What clients say about Penn Fertility Care in Philadelphia (PA)
UPDATE: The poor communication continues, the link in their reply below does not work. I'm not surprised unfortunately.
My dr and the ultrasound techs were very kind. Unfortunately I ran into a lot of issues with being given inaccurate information and misinformation coming from finance, nurses and front desk staff.
Ultimately if you live in NJ I'd highly recommend RMA over Penn. Penn fertility does not have any offices in New Jersey, nor are there any Penn pharmacies.
I felt like a lot of my care was not personalized and getting accurate information the first time around was impossible.
I also had a major complication after my egg retrieval and ended up in the hospital for days. While I understand that this is a known risk, the communication afterwards from Penn was nothing short of terrible. I was sent a certified letter that was very nondescript and confusing. I was provided with several names and phone numbers to follow up with, and in the end was not able to speak with any of them. I was essentially told by staff " The state just makes us send that letter. You don't need to take any action". Don't provide patients with a communication and phone numbers to follow up with if you don't intend to allow that patient to speak with them.
4/5 stars. No complaints, but some constructive feedback. All comments are based on MY experience. I knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING going into this process so it’s been a journey. My review is long and for some may have a lot of “duh” comments. I did egg retrieval for fertility preservation / a back up plan for later in life. Penn Fertilty overall has very friendly staff. I especially loved my ultrasound tech Jane !! She was my favorite. She had a great personality and sense of humor and really listened and put me at ease. Most others were great as well. I had one medical assistant who drew my blood 2x who was miserable and rude. (If the clinic wants more info on who this is, I’m happy to provide her name privately). I even found that on more than one occasion she had to stick me 2-3x for one blood draw but documented she inserted the needle once. This is false. With the exception of one day, my wait times were short and visits were highly efficient. The process: I met virtually w an NP first (Boctor), then another appt with MD (Kalra), then a follow up with a nurse (Madeline). This all took place over several months. I had my first discussion of egg freezing with my OBGYN in August, consulted with Penn fertility end of August, then egg freezing didn’t take place until January. A lot happens in between, so if you’re interested, start. Ask questions. There is a lot of bloodwork. Once you start meds and injections, expect to be at the mercy of the clinic for a month. Injections were easier than expected. The worst part is needing to avoid strenuous activity 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after retrieval as working out is a huge part of my life. I did a lot of walking but also prioritized rest. You need to go in for labs and ultrasounds sometimes as much as 2-3x per week. This wasn’t too bad for me as I live walking distance away. Communication along the way takes place via MPM (my Penn medicine) portal with the nurse you’re assigned to from the beginning. This is where I have some constructive feedback. I think communication could have been a bit more clear and transparent at times. One example: when I FINALLY got word that my egg retrieval was going to be a Fri morning, I was told “Friday morning.” Only after I asked what time, was I told “715am with a 615am arrival time.” There were other occasions where I had to probe for information. (Like what time should my husband pick me up after?) Again, it’s my opinion that this information should be provided without need for prompting by the patient. Tell me EVERYTHING I need to know. This process is already so convoluted as is. There also wasn’t a lot of communication updating me about WHEN the retrieval would be. I was initially told a date range but then early that week, a tech that there was no way it would be then based on my labs and follicle count. But this was not being communicated by the nurse. I got the impression that clinical staff making these decisions may not think of the patient as a person who has work, family, etc. that they’re planning all of these appointments around. Afterall, retrieval is a surgery and they recommend 1-2 days off so I had my managers in the wings as to what day(s) I’d need off for work. I didn’t mind sharing w my managers what procedure I was having which was good because there aren’t any other surgeries that are so variable in scheduling. I kind of HAD to tell them exactly what was going on.
On another instance, my nurse messaged me the wrong lab draw time in MPM and it lead to a lot of chaos and confusion early one Saturday morning. I also almost ran out of one of my injectable meds and noticed on a Saturday. Patients are told to keep track of meds so this was MY fault. I had to call around to various pharmacies to try to find a refill. I ended up having to drive out to West Chester 45 min away to get a restock on my meds which was a stress ball of a day.
