Center For Women’s Reproductive Care At Columbia University

this place is a circus don’t waste your time.

SAVE YOURSELF THE AGGRAVATION.
Dealing with fertility issues is STRESSFUL and Columbia makes it a whole lot harder for so many reasons.
1. Morning monitoring takes forever! They are always short staff or it just seems like it. RMA and Cornell work like a well oiled machine.
2. The receptionist never picks up the phone. You can hold for hours. I actually walked there from my office one time and walked in on them laughing while I was still on hold.
3. Don’t leave a message because you’ll never get a call back. If you do leave a message, the receptionist will ask if you’d like to speak to a psychiatrist. NO I do not need to speak a psychiatrist. I just had an unsuccessful transfer — any woman would be just as upset and furious.
4. Getting in touch with a doctor is like getting in touch with the president — very unlikely!
5. Their billing department sucks.
6. Their team of doctors aren’t the greatest
Those are just 6 reasons but they are good reasons as to why you should not go to Columbia. I spent approx $ 20k and my doctor has the nerve to not return my phone call after a nurse called me yesterday morning to tell me my transfer was unsuccessful. HELLO DOCTOR ARE YOU THERE?! WHY DON’T YOU CALL ME TO TALK ABOUT THE NEXT STEP!
SAVE YOURSELF THE AGGRAVATION. YOU DO NOT WANT THE ADDED STRESS.

they can’t even answer the phone (40 min on hold, and counting) and by the reviews below it would appear that really bad service is a trademark. Lazy receptionists are a problem. These issues are too sensitive to be treated poorly from the get go. Will go elsewhere.

If I could give this place negative stars I would. I agree with all the frustrated posters who could not get a telephone call returned. I was on hold for over 1 hour this morning, and I left a message with them last Wednesday and my call was only returned today. Needless to say when you are having fertility issues the last thing you want to be dealing with is incompetence and poor service. This place always has a wait time, no matter how early you are for your appointment. They need more staff, and more people to answer the phone and return calls. Ridiculous set up for a New York City office. I was in fear of what the treatment I would get in the future would be, so I’m going elsewhere. Do not go here if you have any expectation of customer service.

I used to go to this place… and Dr. Janet Choi has been the one who saw me and told me my issues why I didn’t get pregnant. She told me two things to solve my issue before trying to have a baby. Since my biological clock was clicking, I didn’t wanna waste my time doing so, but she clearly stated that I would not have luck if I didn’t fix these issues… so I trusted her… took 2 – 3 months to fix these issues… then I tried. I got a pregnant next month. She did look so cold and strict for the whole time, but she smiled at me for the first time when she finds out I got pregnant! Anyway, now I am trying to reach out to her again, but she is no longer there… I called an office twice but they didn’t tell me where she went… does anyone know where she is? I desperately need to know where she is! TIA!

I went in for a consultation (with Dr. Sauer who was very competent) and I was told that in less than a week I would get an estimate of the cost of the procedure. It took over a month to get it in the mail. Once I got it, the piece of paper looked like a 3 year-​old drew on it. I couldn’t understand the out of pocket costs and it didn’t list a total. I called the accounting department many times to figure out the total cost but they never pick up the phone. They called me back a few times while I’m at work and each time I called back, I left messages. We have been playing phone tag for months now. I think it has taken up too much of my time already. I can’t imagine going through any procedure with such little human interaction and confusion. I think the doctors here are really good but the accounting and costumer service departments might need some serious restructure. I’m looking to get my procedure done elsewhere.

can never reach anyone on the phone, had to keep calling, then I waited nearly 25 minutes on hold just to make an appointment.

Please save yourself the trip by ever walking foot in this office, it will bring you nothing but tears. Let me just tell you a few of the reasons why you will become absolutely frustrated at this office.
A. You will never see the same doctor twice and not one doctor will ever read your chat before walking into see you. They will never have an update on what’s going on and you will have to explain your case every single time.
B. The wait staff is horrible, absolutely horrible and rude.
C. The wait times are incredibly long and sometimes they actually forget you are there. No joke I waited over 2 hours once while all the nurses are chatting. I even heard a nurse complaining how she screwed up someone’s lab tests and put in the wrong order.
D. No one will EVER ever call you back, not ever. Whether you have good news or bad news, you won’t get a chance to speak to anyone.
E. The billing is completely disorganized.
F. Each Doctor will tell you something completely different, literally, the exact opposite from your last monitoring appointment.
G. It took three different phone calls trying to get a nurse to return my call, I left three messages, and finally three days later my husband had to walk down to the office and demand someone to give us our test results. Their response, «I don’t know why someone hasn’t called you by now. «
I can’t say enough horrible things about this center. I highly suggest going elsewhere.

