Update: I have always been a huge advocate for AHN, Dr. Balmir, and their staff. Unfortunately, ever since my chemical pregnancy in July, everything has gone severely downhill. Following my chemical pregnancy, I didnt hear from Dr. Balmir or have any conversations with anyone. When I asked if I could talk to Dr. Balmir about what happened, I was told to schedule an appointment for two months later. All I wanted was to talk about what happened with a transfer, successful then lost. I dont think making 15-minutes for a patient of 2 years would have been asking much. I went back and did a medicated cycle in November. Things were okay - I felt like since it was less of a financial dedication I was just pushed to the side.Most recently, I have been on my period for 24 days. I called their office and left a voicemail on the nurses line. I never received a call back and ended up in the emergency room all night. It is 6 days later and I still have not heard back from the nurses.Overall: I believe that they only pay attention to you if you are putting in some serious $$$.Previous Review, when we were spending $50k:Dr. Balmir and her team have been nothing short of amazing. My husband and I have been working with AHN for almost a year. We have felt welcome and supported every time that we have visited the office, whether it was for a consultation, sample, ultrasound, or blood draw. We recently underwent our first round of IVF and the kindness that was shown to us was beyond anything I could have imagined. They care and are compassionate every step of the way, understanding the emotional and physical toll it takes on both partners. The nurses and care at AGH during our retrieval were also tremendous. If we could offer 100 stars we would. Although we havent reached a successful pregnancy (yet!) I am confident that Dr. Balmir will get us there. Thank you so much to Dr. Balmir for your honesty and compassion along this journey. Valerie (best nurse EVER), Kenya (legit, best phlebotomist!), Nicole & Marcy (such caring and funny ultrasound ladies!), the front office staff - always so kind, courteous, and overall amazing! And everyone else that we have worked with but dont know on a first-name basis - thank you! I highly encourage anyone going through infertility to work with AHN.
Dr Pilgrim is amazing, he continues to help me with my infertility issues. However one of nurses there named Martha is not friendly at all. She told us directly that we needed to stop trying for a baby which was none of her business then proceeded to tell my fiancé that he had testicular cancer and he could never have kids when he never even seen the specialist yet. Then when we had a follow up appointment with Dr Pilgrim he told us something completely different. I will never want to speak to nurse Martha again.
My husband and I began treatment with AHN – Dr. Balmir in 2019 due to over 4 years of trying naturally to have a child without any success. Early in our involvement, I learned that my AMH level was low at .4 and I was diagnosed with Diminished Ovarian Reserve. We proceeded with 3 medicated IUI’s – none of which resulted in a pregnancy. After the 3rd, my husband decided we needed to take a break before proceeding with IVF, as that was the next recommended procedure and we did not know if we would be able to financially manage it. This was at the end of 2019, we ended up taking all of 2020 off, and re-engaged with treatment in October of 2021.At that time, we were told there was a 6 month wait list for IVF, so we were placed on the list and proceeded with 3 more IUI’s. Again, no pregnancy and this time my AMH level was even lower, at .04. Dr. Balmir ended up leaving the practice in March 2022, and when I called in April to see where I was on the waitlist , I was told that due to Dr. Balmir leaving, it was pushed back another 4 months, so I should expect to be up in August. In May, we had our IVF consultation with Dr. Homa as I was transferred to her caseload.The consultation was awful. It was like Dr. Homa hadn’t taken the time to look at my chart and I had to explain everything we had already done. Then, she indicates that I am not a good candidate for IVF due to my low AMH level, and that they “typically do not offer IVF” to patients with an AMH of .4 or lower because they have never had success with level that low, and do not want to put the patient through that emotional, financial or physical stress. She suggested we use donor eggs.I feel like AHN wasted my time and were only looking to get some money out of me (and at $1,000 a pop for an IUI, they got at least $6,000 out of me). If I was NEVER an ideal candidate for IVF, then that should not have been the end goal of my treatment plan. I should not have been placed on a 10 month wait list for the procedure. Back in 2019, when the level was .4, maybe they should have suggested freezing some eggs, since I expressed I needed to take a break from treatment for a while. In 2019 when my level was .4, they should have been transparent about my chances of success with IVF at their clinic, and if they didn’t think they could help me, they should have said it.Shady Grove Fertility clinic recently opened up a location in Wexford, and we have a second opinion there for IVF in 2 weeks. If they too say that we are not an ideal candidate and suggest donor eggs, then fine. We accept that. AHN Center for reproductive medicine is lacking in transparency, integrity and honesty and I wish they hadn’t mislead me – and hope they haven’t mislead many others.I gave them 2 stars because I always got in and out quickly for appointments and nursing staff was already friendly and helpful.
