Fertility Centers of Illinois - River North

I would highly recommend this facility if you are interested in egg retrieval.

My mother in law was a bit apprehensive about the star rating on Google, but after reading through most of the bad reviews, the things people complained about the most were at the bottom of the list of what I care about when it comes to a clinic and the actual treatment. I also did not have any bad experiences or interactions with any of the staff members on the team contrary to those reviews.

I personally rank the doctor/staff expertise as the most important factor, and ranked frequency of how often I spoke with a doctor or expected emotional support from the staff at the bottom. From all the reading I have done and stories I have read about other people's IVF experiences from all over the US, the level of expected interaction with various staff members during the protocol met my expectations. I did not feel like some number or that the clinic did not care about me as a person.

My husband and I felt that the doctors and team did an amazing job with helping us understand the process of IVF, the possible outcome/ expectations at the end of treatment, and medication timing and adjustment throughout the cycle.

I also felt that everyone at the clinic were very nice and friendly and did not have any bad interactions with the staff even on busy days when they have a lot of patients to see. The ultrasound techs who you will interact with the most are some of the nicest folks that will tell you what they see during your scan and what your ovaries look like if you're curious.

We had our initial consult with Dr. Burke who did a great job explaining the process of IVF and expectations for the procedure. Then a few months later, when we were ready to start our cycle, Dr. Burke was on leave. We were worried about losing the patient doctor relationship we built with Dr. Burke and we had some fears about the different doctors analyzing and adjusting medications for us if it isn't the same doctor all the time, but our assigned head nurse Caitlyn assured us that we would be in good hands with the other doctors reading our results.

All the things Dr. Burke told me about the dosage of medication and prediction of eggs retrieved before she left were in line with the treatment plan.

The day of egg retrieval also went so smoothly. The nurse and Dr. Nani introduced themselves and went over some paperwork and medical questions with me and then did the surgical procedure. I was given a sheet of probability of success for the eggs retrieved for every step of the process and instructions for the medication prescribed to prevent OHSS. I did not have any symptoms after retrieval except for some soreness around the pelvic area, and the following day I felt back to normal again.

I believe the protocol the clinic created for me optimized number of eggs they felt they could safely retrieve and my health and safety during and after stimulation.

If I had to do another cycle, I would definitely continue to use FCI.

Reached out to patient advocates y and other th an an automated message never got anything back in response even though they reached out to me here first. Whole damn place is a joke. It's like doing an "internal investigation".

I've visited this location twice this week, in preparation for my first egg retrieval. The office is huge and in a lovely location right on the river. The staff was welcoming and kind. On my first visit, the ultrasound tech explained step by step what she was doing and what I was seeing on the screen--I found it helpful--to better understand my body.

The day of our egg retrieval, things went very smoothly. Our nurse Barb was thorough, walking us through the paperwork & timeline. Dr.Burks performed the procedure and checked in with us several times before and after. She was genuine and attentive. Our embryologist even introduced himself before the retrieval. I felt at ease from start to finish.

I came here for egg freezing, and all I can say is that they do not treat you like human beings. You are only an account number.

Getting a hold of anyone other than the front desk is very difficult. I only got to meet my Dr once her name is Dr Jennifer Hirshfeld. I was not given any information on what to expect or sude effects to the process.

These past two weeks, I started the medication and had terrible back pain told someone if I can get the on call nurse to call to know what pain meds to take since their front desk knows nothing (I work front desk in Healthcare and one of the first things they taught is what pain meds patients can take in case the doctor is busy) and is the weekend. I didn't have anyone get back to me until after my next appointment two days later.