Save yourself the time and frustration by going to another fertility center. This was the worst experience! I have been coming to this facility for over 4 months and finally decided it is time to gather my medical records and move onto a different location.
The best response you will get will be the call you make for your initial consultation. After that, you are on your own! You will need to guess what comes next in your treatment, because no one is there to guide you
When you call, you will need to leave a message for the nurse associated with your doctor. Note that she will say that the call will be returned by the NEXT business day. You’ll be lucky to receive that call. Make notes, because if you forget to ask her anything, you’ll need to leave another message and wait another 2 days.
I was so tired of being put on hold that I asked to speak with a supervisor. I left 3 messages. I’ve yet to have someone call me back to address my concerns.
After getting all of my required blood work done, I made an appointment with my assigned doctor. He had me fill out the paperwork and told me to sit with the nurse for next steps. I asked the nurse whether she had everything she needed for me to proceed with moving forward. In response, she told me she didn’t have my completed file, and was too busy to look at it. She said she’d call me back later that day. I never received the call. When I call back to speak with someone, I again was placed into an answering machine and only had my call returned 2 days later.
I can go on, but there isn’t any point. They created so much frustration for me that I decided to just gather up my records and go. For the record, I had to wait 10 days to get my medical file, and even then, they were incomplete.
This place is an absolute joke and should be shut down.

I’ve had a very positive experience with Dr. McConnell. She is competent, kind, thorough, and level-​headed. Because it’s a group practice, you interact with all the doctors who each have their own personality which can be a good or bad thing. I have also had some minor issues with the admin stuff here but ultimately feel that my experience with the doctors, and especially Dr. McConnell, has outweighed any negatives of the practice.

They are alarmist charlatans. They interpret test results in order to make you feel as bad as possible about your fertility and try to sell you on doing a second procedure of egg freezing, before you’ve even done your first. They told me they don’t consider a procedure successful unless they’ve frozen ten eggs, and since I only had nine follicles I would probably have to do it a second time. I was seen by Dr. McConnell and she was saying that in order to sell me on a second egg freezing procedure. Their scheduling and billing departments are a total mess — they billed me for the same thing twice and it took nearly seven months to get the bill amended. I ended up leaving them and having the procedure done somewhere else with a kind, lovely, informed doctor I could trust and the process was so much better, from beginning to end.

Laughably bad. Dr. Lobo is wonderful, but the morning monitoring staff is basically reenacting 50 First Dates. The docs don’t bother to glance at your chart before coming in. «Your cycles are regular, right?» «No, and that’s why I’m here.» «Clomid worked for your first baby?» «Nope, he was natural.» You have to go nuclear to get anyone to return a call. One time I was berated by a nurse for not having a test done, even though no one had ever mentioned the test to me before. Another time a lady in the billing department sighed and rolled her eyes when I wasn’t sure whether or not I was getting an ultrasound that day. This is to say nothing of the vibes in the morning monitoring waiting room, which fall somewhere between grim and soul-​crushing.
I’m at NYU now, and so far my experience there has been outstanding.

Dr. Sauer is great– knowledgeable and personable, great bedside manner. Clinically, my results were so-​so, but that’s not the reason I’m giving a 2-​star review. Administratively, this place is a NIGHTMARE. Impossible to get anyone on the phone, voicemail messages seemingly fall into a black hole; on the rare occasion when I’ve been able to get an actual, live human on the phone it’s only after being placed on hold for 20 – 50 minutes (not an exaggeration). Billing is a total disaster– they routinely bill for procedures not performed and then it takes months to get any resolution (I’m still fighting a bill from six months ago). Everyone’s response seems to be «It’s not my issue», and then I’m transferred to another voicemail box that will never be checked. Bad, bad, bad. I’m getting my embryos out of there and going to NYU.