Retrieval itself was quick and painless and the surgeon got a lot more eggs than he was expecting. This is a separate review on the Reproductive Surgical Facility! Overall: recommend.
My initial consultation was overly optimistic, downplaying the statistical reality for my diagnosis. The financial counselor wasn't clear about the high likelihood of needing multiple cycles. This false hope made the eventual negative result even more crushing.
We felt like a number in a factory. After our second failed cycle, there was no change to our protocol or a thorough review. The doctor was rushed and didn't recall our specific case details, making an emotional process feel cold and transactional.
One would expect a place associated with the name Penn to uphold the highest standards—but unfortunately, that has not been my experience.
I underwent egg retrieval procedures with them. The number of mature eggs fell significantly below the expected average for women of my age. Despite assurances of adjustments for the second attempt, the outcome remained unchanged. This lack of improvement has raised doubts regarding their level of expertise in performing this procedure, given my experience. I requested evidence in the form of images of the retrieved eggs and feedback from the IVF meeting in December, but I didn’t received response.
In addition to the unsatisfactory results, there were instances of negligence from the providers. During the first attempt, the drug for the trigger shot was not initially prescribed. I found out on the day I was scheduled for the shot. This necessitated a frantic last-minute trip to the HUP pharmacy (8/21/2023), barely obtaining the medication before closing time of the HUP pharmacy.
A similar frustration also happened during the second attempt, the instructions regarding the injection of Lupron was confusing. Not only was the unit measurement left unexplained, but clarity on whether the Lupron received from the pharmacy was ready for use or required dilution was also lacking. As the injection was time sensitive, this lack of clarity forced me to make an urgent call. I am a biomedical researcher, and I had to use my own professional knowledge to reason the usage on November 9, 2023
I also filed a complaint at Patient & Guest Relations representative about all of my unsatisfactory experience on Mar.18 2024. Although I received their confirmation of receiving my complaint, but I didn’t received any response!!
It is concerning that the entire process appears to lack adequate oversight. Patients continue to be charged substantial amounts—such as the $7,000 fee for potential additional rounds, due to the unsatisfactory outcome in the previous round. Unless the patient is willing to pursue legal action, it seems there is little recourse to hold them accountable for their misconduct.
I hope this comment can at least help you decided where to go for fertility care if you have other options.
Below are my comments to the reply of Penn Fertility Care:
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thank you for your response, but let me emphasize this again.
I did write everything last year using the link you provided. Although I receive a confirmation email, but no one actually process the issue afterwards.
So, I have to say this: this patients/guest-relations website is useless and no one will really take care of the actual issues.
The only way to hold you accountable probably would be an legal action, which many people can't afford!
Do Not Go Here if You're Queer (and probably not if you're straight). They had a banner on their website that says they were LGBTQ informed providers, but we found that not to be true at all. They told us that they could do a known donor, took our thousands of dollars, and then were incredibly difficult to work with in a way that indicated they had never actually had a known donor before. They started pushing IVF on us immediately, even though we were very clear that we didn't want it. We experienced a ton of homophobic micro-aggression. It felt like we were part of an assembly line. The person we called to inform about cycle updates was incredibly rude, every single time. They complained about our donor to us, even though we had told them they were a dear friend. They never investigated solutions to the problems we were having.
We ghosted them to pursue a DIY solution and got pregnant immediately. We might as well have set our money on fire with Penn.
My experience with Penn Fertility was great. I have my daughter and son because of them so there really is no negative feedback on my end. Treatments and appointments were as expected, as were the fees. Dr. Kalra was fantastic from start to finish as were her staff. I had been to another fertility clinic in the past which i wasn't happy with, so Penn was nice and refreshing.
Started my egg freezing process at Penn Fertility. Everything from billing to scheduling was unnecessarily stressful and time consuming.
Scheduling: Penn schedules your egg retrieval protocol based on a surgery date that they have you schedule 2 months out. Any changes in your menstrual cycle in those 2 months will mean that they will have you reschedule to a date that is weeks out. They also require you to be on birth control, so that it will fit into their schedule.
