Soules, Michael R, Md - Seattle Reproductive Medicine

I'm quite shocked to see all the negative reviews on here, as we had a great experience, and I am happily 19 weeks pregnant. We went to SRM for over a year in a long but very logical and well planned out treatment program with a really personalized approach to our infertility. I highly recommend them.\r \r I went in initially as we decided to try to reverse my husband's vasectomy, and we wanted to assure that I was fertile before we did. I worked with Dr. Michael Soules and we were assigned Breanne Ross as a nurse (one of the smart things they have done here is assign you a consistent nurse, so you always have someone to call/contact). They did a series of fertility tests and confirmed that even with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) I could very likely have kids.\r \r My husband then worked with Dr. McClure for his vasectomy reversal surgery, which was succesful. We were really impressed by Dr. McClure's level of knowledge re: male infertility and his bedside manner - clearly and carefully explaining things.\r \r We then re-consulted with Dr. Soules and Breanne, and after having all of the options explained to us, elected to try ovulation regulating drugs for me, and an IUI with FSH shots. Dr. Soules' knowledge and experience is pretty unparalled (there are volumes and volumes of his published texts in some of the offices) and Breanne was superb at explaining and re-explaining things when we had questions or when I came up with a concern (reading something, hearing something on the news etc.). On our third attempt we were successful in getting pregnant. SRM maintained our care through blood tests to confirm pregnancy and my thyroid levels, and a 7-week ultrasound to confirm the baby's heartbeat and successful implantation, then we ""graduated"" were given a free and very informative pregnancy book and transferred over to our OB.\r \r This place is definitely efficiently run - I can see why people note that it has a bit of a factory feel, but I really see this as efficiency to maximize access to true experts. The core doctors here are TRUE experts, they KNOW their stuff, and that's what we wanted. In this one clinic they addressed both male and female infertility in our case, and the male side is often ignored in other offices. SRM is open every single day of the year except Christmas day - and their schedule is really set up to maximize your fertility chances. To offer that kind of service - yes - you see a heck of a lot of different people over a year of going in there, but, there is consistency maintained through your nurse who handles most of the contact. In my opinion, you cannot expect to see the same nurse and doctor each time when multiple appointments are inherent in fertility treatments. \r \r When we did the actualy IUI there were a TON of checks and double checks to assure accuracy. I trust in that process completely.\r \r Overall as others have said - one's outcome likely colors one's opinion of the place, but, I can honestly say that I feel like even if we had NOT eventually gotten pregnant, working with SRM I at least would have felt that I had done everything I could. more

We found SRM in the spring of 2008, after being dead-ended by our local doctors in our attempts to conceive. We were actually told by non-specialists to start considering donors. We met with Dr. Thyer in April 2008, ran some new tests, and within a week we had hope again about having a biological child. Dr. Thyer was very realistic about our odds, but she was encouraging and ready to help us, which is exactly what we needed. After all, isn't that what medical providers are supposed to do? We live 6 hours from Seattle so it certainly wasn't convenient to travel for our appointments and work with them from a distance. However, SRM has regional providers so you can work with one of those for the stuff that doesn't need to be done right in Seattle. Not to mention that Dr. Thyer's nurses were always super attentive, usually responding to emails and phone calls within a half hour. It almost seemed too good to be true. In fact, we were impressed by all the staff at SRM. From the receptionists to the lab to the billing office, each person was very personable, professional and kind - something we consider a necessity for the emotional rollercoaster called infertility. \r \r To sum it up, we were blessed with success on our very first IVF cycle and had a baby in the spring of 2009. In 2011 we attempted another IVF cycle that failed, as well as a frozen embryo transfer which also failed. So you see, my opinion is not simply based upon achieving a pregnancy. Despite our failed treatments this year, we are still as happy as can be with SRM and plan to work with them again next year for one more try at IVF. \r \r Many reviews on here talk about the money factor. The bottom line is this: INFERTILITY TREATMENT IS NOT CHEAP. If you don't know this already, you need to do more research. And because it is so expensive, you cannot fault SRM for expecting prepayment. Do you really think they could stay in business if they repeatedly performed $12,000 procedures and then simply waited for people to pay them back? And what of those patients who are unhappy over their failed results? Do you think they will promptly pay the balance due? I see nothing wrong with SRM's financial policies.\r \r SRM made us aware of the costs right up front - no smoke and mirrors - and they were helpful in providing us with financing options. We found it very easy to get our costs financed and our billing taken care of well in advance of our procedure. Even though we didn't have insurance coverage for our treatment, SRM still attempted to bill through our insurance when we asked them to do so; in doing this, we were able to get some coverage for meds and a few diagnosis procedures. When our cycle was delayed twice a year ago due to my response to the early meds, SRM was very understanding about us holding our prepayment until our cycle was officially greenlighted. SRM promptly provided us with itemized billing statements whenever we requested them (tax purposes). We always felt that they treated us fairly and professionally when it came to the billing.\r \r I have recommended SRM to many people and continue to do so. more

