial consultation was very short. This may not be helpful for someone who hasn’t done much research on their own.

I live in the Antelope Valley and this is the closest Kaiser Fertility Clinic to me, they are busy, think of all they are covering. Even though they are busy, they still manage to make you feel like they care and not like a number on their list. Because they are busy, they tend to sometimes be crowded or have a longer wait time, this just means that you have to be a little more flexible, you have to just come when they have an availability (get in where you fit it) rather than them accommodating your schedule. It's not that they don't want to, the do accommodate you when possible.

USC was busy. I always went in the early morning and tried to be first on the list so I could get out of there within a half hour, but if I was late it would drag on. Most of the staff was very nice, but they did not accommodate an acupuncturist for the transfer, which is the primary reason we are switching for the second transfer.

Very efficient. Most of the time they run on time and are clear with the process of the appointment. I appreciate that I can email to contact the nurse and ask questions. Occasionally, it can be difficult to get through by phone to talk with the appropriate person.

The clinic is in a great location and is easy to find. Everything is very clean and well taken care of. The office staff is so warm and welcoming that on my first day there we ended up in a whole conversation which was lovely and comforting. Every time I have called they have picked up right away and help me.

I went to HRC Encino and Kaiser sunset for my treatments. HRC Encino was great in terms of scheduling appointments and being in and out quickly. Kaiser was less reliable in terms of timing of appointments. Both were great in their own ways and I recommend both.

Strengths - good quality staff that makes you feel cared for Weaknesses - we paid up front for all of our charges, but we somehow always seemed to accumulate more bills. I had to call and get an explanation for the charges at least once. The parking at HRC Encino is awful. You either have to find street parking or pay a lot in the garage.

Kaiser Infertility clinic on Sunset has/had many structural shortcomings and oversights. I was almost unable to be seen for a 2nd IUI because they did not have enough staff to cover the baseline appointments. This caused a lot of emotional stress and strain, and I did actually file a grievance with Kaiser - the administration's decision to not provide more funding and hire more staff for the infertility clinic directly affected my ability to receive treatment, along with many other patients. I was eventually able to be seen for my 2nd IUI, but I could see how the infertility department was not given the funds or staffing resources necessary to have it operate at its full potential. The benefit, however, is that I did have all my IUI treatments and medications covered through my Kaiser insurance, which was a huge financial benefit for me and my husband. It does feel that you are just one of hundreds of patients, and it seems like this clinic needs way more resources and funding to help expand it and cater to the needs of their (many) patients.