CARS - Center for Advanced Reproductive Services

Dr. DiLuigi is a very kind person and knowledgeable in the field. When I first started working with her and my case was not known to be complicated/challenging I thought it was great to work with her as my provider. But as time moved on and I continued to experience miscarraiges and my lab work continued to come back normal I sensed that my care was not individualized and that Dr DiLuigi was trying seemingly random protocols because we had not tried it yet, it felt less based off of my history and more "this is just another option you haven't done yet." Over time I learned about Dr. DiLuigi's approach to care, which works for many but did not work well with me. She does not encourage early testing (things like ERA and PGT) because most people do not have significant abnormalities in these areas. She tends to push to get to treatment fast which saves time and money for many people. For us it seems like we wasted IVF and transfer cycles by not doing these things earlier - and they were not presented as options earlier either. Near the end of my care with CARS we had a lead on a specific diagnostic path after some biopsies revealed abnormal results, I wanted to persue diagnostic testing to pinpoint a diagnosis and specific treatment protocol, but Dr. DiLuigi did not support this and wanted to prescribe a 3 month dose of medication that had sent me into the ICU from a bad reaction just a few months prior. Even upon reminding her of this ordeal she did not want to persue diagnostic surgery and continued to push the medication.

CARS is a big research clinic attached to UCONN, it is the biggest fertility clinic the State and they have a lot of treatment options and resources available because of this. It also means they see a lot of patients and are a busy clinic, it can take a while to get the initial appointment but once you are a client your treatment should never be delayed because of their business. However, I did experience the feeling that the clinic was TOO BIG, often feeling that I was just a number or just a chart, the care seemed less personalized and myself and other patients have talked about feeling they tend to use a set of interventions and rarely deviate from them. The PACU nurses are fantastic - absolutely have only had good experiences with them for egg retrievals, D&Cs and transfers. The billing department is hit or miss depending on your representative. I noticed quite a few errors that I had to point out and have corrected. And when I left I felt my billing rep was lazy and did not want to do research on specific policies, instead focusing on generalizations "Cigna does this..." "BCBS doesn't allow this..." and if I had just gone by her word I would have missed out on a 100% covered egg retrieval.

Dr Engmann was truly the best doctor I have ever seen. From the first moment we met, we took the time to understand our individual needs and came up with a fantastic game plan. He gave us hope when we had none. He truly changed our lives.

CARS is a wonderful fertility clinic. Each doctor and nurse I had the pleasure of dealing with was nothing but wonderful. There is an online support group on Facebook filled with patients from the clinic which was a great support and education piece.