Billing: My insurance doesn't cover fertility. My specialist copay is $35, and I don't need a referral to see a specialist. I later found out that I was billed $480 for my first consultation with the Penn Fertility doctor, because they billed it with a DX code of "infertility treatment". This first visit was essentially just a sales pitch from the doctor.
After the first visit, they scheduled an ultrasound. I called the billing department and asked if this would be covered under my insurance. They checked and confirmed this would be covered under my insurance. A month later, I get a rejection letter from my insurance for the ultrasound, and Penn billed me $532 for it.
Because of all all of the above issues, I stopped my process with Penn, and went with a different clinic. My experience at the other clinic was the total opposite of Penn. They were transparent about what is and isn't covered by insurance, and even had an intake form that required me to call my insurance and find out what DX codes are covered and what isn't. They also made sure that my first visit was billed as a specialist visit. This ensured that my copay was $35 for the first visit. They also didn't require that I pick a surgery date months out. They asked me to call them on day 1 of my period, and in 2 weeks, I had my eggs retrieved. All without the use of birth control.
Please do yourself a favor and skip Penn for your egg retrieval. It is an incredibly emotional as well as expensive procedure. Penn has no time to give you the care and attention you need.
Our time with Penn has been stressful, disappointing, and with a lack of transparency with cost. We have been under their care since August 2022 for unexplained infertility. Unfortunately, after our first IVF cycle, I experienced a miscarriage in April - no heart beat found on ultrasound. The nurse advised us of our options. - 1) expectant management 2) medical management 3) surgery. After discussion, we were between surgery and medical management with the preference for surgery dependent on cost and insurance coverage. The nurse told me she would have the surgical/financial team contact us to discuss cost and scheduling options.
I was then contacted later in the day by Yolanda. I was advised that the scheduled surgical procedure was fully covered by our insurance, and that the only out of pocket cost was the Natera genetic testing fee. We proceeded with the D&E procedure.
Based on this discussion, I did not expect to receive a bill for this procedure other than the cost of the Natera testing. I had talked with an individual prior to the procedure that I was told was able to check insurance coverage/cost. She seemed to be looking through my policy on the other end of the phone, confirming Independence Personal Choice - saying, yes you are covered. I did not realize I would have to double check the accuracy of information provided by Penn REI facility with my insurance provider. Penn charged $7,694 with our insurance only covering $4,163.11. The out of pocket cost $3.530.89 - incredibly expensive and unexpected. We had been told this would be fully covered - no out of pocket cost.
Had we been given accurate information on insurance coverage and cost of this procedure, we would have elected medical management or sought care at another, more affordable facility for the D&E procedure. The lack of transparency for cost impacted our ability to give informed consent to a surgical procedure.
We followed up with Penn REI financial team - initially Tamera, then Nichelle, and most recently Maura. All apologized for the miscommunication but are devoid of a realistic solution or accepting any responsibility as a facility. They stated that it is our responsibility to pay the surprise bill cost. I was informed by them that Yolanda is not actually part of the financial team, so I should've been speaking with someone else within their department to get more accurate information. I'm not sure how I was supposed to know that. They also told me I should have reached out directly to my insurance company to see what the potential coverage would be - which had I been told at that time that their team was unsure of the answer or incapable of providing the correct information, I would have promptly done so. Unfortunately, I was given a false sense of security that I had spoken with the correct person and had no way of knowing that the information provided was wrong. The "solution" provided to us from this facility (Tamera, Nichelle, and Maura) was to get an interest-free payment plan set up to pay the full bill and to file a claim with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services under the No Surprises Act. Additionally, we have been threatened any further care such as future embryo transfers would not be possible if we have not paid off this bill or set up a payment plan. This is callous and heartbreaking. We have already spent over $20,000 out of pocket with Penn. We should not be financially responsible for an expensive mistake made by a Penn employee.
