Choosing A Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE)

Aside from all the stress that comes with making the decision to do IVF, added stress can come from making a decision about which RE Clinic to have handle such a delicate matter. It’s suggested that you conduct more than one consult and ask a several questions to find the right fit.

FertilityIQ https://www.fertilityiq.com/ is website that has patient reviews regarding their personal experience with fertility treatments at Reproductive Endocrinology clinics throughout the country. You can do search by Doctor, clinic name or zip code.

Paired with a many positive reviews on FertilityIQ, a recommendation from a friend of mine, and physicians with stellar educational, residency and fellowship backgrounds, RMA of Northern California was the practice I had my first IVF consult with and ultimately chose to handle my IVF treatment.

I had consults with two other RE clinics in the South Bay Area as well. The second consult was with Dr. Farah- Eways of Kaiser Permanente (she handled my RE care during IUI cycles) and the third was with Dr. Harris of Spring Fertility. I think highly of both of these physicians as well. The thing about Kaiser is that the waitlist and times are longer and the appointment times aren’t as flexible. I think Spring Fertility has a great RE in Dr. Harris; however, the response time wasn’t as quick as RMA of NoCal after my initial consult.

There were many things that stood out to me when it came to RMA of NoCal…

The Office… Throughout the infertility journey, I feel like I’ve spent so much time in the doctors office, lab, and hospital and honestly it feels suffocating at times. RMA has two office locations one in Palo Alto, CA and one in San Francisco, CA. Both offices have a spa like feel to them. The waiting room area has comfortable, cozy seats and the area that blood draws are completed don’t look anything like your usual facility lab. This was a welcomed change for me.

The Doctors… My consult was with Dr. Kort. One word AMAZING! I believe my initial consult with him was about 2.5 hours long. During this consult he was so patient, calm, attentive and reassuring. It was the most relaxed discussion I’d ever had with a physician. For the duration on the consult, I felt like I was the only patient he had. I never felt rushed and he suggested some things other physicians up to this point hadn’t considered. One was checking for Endometritis not to be confused with Endometriosis. I plan to discuss more of what’ve I’ve learned about Endometritis in a future post. Even my husband, whose more skeptical, really liked Dr. Kort. And trust me, if you knew my husband, you’d know that this was a miracle…

Accessibility… After my initial consult, I was set up with the Spruce App. This is an App that RMA uses to send and receive secure messages with patients. Literally there’s been times I’ve messaged Dr. Kort and it feels more like a text message conversation because his response time is so quick. I often wonder how/when Dr. Kort and his colleagues sleep because they ALWAYS respond within a couple of hours (in most cases less than an hour).

Convenient appointment times… RMA offered walk-in hours for cycle monitoring blood work and ultrasounds that starts at 0700. Early enough to not have to miss a lot of work. I’ll also mention that my husband and I were taken back for our consult right on time and that type of punctual service has continued with each appointment since then.

No long wait list… While I absolutely love the RE physician who I worked with at Kaiser, the wait list for retrieval and transfers can be long. In their system several patients are batched together for services and birth control is often used to time your cycle with the clinics availability. At RMA my retrieval and transfer cycles can be based on my natural cycle. That was extremely important to me.

The calming atmosphere of the office, Dr. Kort’s patience and compassion, accessibility to my doctor, convenient appointment times, and not having to wait for long periods of time for retrievals and transfers made RMA the place for me.