A bad receptionist can make for a bad first impression especially when their tone is laced with attitude over a lack of clarity of their signage. I really wish everyone would like their job and treat others the way that they would like to be treated.
So a month since I wrote the above and I had a run in with Dr. Zimmerman. I was told that I can go elsewhere. Mind you the man invaded my personal space and I had to repeatedly tell him to please step back and he wouldn’t. I have written a formal complaint to Dr. Sauer and will await the outcome of that but somehow I know that I have to find a new doctor. This ship has sailed.
*update months later I have received a response from this Center to the honest review I posted on Unilocal.The response basically stated that due to patient confidentially they do not respond to concerns on this platform. Mind you I have emailed, called, and faxed and NONE of my complaints have been addressed. I hate businesses who are not in the business of helping customers who due to a bad image respond to something online just for the sake of it. I am still floored that no response has been given nor any action against the unprofessionals who work here. Sadly based on other reviews it appears that I am not the only one who has received poor service from this clinic. I took my business elsewhere to RMA of NYC and I am MUCH happier. Dr. Kudesia is an excellent doctor who cares about patient care.

I have not received care from this place but based on my experience even before the initial consult, I may have saved myself from even more frustration. Making an appointment for the initial consult was fine and I even got a few of my questions answered on the phone. It seemed like a great start. However, I called at 3 pm to cancel my appointment and was on hold for 25 minutes. I finally gave up because 25 minutes without having anyone pick up to say «please hold» makes me think that there is no receptionist. If I am unable to get a hold of anyone for a simple change/​cancellation, can’t imagine how horrible it will be trying to reach someone during treatment. I can’t say anything about the care team as have decided to go with a different center. Perhaps the doctors are indeed wonderful as other reviewers have stated but much improvement is needed in reception/​communication with patients.

Dr. Zimmerman is amazing. He was recommended to me by a colleague and I couldn’t be happier. He spends time as much time as necessary reviewing your medical history, explaining exactly what is going on (drawing diagrams where necessary), answering questions, and visiting all options. He is compassionate and validating in his own unique and sincere way. He responds to phone calls and has followed up with me several times about test results, etc. The one time I called when he was on vacation, his colleagues were timely in their response and even checked in the following day.
I’ve had some minor issues with the admin, but Dr. Zimmerman has more than made up for that.

I have been coming to this clinic for approximately 6 months. I have been quite disappointed and frustrated on numerous occasions, I will highlight 3 here.
First, upon looking at the results of the ultrasound whereupon Dr. McOnnell found several cysts in my ovaries, she began the conversation with, «Wow, you’ve got a lot going on down there.» Unprofessional and insensitive.
Second, when I brought the results of my husband’s semen analysis to the office to be included in my file, they lost them. No apology, just poor attitude. We then had to request an additional copy from his doctor, and resubmit them. Hopefully they won’t lose them another time.
Third, when I came in for the 10:00am IVF class, which I had scheduled 6 weeks prior, they informed me that the class had started at 9:00. When I showed them the paper which stated start time for class at 10:00, they simply said it was an «old sheet that had not been updated.» Again, no apology. I am presently sitting outside of the class which is happening, they’ve told me to «wait until the halfway point in the class and they MIGHT let me in.»
This clinic represents everything that is wrong with nyc– patients all around me are expressing frustration. So sad.
Update: after making me wait for over an hour, they did NOT let me into the class.

I have a healthy boy and I’m pregnant again
(No billing issues this time) so well done, CWRC!

The doctors and nurses are great, well informed and caring BUT the administrative staff is not. The staff is not well coordinated on what to advise patients to do when making appointments. I don’t know how else to say it, but they seem a little lazy about making appointments and getting information. I often wait on hold for a very, very long time to get an appointment. The billing people repeatedly wouldn’t acknowledge me when I walked up to the window, they just continued working on their computers without so much as a word. When I called billing, they asked me to do the work on my own because if was almost 4pm and they were going home soon. I often have to wait over an hour after I arrive for an appointment.

I as well, have had a terrable experience with the billing department. I had called them all read to pay our full bill for the IUI treatment we had done and it turned out the be less then I thought, so we decided to do it a couple more times. Six months later, I was told by the billing department that we owe over $ 4000 for previous appointments.
Why should it take them 6 months to get it right in their system? Had we known that, we never would have had that many IUI procedures done.