You all know the saying ""Its not the destination, so much as the journey?"" I was treated here for 2 years and never got pregnant, but what I'm gonna emphasize here is not ""the end product--a baby"" its the unacceptable stress and many mistakes that were made along the way. I saw 2 different RE's; Dr Dudley and Dr Lin. Dr Dudley ran a $3,000 cystic fibrosis test on me and I'm not even a risk, yet wouldn't run a progesterone draw on me and relied upon a random draw from an OBGYN. Later I find out (I was persistent) I was deficient and many of you may not understand this, but it causes early miscarriage and this test MUST be done on specific days. Dr Dudley tried me on a fertility med which cause my lining to thin too much where it wouldn't hold a baby but then later tried prescribing me the same thing. His nurse, Terry told me I was pregnant when I was NOT. So I switched to Dr Lin and a new nurse Beth. I would drive 1 1/2 hours each apt just to see this staff, only to end up with the same problems. Dr Lin insisted on putting me on this same medication ""just to see"" with the same result, $500-600 later. I was offered a ""free"" phone consult with Dr Lin, which he charged me around $300 for. Had surgeries with Dr Lin and the clinic never even calls to check in with the patient. They weren't aggressive enough! I am young (27 then) with a very healthy ovarian count and they couldn't get me to ovulate more than 1 egg and wanted me to keep doing IUI's. And I ovulate naturally every month!!! Come to find out, they had me on the lowest possible dose for 4 cycles and never increased it. Oh yes and I became resistant to the lesser expensive medication Femara bc they didn't find out I was progesterone deficient and had a DISEASE called Endometriosis until almost 2 years into treatment. The only option they offered was IVF, which costs an arm and a leg here...why not just increase my Follistim dose like every other clinic?? So I left! But before I finish I must tell you about financing. Almost every bill I received the billing codes were wrong! I'm sure you can imagine that headache. SRM has an automated system with bills so when 30 days from DATE OF SERVICE arrives, you get a notice that your billing is going to collections---yes! However, someone signs it every time. So when they put the wrong codes in, the whole Ins process takes a while. I've been hung up on in their financing office---yes really. I left 6 months ago and guess what, not 1 phone call to see what's going on. I've only been a patient of theirs for 2 years, had surgeries there, countless procedures, treatments, you name it...they got so much precious time out of me :( Happy ending though! I went to another fertility clinic called Pacific Northwest Fertility. They produce results without going bankrupt and losing your sanity. I am now pregnant :D 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. Like I said from the beginning of this novel ""Its not the destination, so much as the Journey."" If your mental heath matters to you (it affects getting pregnant) please avoid SRM and go to PNW. BTW, I know other women who've had an awful time here getting pregnant--they did but it costs well over $60,000. Robbery! more

Very unprofessional and incompetent staff. Their lab staff is extremely incompetent. They collect money to conduct tests but never did conduct the promised tests. They are unresponsive to phone-calls, they never return phone calls to your voicemail. And on occasions you do reach a live person on the phone, they just hang up on you once they got your money. The only thing that works there is their billing department. more

We tried all 3 major fertility clinics in Seattle area, and decided to stick with SRM for our unexplained infertility issue. The only positive thing I can say about them is that they are very responsive and organized. I never had to wait in line more than 5 minutes, and all my emails were answered even in the middle of the night. Their doctors are very friendly and VERY INCOMPETENT. They treat every case the same, like a conveyor - no individual approach at all. The result of course works for some and doesn't for the rest. Their lab - They have horrible lab! Once they messed something up and told us that we have Hepatitis. The other time they had ""human error"" and again we got wrong results. Regarding money - they do all in their power to get more money out of your pain. They made us pay $5000 for two completely unnecessary procedures during the IVF cycle. Not only that, but without that unnecessary procedure our chances where much higher. Of course we can't prove anything, so they will easily get away with it. To sum-up, this is not a good place to do such a delicate treatment. more

We were tired to messing around with our fertility care. Deciding to go to SRM, go ""all in"" with our treatment, make a large financial commitment, etc. resulted in 2 pregnancies from 1 IVF donor cycle. It is a relief to have the doctors take over my medical care. I was tired of making my own decisions with no results. My advice if you are experiencing infertility: Before going to SRM, realize that this journey will involve a large financial commitment. But do make an appt. with SRM. They will give you the truth of your situation so that you can move forward with a plan of action in order to have your baby. more