I wish I could give this clinic 0 stars. Please save yourself heartache and money and go to another clinic. Nothing is tailored to your individual needs. They are unorganized. They canceled a month of treatment for me because my progesterone was elevated, but I was on progesterone supplements and new it would be elevated. Had to call dr. Homa to tell her they canceled it due to high progesterone when I was on a supplement so I could continue treatment for that month 🤦🏻♀️ So you have to be on top of everything they do.During my IVF transfer, when I asked about the bleeding that dr. Homa told me I was having she basically scoffed and laughed at me. The ultrasound tech Marci was wearing perfume during my transfer that was so heavy I could smell it through a stuffy nose and mask. I sent an email to the manager that should never happen. Which they told her about. Then when I went in for an ultrasound she yelled at me and refused to do my ultrasound which left me in tears. Literally sobbing in shock she would treat me like that. Especially when my transfer FAILED. No apologies to me. During an already highly emotional time they just made it 10,000 times worse.I originally was supposed to see dr. Balmir but all procedures were done by dr. Homa. The front desk staff & blood draw techs were the only people there who were compassionate and friendly.I was at another clinic in Michigan and now at a clinic in California and they are 100% nothing like AGH. Avoid avoid avoid!!!!!!! I also looked up their transfer rates. Lowest in the Pittsburgh area. Wish I knew before I went to them.
I was at Pittsburgh ivf but due to job and insurance change I had to use AHN and was with this clinic for 4years. I wasted the first 2 years doing timed intercourse with clomed and Femara because the first doc I had was very old school and even with PCOS wouldnt do anything more. Got new insurance that covers IUI and IVF 100% and started seeing Dr. Balmir who was a breathe of fresh air. She worked with my insurance who sadly wouldnt approve IVF until 6 failed cycles or IUIs even tho I had been there for 2 years and had plenty of failed cycles. Balmir, Kendra one of the ultrasound techs, and Sarah my nurse were the only good things at this clinic. Sarah and Balmir returned my calls promptly and answered in detail but sadly this wouldnt be the case always.While preparing for my egg retrieval Balmir went out on leave and I had Dr. Wakim. This man was horrendous with my care. The first attempt at egg retrieval he insisted I stay on lupron which I questioned and told him it suppressed my egg growth in previous cycles but he insisted. We had to cancel and switch to IUI (with 1 day notice so my husband was forced to miss work to give a sample) cuz only 1 egg matured. The 2nd attempt he kept giving me a cocktail of drugs and wouldnt return my calls when I again questioned him. This time I had 40 follicles by the time surgery came. Day of surgery the hospital is trying to get my history when Wakim interrupts the anesthesiologist and asks why I was on blood thinners and why do I need them...this was a very important detail that had been flagged in my chart because hormones have caused me to have a stroke in the past and he very obviously had not even looked at my chart. Thank God I had been on blood thinners because the levels of hormones he gave me may have caused me to have blood clots. After surgery he tells me I had 20 mature follicles and that ill get a period in a week. I developed OHSS so severe I had to go to the hospital for fluids and albumin transfusions. I begged for an appt at the clinic before going to the hospital and he wouldnt even come into the exam room!! He poked his head in the door and kinda came in and said ill get a period and feel better in a few days. He wouldnt even examine me and Sarah made him take a look cuz I had gained 10lbs after the surgery, was very swollen, and in a lot of pain. He brushed me off and thats how I ended up in the hospital a few days later with fluid filling my chest and unable to breathe. The only good thing from him was I got 10 embryos and Balmir returned by the time this was over. I told her he is never ever to talk to me or touch me and my chart ever again. I wont even do an FET if its his month.The next complaint I have is Sandy the billing woman. She is absolutely a nightmare to get ahold of unless you email her. She has coded procedures wrong, misquoted and over charged me on multiple procedures, and left out important pricing fees. Even tho my insurance covers IVF it doesnt cover their $500 fee to thaw the embryo. I fought long and hard with her over this because I feel like they are just billing it wrong to get more money as an FET obviously requires thawing the