This past Thursday, my anxiety was really high cause I dislike running late. I was 10 mins late cause I had to park far, and due to this upcoming procedure, I am not allowed to run. I told them I had asked a stranger to pay my parking cause I had forgotten my wallet, and I was very panicky that I would get a ticket due to the limited amount of time I have. Recently, I got my car tower near office with no signs saying anything so you can understand my panic. I waited, and it got to the point that i was crying with anxiety, asking the front desk how much longer. I got a call the next day saying I treated not only the front desk rudely but the lady in ultrasound, too. That if i do it again i would not be allowed back. I'm sure not everyone is the same, but when I have anxiety, I'm in freak out mode, and it'd hard to calm down. It takes me a few moments.

Yesterday was the day of my retrieval, and I found out that I have a different doctor doing the surgery. When first started this I specifically told them I would like only a female doctor, and my doctor for my surgery was male. I moved forward because I want kids in my future. When I got up from my surgery, I was given a drink and snack. I was told they had to give me more medication to sleep cause I woke up (thankfully, I don't remember), and I was so dizzy. They instructed me to get dressed after not even 20 mins of getting up. I ended up throwing up, and they cleaned it up, gave me a wet cloth, and continued to tell me to get dressed. They walked me to the lobby to wait for my father. Not a single nurse checked to see if I was ok. I wish they let me stay lying down until I was picked up.

Horrible Staff and System

Very Rude Staff and Office Manager

Showed up for an appointment made over a month ago and were told the computer lost it and confirmed verbally. Can't see doctor. Kicked us out and said start over with new patient number, wait a month or two for a new appointment. My wife was crying but the staff didn't care. "Leave or staff will ban you.

Worst Doctors appointment ever.

Agree with recent reviews -FCI is one star at most. Warrenville office has nurses whose behavior ranges from indifferent/dismissive to rude/unprofessional. You end up calling office many times, to just get basic clarification or to schedule, being put on long holds and getting nowhere, feeling upset and anxious. They don't care about anything but bill collection. Nurse reassignment is impossible, since they are short staffed and ill trained and make it all patients' problems. Doctors are ok, but they are served by indifferent and cruel minions. Skip this chain and go elsewhere-their current management/admin system is terrible and your service will be rotten and stressful.

Extremely disappointed in the turnaround time for anything at this place.
My wife and I were advised by Dr. Rapisadra to see a Dr. Sam O'Lander for exams to determine next steps in either facilitating in vitro or freezing my semen.
Dr. Oleander's office requested a referral.
IT'S BEEN OVER A MONTH and 3 messages left with voicemails or personnel at this center, and no response yet.
We're in the process of requesting my semen analysis from this location to pursue help from a different clinic, and I'm on week 2 waiting for a reply from a Ms. Price.

You'd think communication, attention to detail and follow-up would be priorities at a fertility clinic. Time is of the essence when you're attempting to have children at an older age, and you absolutely get the impression that these people couldn't care less.

My husband and I initially joined the FCI cult after Northwestern let us know we are not a candidate for IVF. That was difficult enough. Dr Kaplan came highly recommended and we really enjoyed working with him. He has years of industry knowledge and we definitely trusted him and appreciated his care and transparency.

Why 2 stars then? While Dr Kaplan has been a pleasure to work with, the administrative stuff is just terrible. Our financial counselor misinformed us multiple times and I became an expert in insurance coverage and had to educate her several times. While I understand that the nurses and Ultrasound techs are dealing with hundreds of women daily, the place really just leaves an unwelcoming impression of "Baby Making Dungeon with Poor Customer Service". The clinic does not offer enough innovative approach to IVF.

IVF is such an isolating and emotional process, it would be nice to be treated with respect and with proper level of customer service.

If I had to do it over again, I would not have chosen FCI!

Dr Kaplan was amazing throughout our entire IVF journey and we have the most amazing baby girl from our experience. Dr Kaplan was open to address and answer any questions or requests I had and was such a reassuring voice along our journey. So thankful for him! His nurses were wonderful as well!

The only thing I would mention is the wait times can be a little crazy at times with monitoring/bloodwork, but from what I hear, a lot of IVF clinics have similar issues.