Dr Lin and the SRM team were fabulous to deal with during many months of trying for babies. We were given a very low chance of having a baby with my own eggs, yet we got one the first try and had a healthy baby girl, had a failed second attempt a year later and are now pregnant with twins. We are VERY Pleased with the clinic, the professional nature, the very clean and well run facility and surgery center and the staff! They have been very supportive and caring. Dr Lin gave very realistic expectations and even cautious expectations. And was the first to offer a big hug when we had successful outcomes. I can't say enough good things about All the staff here. Even the nurses would ask how it was going. It is a big clinic with lots of people through there, yet you always feel like an inidividual treated with respect. The reviews about the billing issues are unfounded. It is expensive and you know this going in and you are expected to pay up front as it is an elective medical procedure. Often not covered by insurance.\r \r I can't say enough good things about this clinic and obviously their success in helping me to have the children i didn't think was going to be possible for me. \r Thanks SRM! more

My husband met with Drs. Lin and Klein for fertility treatment. We were very impressed with the clinic overall (lab, clean and professional). We became familiar with many people at SRM (donor team, genetic counselor, etc.) and all could not have been more helpful and comforting throughout our journey. Dr. Lin responded to every single one of my emails inquiring about concerns that I had. Lindsay Wood and Angela Lemon would call me timely with reports and updates. Once we became pregnant, I was sad to leave SRM for my regular OB because I had spent so much time with everyone there. Fertility is a stressful endeavor so do yourself a favor and seek a competent team like this one. I give them my highest rating and would handily refer any friends to them. more

SRM gave us a day's notice to come up with the entire amount for my IVF procedure which as you know is EXPENSIVE. We were able to arrange a payment plan and yet was hounded by their finance department almost daily. The day of my procedure I was asked to make a payment which I had not scheduled. Basically, no payment, no procedure. I found it to be incredibly unprofessional and borderline unethical ~ good grief! Pros: Technical Staff Cons: Financing Department is totally about getting their $ more

SRM requires prepayment of all IVF cycles. I had no problems with prepaying until their billing department billed me incorrectly. Instead of submitting all charges to my insurance company, they deducted some of the procedure costs from my prepayments. In total over $4k in procedures were billed incorrectly. The entire time, SRM had the correct insurance information on file, but had neglected to attempt billing via insurance since they already had my money. Getting them to correct the problems was a complete nightmare. First of all, they never sent me the invoice for each procedure. This made it extremely difficult to figure out how things were charged. Had I not logged into my insurance provider to see what was billed to them, I would not have noticed that many of the procedures didn't go through insurance. I had to call SRM to get a patient ledger to see how things were billed. There was no less than 9 billing mistakes. In total I've had over 2 dozen phone conversations with various people in the billing department to get everything corrected. Each time I would discuss each incorrect line item. I was then told it would be corrected and then I would receive a check back in a couple of weeks. Sometimes they would correct one issue but not another and so I would again have to list all mistakes. It took no less than 5 months to get all the mistakes corrected. Cons: greedy, insensitive more

I went to SRM after three failed IVF cycles two other clinics in town. In fact, one of told me there was no sense even trying anymore. Now I have a beautiful baby. But regardless of the outcome, I've never been to a more professional place. They are big and some people may not like that. But they are big because people like the outcome they produce. Pros: Experts, very caring, run on time Cons: can't think of any more

I was recommended to SRM by my family physician...what a mistake that was. I was a patient of SRM from July-October 2008. In that time span I only met with my primary doctor once. After that I was shuffled and tossed from nurse to nurse. I had one nurse call me with misinformation and tell me ""You should be concerned..."". After calling back about this phone call another nurse told me ""How rude that nurse would say that. You are fine!"" So needless to say I started questioning their abilities. A month later I suffered a miscarriage and was treated like I was making a big deal out of nothing. I was shown no emathy or compassion whatsoever! Then a month later I was told to come in for testing and that I would have my result the next day which would be a Saturday. By noon I hadn't heard from them so I called and the answering service said that the office was closed and that I would have to wait for my results until Monday. I have never been treated with such insensitivity and prodded around like I was just some cow. I spent a lot of money on trying to make my our dreams come true...having our own child. I just can't believe the treatment I've recieved in a place that is supposed to help women see their dreams of having a child come to fruition. I will never go back and am currently looking for a new reproductive specialist to help me on this emotional journey. Cons: Parking, Communication, Service, Cost more