Laurel Fertility Care- San Francisco's Online Review Report Card

After a successful full cycle leading to the birth of my first daughter a little over 2 years ago, we went back to Laurel for another frozen embryo transfer and was successful again. We welcome our 2nd babies earlier this month. I'm very fortunate because there's no guarantee in the IVF journey. I'm also very thankful for the Laurel team and for completing my family!

Absolutely, positively, terrible. Please please don't go here. My wife and I started our fertility journey here and decided (after we had already finished sperm donation with our donor) to move elsewhere. Terrible with billing, terrible with communicating. We're now struggling to get said sperm from Laurel to our new clinic. If I could do it all over again, we never would have initiated anything with Laurel.

I have done a few rounds of IVF with Laurel now and feel confident with my care. I learned to ask many questions my first time around because I did not know anything about the process, and when I did, the nurses were very responsive. I had two successful transfers out of 3 after two pretty successful retrievals. I rarely had to wait to be seen but on occasion, I had to wait in the waiting room at the Modesto Facility, but it was never a concerning amount of time. If you are dreaming of expanding your family, I would recommend Laurel.

It is sad that this clinic wastes a lot of time putting women on thyroid medication unnecessarily. How can a Fertility clinic waste over 6 months of a 38 year old woman's time knowing how fast fertiliy declines after 35? My TSH was normal 2.5 but I was put on levothyroxine for over 6 months before I can even begin the IVF cycle as they say my TSH should be below 2. After wasting so many months I went to another clinic where the other clinic said I did not need to be on medication in the first place and let me begin the IVF cycle right away, as they give priority to the declining AMH, which is irreversible with each passing day. I hope this clinic doesn't continue to waste a woman's precious time unnecessarily.

Very positive experience. Dr Smikle took into close care my personal goals and medical history to give me the best outcome. Nurses were informative, responsive and comforting when needed. Highly recommend.

I went to Laurel Fertility for fertility preservation care and had an all around positive experience. My appointments started on time, the nurses were so helpful and made time for you, and every department from billing to nursing and new patient coordinator responded to messages in the patient portal way faster than I expected them to. Often pretty immediately. The portal itself was a bit dated and you couldn't reply to inbound messages, but that was fine. I was nervous about mixing all of the injections I would need to give myself and the nurse suggested that I film her showing me how to do it all. I would have been a lot more confused and overwhelmed with only written instructions for my specific medication amounts, so I appreciated her making that suggestion. The staff was all especially warm on the day of retrieval and let me leave completely on my own time. Appreciate everything they did for me!

I know I updated this review a long time ago, but Yelp kept posting the unfavorable one. Bottom line, this business made our dream come true. Do not hesitate, let them do what they do best which is create a wonderful family experience

I went in for an appointment today and was told that they only accept insurance for female partners. They are obviously within their rights to take or not take insurance, but as someone trying to be a supportive male partner (and who has different insurance from my wife) this was disappointing. I'm no expert here but it kinda feels like 1990s era sexism?My experience in the office wasn't great either. When they told me this and I took some time to call my insurance provider to confim my coverage, they told me after about 20 minutes of my being on hold that their lab had closed for the weekend, so even if I wanted to do an out of pocket appointment I would have to come back. There were two folks at the desk and I was the only one in the lobby the whole time, so it would have been nice to get a heads up before it closed. Even a bit of empathy / an apology in their communication could have gone a long way. Just made me sad in what is already a tough journey. :-(This place might still be great for "traditional" straight couples who treat fertility as primarily a women's "issue"...not sure.

Update: I am still getting phone calls about collecting payments that I was never informed I would need to pay. This happened frequently throughout my treatment. Not telling me when I would have to pay and how much prior my appointment. And no, "I'm sorry that happened" doesn't make it okay or better. While my treatment didn't end in pregnancy i am happy with my overall experience. I enjoyed working with Dr. Smikle, he listened and most importantly always ensured he answered any questions I had. Treatment was really determined on what we wanted or needed. All the nurses were also great and easy to reach and always very responsive. When I called reception majority of the time there was no answer and never a call back when I left a message. It was challenging to reach the nurses or billing when I would call in. I had the most challenges with billing, it was nearly impossible to talk with someone which is a huge deal. I rarely got calls back or replies via portal without continuously trying. When I was able to talk with someone it was Grace everytime and she was great and helped me understand everytime. But reaching anyone was far and few between. A super minor thing I wish was different is the portal messaging. It would have made a little bit easier to communicate if messaging wasn't only one way from the patient's end.

DO NOT GO!IVF process is stressful enough, you don't need a clinic full of incompetent people to stress you out even more.I only gave 2 starts because Dr. Smikle and most nurses are pretty nice people. BUT the clinic is so poorly operated unfortunately.1. No communication unless they need ask for money, this place try to suck every penny out of you. Billing is extremely incompetent, lady called me IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CYCLE and told me my insurance doesn't cover it anymore. This is fake news because it is an employee benefit. STRESSFUL while you're already taking the shots RIGHT?2. Nurse for my 2nd procedure woke me up and rush me out 30 mins after a FULL ANESTHESIA egg retrieval, I guess it is unlucky my procedure is scheduled around her lunch time?3. RESULT - bad. I got very few eggs for the amount of follicles I have and had to do it a 2nd time, changing protocol didn't yield more eggs but MORE SUFFERING in my life.4. LADY AT EGG STORAGE DEPARTMENT DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO COUNT! This is absolutely ridiculous. She thinks 2+2 = 5 even after I pointed it out and she insisted. Then she thinks 3+3 +2 = 7 and I died and gave up. This is IMPORTANT COUNT for family planing, can you pls fire this clown DR SMIKLE? I attached screenshot of her ridiculous messages to me for y'all entertainment.5. I almost ran out of meds, extra stressful to get more on time. It was in the middle of my cycle, what happens if I didn't get it on time, they almost fucked me up there.