Pacific Northwest Fertility

I had a TERRIBLE experience with the billing department here. When I first went to PNW Fertility, I spoke to a billing counselor, knowing that I would need to make monthly payments. She assured me that making regular payments was not an issue and that they "don't go after people just for a couple hundred dollars." After a few appointments, I was told that I had a less than 1% chance of conceiving with my husband through IVF. We made the decision to stop treatments at that time. Our bill was around $400 when we discontinued services.



After we received the first bill, we made regular payments to pay off the rather small balance we had accrued. That was when all the problems started. The online payment system did not post to my account and I was told that I hadn't made the payment until I provided the confirmation ID number. The person on the phone said that the money had posted to someone else's account. She fixed it, and told me since I actually hadn't skipped a payment, that I could have everything paid off by 8/1.



I made the next payment and then a few days later received a bill with a negative balance ($-7.45). Two days later, I received a bill for the entire balance of $177.46 due on 6/8. When I called to find out what was happening with my account, I was told that I had agreed to pay off the balance by 6/8 and that they "never send out negative balances." They said we owed the full amount because we only made $50 payments and not $96.66 which was never told to me. I said it was very confusing getting a negative bill in the middle of the payment plan and they just kept repeating "we don't send out negative invoices" and I said "how do I have it in my hand then?"



I will NEVER send anyone to PNW Fertility. This is the first time I've ever had anything like this happen with a doctor's office. They are in the business of making money, not making miracles happen.

I have nothing but praise to say about PNWF and the knowledgeable and helpful staff there who have assisted us in our pregnancy. Most noteworthy is Stephanie Frickleton who we felt really cared and supported us. She responded to all our questions and concerns with expertise, exceptional professionalism and who we feel, went above and beyond to assist us in every way possible. Jennifer Lynn was also wonderful nurse who exemplified warmth and care. We also appreciated the expertise and compassion of Dr. Julie Lamb. In sum, we appreciated the level of care and customized support we received at PNWF from all the staff we encountered. They were truly amazing!

I'm on the fence about this place. I've had mixed success - one pregnancy that resulted in a healthy baby, followed by three failures. If you choose to be a patient at PNWF expect to do a lot of running around yourself. You need to be completely on top of your own cycle. As prior reviewers have said, there are some very lax and unresponsive support staff - particularly some of the nurses. Unfortunately I've had some nurses make mistakes with the instructions for my cycle, medications, and doses, just as other reviewers have. If I hadn't had as much experience in going through all of this I too would have followed their bad instructions and made mistakes in my cycle, or paid too much money for unnecessary drugs. It's surprising that some of the support staff continue to have jobs there. The reason I stay rather than move somewhere else is we have embryos there and I'm running out of money to go elsewhere and start all over again. Also living on the hope that I will have success again, as I did on the first cycle.

WONDERFUL!! The atmosphere is relaxing and intimate where every staff member will call you by name. The staff is precise, informative, knowledgeable, encouraging, and patient. After my 1st appointment with Dr Lamb and nurse Catherine, I knew I would become pregnant! I was so very confident in their knowledge and treatment plan. Another plus, their IVF refund plan costs half the price of SRM. My nurse Catherine finds the best prices for medication and we went with Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy. SRM only goes with Apothecary Speciality Pharmacy, the most expensive.



BTW, we tried getting pregnant with SRM for 2 years. Horrible experience and not just bc I didn't get pregnant. Look up my review on them for details.



"Its not the destination, so much as the Journey."



My husband and I cannot say enough good things about PNW. Please check them out!

My wife and I came to their clinic in Januaray 2010 with great hopes of getting help. Dr. Hickok was very nice but his support staff is terrible. The front desk is rude, seems too busy to help you and the staffing/nurses do not keep in contact with you during your procedures and timelines. Very unorganized, chaotic and caused my wife lots of stress. For example, for a prescription, we called 3 times, emailed 3 times, no response. We were just about to do the IVF, bought the medications but no one would get back to us regarding scheduling and what the next step is. Each meeting we paid our balance and next thing we know, we get sent to collections. We weren't contacted at all, not even called. Anyone thinking about coming here should be aware of the unorganized system there. We hope that someone at PNW will read this review and change their practices. We are going to continue our goal of getting pregnant but at a different location.

After working with this clinic for 8 months, I found them to be competent and mostly friendly. But they have too many patients for personal care.