All medical team members at Penn REI that we have discussed this with (several nurses) are very sympathetic and horrified about this miscommunication, but they have no power to help. Going through infertility and miscarriages is hard enough - but Penn REI’s financial team has made this an even harder experience. I hope no one else has to go through this, which is why I have written this review. I would not be surprised if this is a common problem with how the financial team has responded to our concerns. Please go elsewhere so you don’t risk being in the same situation as us.
I do not recommend using them for IUI. They forgot to thaw the frozen sperm prior to inseminating it inside of me. I didn’t realize until my second round of IUI that both procedures were COMPLETELY different. A medical assistant also DROPPED the syringe of sperm in front of me on the floor before using it. When I contacted Penn for answers they responded by having someone call and interrogate me (didn’t answer any questions) followed by writing me a nonsense letter saying they spoke to their staff about it. I received no answers and I was NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY. Penn completely dismissed me. My experience with Penn has been financially and emotionally draining, the way they handled this feels very disrespectful.
Use mainline fertility if you’re smart.
I don't think I can find anything negative to say about this facility. My journey was longer than I would have liked and had some bumps in the road, but that's just how to has to go sometimes. I always felt supported by my main Dr. Kalra who always listened to what I had to say and wanted to try first in regards to my care. She was open to my thoughts on my plan of care, which goes a long way. The other doctors in the practice I engaged with often for particular procedures were also lovely, no bad experiences even when the procedure was difficult. I always felt I was always treated with the most love and care.
Every office visit was pleasant (considering). The nursing assistants taking blood and vital signs were always kind and tried to make you feel at ease. Helen in particular always had a smile and warm demeanor to her which helped me through. Ashely as well really sticks out in my mind. Ashley was there for a troubling procedure I had done and really did her best to comfort me, going above and beyond her role. The ultrasound ladies were also fabulous. Always answering all the questions they could and being as gentle as possible and entering the room with a smile and postive attitude.
Parking was paid, but usually accessible right out front for a very fair fee. Wait times were always fair as well. Office was always clean and bathrooms well kept.
Thank you, Penn Fertility!
I don’t feel welcome when I visit this place. I am on my 4th IUI and haven’t felt any support from this facility. You are on your own, they don’t follow up with you or set up appointments with your provider, you have to do everything on your own!
haven’t seen my doctor in almost a year. Every time there is always a new resident or doctor doing IUIs and your office appointment are with NPs (who are usually clueless). And not to mention! They never have appointments available to freeze samples. So if your husband isn’t available to provide fresh samples and your body is ready for IUI forget it! You will miss a whole cycle.
If you're a male, I would highly recommend you see another doctor!!!! P masson does not listen to his patients, nor does he communicate with their patients directly! He uses other staff to interact with patients. He also lies to your face about treatments, doesn't listen to you, as well as falsify interactions that didn't happen. It's a shame that he has a monopoly on the male population by being the sole provider that Penn Medicine allows and encourages. Go see someone else if you think a doctor should listen, and should care.
Thank you Dr O'Neill and her wonderful life for changing my life!! They took wonderful care of us during the whole process. I had a sneaky ovary and the nurses were very patient with ultrasounds and making sure they were monitoring everything closely. They were confident in their recommendations and timing and we achieved our desired outcome without needing IVF
Only things to be aware of - It took a while to get used to the care teams who would need some additional time to get up to speed on what was done recently (because I didn't always have the same nurse) and it was difficult to get an appointment with Dr ONeill at times. Trust the process!
Penn Fertility was so good to me! There isn’t sufficient words I can use to thank Dr. O’Neill and the other staff there. They showed kindness and were very straightforward with me during every step. I would advise anyone looking for help to try this facility. After all there help i can thankfully say I have a beautiful set of twin babies!
Thank you Penn!!
I cannot say enough good things about Penn Fertility. The staff are AMAZING, they're always there for you when you have a question or concern, and they are easy to get in touch with. I am super thankful for them.
UPENN Fertility has been a nightmare dealing with. I have been trying to have an issue resolved for YEARS! I sent in all paperwork as well as documents that were needed. I spoke to one of the doctors who told me not to worry about the bill because the issue was taken care of. Well, today I received an email with a new bill. This is fraudulent billing. I was told I would receive no future bills. I was told that my issue was taken care of. It is a disgrace how this department has handled this situation. I had to choose one star. It would not let me post with 0 stars.