Avoid this clinic and save yourself a world of frustration, stress, and wasted resources. Believe every single 1-star review. I cannot stress enough how terrible my experience with FCI has been and how I would never advise anyone to trust something as difficult and delicate as their fertility treatment here.

You will talk directly to your doctor maybe twice over many months and feel like a number in a factory line here. The limited times you ARE able to talk with a human who actually knows your unique case, you will try to field huge questions with unclear answers deferred to said doctor who has a waiting list to see or speak directly to their own established patients. Yes, when it comes to medical treatment you have to be your own best advocate. However, from start to finish with FCI, I truly felt like my only advocate and the only person with any semblance of familiarity with my history and treatment plan. I can't tell you how many times I had to double check that prescriptions were even ordered, how many times I called different pharmacies to repeat that my insurance didn't cover certain time sensitive medications and I would be paying out of pocket, and so much more that should've been the purview of the medical team, and not me, the patient. Multiple times I would finally hear from FCI at their COB and have to drop everything to go get a prescription they rush ordered, or often times didn't call in unless I explicitly requested they do so.

I'm going to share my experience in detail if it can help a single other person out there considering FCI.

Over a 6 month period, my husband and I spent thousands of dollars out of pocket and huge amounts of time only to get to 2 canceled IUI cycles. I was referred here by my OBGYN after 1 IUI cycle and multiple TI cycles which did not result in pregnancy. I have PCOS and responded beautifully to a certain drug each attempt prior to FCI. At FCI, it was made clear that this previous drug would not even be an option, and we would only proceed with IUI under Clomid and injectables if necessary. Despite this hesitancy we proceeded and like many, I experienced debilitating side effects from the Clomid only to not respond well and have to move on to injectables. Our insurance did not cover this so each tiny vial cost around $500 out of pocket. I was also prescribed an HCG trigger that required mixing at home despite asking for a premixed syringe that I had had familiarity with. This trigger syringe malfunctioned which led to our first canceled cycle.

When I tried to call FCI to set up a monitoring appointment to restart the process, I COULD NOT get in touch with their appointments desk for 3 straight days. For 3 days I called intermittently, left voicemails, and portal messages. If you are familiar with fertility treatment, it is incredibly time sensitive and you have to do certain monitoring at certain points of your cycle. After those 3 days of no answer it was the weekend and when Monday rolled around, I finally got in touch with someone. Not only was the person oblivious to what I was explaining (they asked if I wanted to come in for genetic testing!), I learned that the RN covering my case was no longer employed and also that because it was no longer the right day of my cycle, we could not proceed with IUI and I would have to wait until my next natural period. FCI apologized for the lapse in communication and for my file falling through the cracks. For those of you with PCOS, you know how long natural cycles can take and I was devastated knowing it could be another 2 months until I could even start the process again. Days and months are PRECIOUS when it comes to ART.

For our next IUI, I was prescribed the same protocol only this time I did not respond as quickly to the injectables.I kept asking if this was normal, that if we were at risk for egg quality being poor or the growth taking too long, I was given vague answers and told to keep going. For our 3rd vial there was a prescription miscommunication with the pharmacy and I had to wait there until they decided to give me the FSH and figure out the error with FCI in the morning. FCI did not increase my low dosage despite many days of slow or no growth. Only when my doctor was out of the country on vacation, did the substitute doctor increase my dosage. When my doctor returned, we maintained this dosage but ultimately canceled. TWENTY nights of injectables and monitoring every other day only for my doctor to cancel the cycle because I "wasn't responding well". Well, I could've told you that about 2 weeks prior! The cherry on top is that my doctor suggested we start again with the EXACT same protocol which had JUST not worked. When I asked to speak to my doctor about all it, I was told that they were pretty booked up and I could get on their waiting list. Needless to say, we chose to immediately stop treatment at FCI.

There are many other options in this city and run as fast as you can to any one of them.