embryo and should be bundled as part of the FET which is fully covered. Also, their embryo forms say you can adopt out any embryos you dont want but when I tried to do this they insisted they cant do that yet and that it wasnt on the form I filled out but it was and I have a copy.Last thing, this clinic has no uniqueness to your cycle. Do you need longer on meds? Tough they are ran by the hospital and if you arent ready you wasted hundreds or thousands of dollars on a cycle(unless you pay $800 out of pocket on an ERA which was rushed and done too soon on me). You also have to drive into Pittsburgh at AGH to do anything which honestly just sucks since the umpc Penn hills clinic does it all in house. There were rumors that maybe this clinic will move to the Wexford pavilion and do everything in house but I have yet to see that.
Zero stars is more accurate. This place never answers their phones, takes days to call back.... the nurses are rude. A secretary talked about very private information in front of a waiting room full of people.They would not schedule an IUI because I would need it done on memorial day, and I was told that I would just have to do timed intercourse that month.... after TWO YEARS of timed intercourse not working for us.Theyre a joke and do not care about their patients. I went to Cleveland Clinic- best decision of my life. The nurses and doctors are amazing and take the time to talk to you. Theyre open almost every day of the year so that no matter when you need an IUI/IVF cycle, you can do it. Got pregnant on my first IVF transfer with them.DO NOT GO TO AHN CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE. Save yourself time and heartache and go elsewhere.
To begin, my husband and I have been struggling to conceive for the past two years. I was referred to AHN Reproductive Medicine after a year into trying to have a child naturally. My first appointment with Dr. Balmir was AMAZING. She is one of the kindest and most passionate people I have ever met. She started talking us through everything; she answered every question and made me feel super comfortable with the process. At the end of the call, she said, I will do everything in my power to help you have a child. That has stuck with me through the entire process. After my first surgery (to remove tissue/polyps from my uterus), when I was coming to, she gently took my hand in the recovery room (I was a bit emotional with everything going on). Again, she said, everything went great, and we will continue to do everything we can to help you have a child. Dr. Balmirs consistency and positivity are unmatched, and I could not imagine going through this entire process with another doctor.Continuing our journey… My husband and I have been through IUI cycles with zero success, and we have moved to the IVF process. IVF has been a process, to say the least. As you could expect, a good amount of paperwork, ordering medications, and communications with the nursing staff. I need to give a HUGE shout-out to the nursing staff as well. They are always available via MyChart and via phone call. They are always willing to answer any questions/concerns that I have, and trust me; I have A LOT of questions. A few weeks ago, I received a MyChart message about an injections class for IVF (with IVF, you take 2-3 shots a day over 10-14 days). After receiving the massive box of medications, I knew that I would need help with how to mix the medicine/etc. I am so happy that I joined the class with the nurse, Jessica Dunn. She was WONDERFUL! I went into the class with an entire notebook page of questions to ask, and she answered everyone with the utmost kindness and tenderness, just like Dr. Balmir does. Jessica made sure we knew how to mix the injections, inject them properly, and understand the schedules we were given/timelines for our injections. Without the class, I would have been calling the nurses hotline immediately when I was scheduled to give myself my first set of injections. Jessica was able to relieve all of my stress regarding the injections within the first hour of the class. Thank you so much, Jessica, you rock!If you are struggling with conceiving, I HIGHLY suggest you pick AHN Reproductive Medicine to help you. They have been nothing but kind, compassionate, and caring throughout our entire process. I couldnt imagine having another Doctor/or set of nurses helping me through the process. With this process, you need as much support as you can get, and AHN Reproductive Medicine can provide that for you. Also, special shout out to PA Almay, as well; she is AMAZING too :)