Well from reading the majority of the reviews with similar issues from different people I won’t be coming here! Maybe this business should read there reviews because having reviews like the ones I see are not good.
i had the best experience at Penn Fertility Care in 3701 market street. The staffs there always make me feel welcomed. Although my assigned Dr. was Dr.Gracia, I saw different doctors, and they're all very good - i think they all work in a team, so you dont really technically have a designated doctor. When I had questions, the nurses always answered my questions within the next day. When I had emergency question, the fellow on call always call me back in 20 minutes. Never had issue with front desk person or customer service person either (except for our first appointment where one of the front desk woman was really rude and arrogant, but havent seen her since our first appointment). They seem to be always fully staffed, so all of my visit were super quick and easy each time. I am definitely coming back here again for my second IVF!
Dr. Bachman is one of the most caring, compassionate doctors I’ve ever worked with. You truly feel like she’s with you every step of the way. Even when she couldn’t be there for something, the other doctors I’ve met, Dr O’Neill and Dr Coutifaris , were so warm and fantastic as well. I feel so lucky i was able to come to this practice and have such a positive experience with something that is so challenging. I feel that the nurses are very detailed and are happy to explain everything until you are comfortable. The medical assistants and ultrasound technicians are so professional and kind as well. I can’t say enough nice things about my experience so far. If i walk away with no baby after everything is said and done, i would truly feel like i had my best chance with the Penn team.
They care FAR more about the almighty dollar than birthing healthy babies, go somewhere where the child bearing experience is priority!
My wife and I are beginning our fertility journey. Excitedly, we contacted Penn Fertility Care as they carry name recognition. Our preferred doctor had just put in her two weeks notice, so they pushed me to Dr. Dokras. I travel for a living and adjusted my schedule to attend our first telemedicine visit with my wife - Dr. Dokras was a no show. After rescheduling, she assured me my visit was covered and therefore no bill would be due. Fast forward to our second visit - to which her assistant called 5 mins prior to the visit trying to cancel. And then fast forward to me pro actively speaking to supervisors about my disappointing experience. I expressed that I sure hope no astronomical bill comes bc of the complete subpar experience. SIX MONTHS LATER and after being quoted a co-pay like small dollar amount by supervisor Denise Barks, I received an OVER A THOUSAND DOLLAR BILL! Barks then said I’d receive a call by her boss Kelly Timber’s to which I still have not after many follow up calls (yet I’ve received several reminders of my bill of course). The sad part is, they treat you awfully and then expect your business bc they believe folks are desperate for a child. My wife and I will be taking our business elsewhere - to think, we are about to spend $15,000, and they lost our business over a very sorry attempt at what should be an awesome experience. My advice, go somewhere that cares about the PATIENT and unborn child, and not the DOLLAR.
Dr. Masson changed my appointment 2 times before making a 3rd change the day before and not ensuring I was aware. I showed up at the expected time and was turned away. Scheduling here is a chaos.
I made an appointment for Dr Puneet Masson and was placed after one month. When appointment time is came I was a little bit later for 20 minutes, because stacked in terrible traffic. So called to the doctor to explain my situation, I was coming out from 25 miles away. I was on middle of my way. He confronted me with a fact that I have only 10 minutes or reschedule the appointment for another 1 month later. We are all human. I said, I will never go to his office and canceled the appointment. Please make sure that you have an appointment with this office, because nobody will remind you it, how it was in my case
Since my initial review the front desk staff has changed and I have had a better experience with the practice. I also met one of the nurse practitioners who was great with explaining things as well as answering my questions. This is a fast paced clinic so don’t expect a lot of hand holding. You will need to do your homework and come prepared with questions.
They do no follow up or close monitoring. Had laparoscopy and hysteroscopy done and no changes. Dis see the doctor after the surgery was done for months. My condition remained the same for over a year and a half. Went to a new fertility specialist.
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