Deciding Fertility Clinic

Have finally decided to look around at what is available in Perth for help getting pregnant. I have no private Health cover so am aware that there will be some out of pocket cost but it seems a fair bit is covered by medicare especially after you reach that safety net threshold.

Anyway, keep getting told that Concept is the place to go in Perth. I can get an appointment with a gynie next week and they have a repayment plan that you can take advantage of. The other one I can use is in Joondalup but no body seems to know much about this one. Anyone in Perth been to Concept or know anyone who has?

Any feed back would be appreciated!

Hi Jojoy

I don't know much about Concept, but I am going to Fertility North at Joondalup and have been going there for 12 months. I can not fault them at all. The nurses there are so helpful and lovely to deal with. I can only reccomend them.
Most of the costs are up front, but are covered by medicare. The only time I have had to use my private health insurance was when I had the theatre and hospital fees for the egg retrival, for IVF.
Good luck with your searching for the right clinic, and I hope everything goes great for you.

Lianne

Hi Jojoy, I have been to Concept and have always found them to be very helpful and easy to talk to and deal with. You don't have to pay upfront at Concept (unless this has changed in the last five months), but get the account after any procedures are done. You can then claim from Medicare either before or after you pay the account and once you reach the safetynet, I think that you get approx. 80% back. We also have private health which does help cover any in hospital expenses, ie for egg collection. There are a few other clinics in Perth, Fertility North in Joondalup, I have heard good things about one of the Doctors - Margo Norman, google them and you can just get info from their website. There is also Fertility Specialists of WA, Pivet and Hollywood IVF. Fertility Specialists of WA and Hollywood seem to be a litle more expensive than the others. There are a few other threads here in BB that give more info on some of these clinics. Do a google search on them all and this should help give you some more stuff on them. I guess it does also depend on where you are located in Perth, ie if you are South of the River you don't really want to be travelling to Joondalup - IYKWIM.

I hope that I have been of some help to you, please let me know if you have any questions or anything at all. Good luck with your TTC journey.

Hi,
I am at Hollywood and i have a friend at Pivot. IMO, Hollywood is great and i get a lot of support even though it is expensive.
My friend told me she is happy at Pivot and sees a doc there who specialises in gyno and fertility.
I suppose it depends where you live because i know for us, we have to have blood tests before work and even ultrasounds before work and if you have to travel a long way and then to work it might be a pain. Your GP should be able to give you some "brochures" for each place.
Emma

Thanks everyone. I am going to give Concept a go and have an appointment with Dr Mazzucchelli next week. What attracted me to them was the speed in which I could get an appointment, the cost and the option of a repayment plan if i needed. I have no private health cover so amd hoping the Medicare safety net will help once we get to that threshold. I am so incredibly nervous as I am hoping we have made the right choice and the money worries me as things are usually tight anyway so will have to really tighten our belts now! Seems to be the way of the world at the momment.
I looked into getting private health cover but was told by all the insurance companies I would have to wait 12months before I would be qualified to claim back on my private health cover. I don't think I can wait another 12months and after asking a few questions it would appear that medicare cover a fair bit and the private health helps mainly with the hospital costs. I know Fertility North say to allow about $750 for hopsital costs, so I am hoping it is simialr with Concept. Hope I can claim some of these hospital costs on medicare also! All very confusing!
Am very nervous, and hope it works out for the best.

Thanks again for advice!

Wishing you the best of luck Jojoy in TTC #2. Hopefully I may "see" you around in some of the other threads. :)