We had Dr Balmir for our iui/ivf experience! She was absolutely amazing. She explained this very thoroughly and very compassionate. She is definitely a 5 star but I give 4 because during the whole process I did have some issues with the nurses and other staff. I ended up going to the hospital multiple times because I would call and not receive a ph call back. It wasnt consistently though. Overall my experience was great and I now have my ivf miracle which made everything well worth it
Just a bad medical practice thats clearly way overwhelmed with too many patients at the present time. I tried going here after trying to conceive for over a year without help. They never did any baseline bloodwork with me, but scheduled an internal exam procedure. When all looked good, I was put immediately on fertility drugs. After 4 cycles of fertility drugs and no follow up from the doctor, I was told I had a 3+ month wait just for an appointment as an existing patient, but could talk to a nurse. When I asked a nurse to order some bloodwork to check my progesterone in the meantime, she said, Progesterone? Why would you want to check that?I ended up traveling out of state to a new fertility clinic, where Ive been diagnosed with hormone imbalance and other issues preventing pregnancy. The new clinic has asked me multiple times, Why didnt your original clinic find this? Why did they never do any baseline bloodwork?I couldve saved a year of heartache and grief had I been a better advocate for myself and my health. AHN Center for Reproductive Medicine looks to treat the symptom, not the root problem, and for women struggling to conceive, this can make ALL the difference.
I have had the worst experience at this fertility clinic (I have experience with 4). It is my opinion based upon my experience that these 3 doctors do not care for each other. Since they rotate months, you will get whomever is available throughout your care here, as all fertility procedures are time-sensitive. I attempted 4 IVF cycles, and only 2 were completed ... one was even canceled mid-cycle after Doctors Homa and Wakim were both advising me to do different things concurrently, causing me to lose thousands of dollars spent on out of pocket medication.Although they knew we were creating embryos for an out of state gestational surrogate from my very first appointment, once the embryos were created (and they got their money), AHN Center for Fertility decided they no longer wanted to work with an out of state surrogate, leading me to scramble at the last minute to find a new clinic and SHIP the embryos needlessly to another clinic (more thousands). These are all services advertised on their website and procedures completed everyday throughout the country. Almost all of the nurses raved about in previous reviews do not work there anymore, they have a high rate of turnover - I speculate due to the toxic environment of working for doctors who do not care for each other (based on my experience)I could go on, but the main take away here is that this AHN Center for Fertility caused us unnecessary work, procedures, lost time, heartache and frustration, and ultimately, embryos we could not even transfer or use without hours of work, trips to the notary, paying to ship etc etc etc. Needlessly starting over (due to Dr. Homas unwillingness to work with an out of state RE for monitoring) after months of procedures and time at this clinic was devastating -this was a convenience decision and not a medical decision.If you have to go here for insurance reasons, beware and do your due diligence to ensure you will be getting the care they advertise.
Can not get them to contact you at all. Its very hard to get a reply from any one that it made me uneasy to continue through with having surgery.When i went to the clinic the staff would call me she, i have a beard, my medical card and drivers license also said male. Despite correcting the staff at the counter multiple times they proceeded to call me she. I hope they billed things correctly based on that, i really hate trying to fight with bcbs on stuff like this especially with a office that can’t be contacted.Dr homa was very nice gave me good advice, was very friendly and we had a nice conversation. I enjoyed the time we spent with each other.The office sent out a request for surgery. For months i kept trying to contact some one about if the surgery was aproved or not. I could not get through to the office via phone or email. one day i called right as they opened and got some one. Its a battle getting answers for anything.Bcbs ended up sending me the aproval letter with the information needed and i had to run it to the office. I’ve never had to do that for a surgery before in my life.Im happy with the doctor but the staff is very hindering in this entire process and caused a lot of uneeded stress. I almost started trying to find another surgeon.
Dr. Balmir is so understanding, empathic and easy to talk to! We are beginning our IVF journey and Dr. Balmir has given me hope through her guidance and knowledge. She always takes the time to explain things and never rushes! She has my desires at heart! I honestly could not have imagined going to another doctor through this emotional process!
The Jones institute is the best! We had Dr. Homa help us thoughout our IUIs and in vitro journey and she was knowledgeable and clear. Not too personal but she was professional. We loooved our nurses, Jesse, Judy and Jen and our tech, Kendra. They were ALL very sweet and nice. We did 6 IUIs then 1 in vitro. Got pregnant the second transfer. We have our 4 month old baby girl with us. We are very thankful to them!
VERY UNSATISFIED!!! I would call and leave a message and it would take them forever to get back to me. I even told them to leave a message regarding my message so I have an an answer to my question but they would do that even with my permission. They also never would ask the Dr. about simple question I had said I had to make an appt and soonest one available was another month from now. My insurance also covers IUIs but they submitted with dx code that is not covered and refused to change dx code. They stated they do not do that, when I myself was certified for billing and coding and did that job for almost 10 years and I know they could easily change a dx code so insurance covers it. They made me pay out of pocket $380 before even submitting to insurance. Very impersonal staff, never explained things well as far as how treatments go. Very unhappy and am seeking treatment somewhere else that WILL change the dx code so my insurance will pay
I am super disappointed with the level of service that was provided by this center. Unfortunately my wife was just diagnosed for breast cancer and due to the fact that we have no children, it was strongly recommended by her oncologist to at the very least harvest eggs for future use. As its very well known that the Cancer treatments may leave us unable to reproduce years down the road. I figured that she would fall into a high priority category due to the upcoming chemotherapy treatments and such a short window to harvest from. Due to the high cost of the fertility treatments luckily there is help from such organizations as Live Strong and another with Walgreens Pharmacy. The financial counselor never completed her due diligence of completing all the necessary paperwork to have turned in on a Friday by 2pm for the funding of all the medicine that she must take to get this procedure going so we can move on to the Chemotherapy treatments. This facility removed the opportunity for us to maybe have children in the future due to their lack of priority management. My wife and myself are both just completely blown away that they treated this situation like it was no big deal. I understand that zwe are only seeing this side of the facility but I can only imagine the months and months that desperate couples wanting to have children are subjected to solely because someone refuses to take their job seriously and understand not everyone is able to just wing it. Maybe Iam being bias solely because my main focus is my wifes ability to get well but I also do not want her decision to maybe have children in the future to be determined by some lazy paper pushers.I hope this review helps maybe someone else in our situation and I can provide the information that I wish we were given the courtesy of recieving...
My husband and I are Currently Patients Currently Doing IVF . I’m so beyond disappointed in myself and why I choose his clinic and did not read all reviews on this place . None of them are on the same page . I’m so beyond stressed out at this point . I’ve been a LPN since I’ve been 20 years old and I’ve never not had an appropriate bedside manner . I’ve never been treated so poorly . The Dr . I seen on the one and really liked her and she was so sweet and reassuring. I so wish I would’ve made a different decision in the clinics
I had a few issues regarding overall treatment and ease of communication with the office but AHN listened to my concerns and are making an effort to rectify the issue for future patients. Hopefully they are successful with that.
Saw the Dr., cost me almost $400 to see her, and we had a procedure set up. Then everything got cancelled due to Covid. I call back five months later to reschedule and they tell me I have to see the doctor again at another $400 before they can schedule the procedure. Absolutely ridiculous!!!!!!!
Financial coordinator never answers the phone or gets back to you with important information. No one ever calls you back, even when on a specific timeline.
His place is a joke my doctor told meTo go here and they did nothing just want to make more test it’s very upsetting. The old man should retire.
Great people. Convenient and clean.