Remote Patients Info Guide

We’re honored to be a part of your fertility journey.

How it Works

We want to help as many people as possible, and we’re proud that Dr. Aimee has helped thousands of patients from every state (and several countries!) have babies. Even though you’re coming from afar, you’ll still receive the same exceptional service as our local patients.

• You live out-of-town and want to do an egg retrieval or transfer with Dr. Aimee.

• It’s not practical for you to visit our office for frequent monitoring visits. Instead, you visit a monitoring clinic near you for monitoring appointments which includes doing ultrasounds and bloodwork.

• Dr. Aimee oversees your treatment plan, not the local monitoring clinic.

• To get an overview of our treatment timeline, review IVF with Dr. Aimee and Transfer with Dr. Aimee.

• If you have any questions during your treatment, you can email our nurses or Dr. Aimee anytime. They’ll respond to your emails in less than 24 hours!

Your Care Team

Empathetic and thorough care is our mantra. We work cohesively to ensure your treatment with us is as smooth and supportive as possible.

IVF Process for Remote Patients

1. Approve your treatment calendar.

Dr. Aimee will prepare a treatment calendar for your review. Most patients have four monitoring appointments, and each visit includes an ultrasound and bloodwork. Dr. Aimee will call you to review the calendar and answer any questions you may have.

Here’s an example of a timeline. This patient has the first three monitoring appointments at their local clinic. For the 4th monitoring appointment, they prefer to be seen by Dr. Aimee, so they travel to our office for the final ultrasound and bloodwork before the egg retrieval.

Note: This is a sample timeline and may vary based on individual treatment plans and monitoring results.

2. Review and pay fees.

Your fee is based on the services provided by our clinic, such as the egg retrieval, transfer, outside monitoring management, and any monitoring visits at our office. The invoices sent to you from our Financial Assistant will have the most accurate pricing.

Important Note: The cost of your visits to the local monitoring facility are not included in our fees. We suggest contacting them to get their current ultrasound and blood test fees. We generally test for HCG, Progesterone, FSH, Estradiol and sometimes LH at each visit.

3. Select a local monitoring clinic.

Our Nurse will search for a monitoring clinic in your area. Our goal is to find a clinic that can do both ultrasound and STAT blood tests onsite (tests that require quick processing and same-day results). If you have a preferred monitoring clinic, let us know, and we’ll contact them to see if they accept outside monitoring patients.

If a facility doesn’t do bloodwork onsite, we’ll arrange for you to visit a local Quest Diagnostic. We don’t recommend Labcorp for bloodwork as they’re unable to process STAT orders for our clinic. If the facility doesn’t do bloodwork, you’ll have to visit two locations the same day: the monitoring clinic for ultrasound and a lab for bloodwork. This applies to all of your Monitoring Appointments.

Important Note: Some patients may need to do an additional procedure such as a biopsy, SIS, or HSG. In these instances, we’ll find a local clinic where you can get this done.

4. Complete the IVF Labs Checklist.

To prepare for IVF, there’s a list of blood tests you must complete. This includes your partner, if applicable. If you’ve done these tests before, our Nurse will let you know if any need to be repeated.

Required Tests:

• Infectious Disease
• Preconception Health
• Ovarian Reserve and Hormonal Levels
• Chromosome Analysis
• Carrier Screening (ordered through Natera)

To learn more about these tests, visit Dr. Aimee’s IVF Guide.

With the exception of Carrier Screening, you can complete these tests at a local Quest Diagnostic or Labcorp. Let us know which lab is most convenient, and we’ll send an order to that lab. Bring your order slip to complete the tests, and the lab will send us the results when ready.

Important Note: These lab tests may be eligible for insurance coverage. However, if you’re a Kaiser member or have an HMO plan, you will need to pay out-of-pocket fees to the lab.

5. Order your IVF medications.

Once we’ve established your local monitoring clinic and get closer to your Baseline Appointment (your 1st Monitoring Visit), we’ll send you a list of medications to order. 

We recommend Alto Pharmacy if you’re within their courier delivery zone. Other specialty pharmacies that ship nationwide are MDR, Freedom Fertility, and VFP. We work exclusively with these pharmacies, and aren’t able to send prescriptions to non-fertility pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens.

6. Schedule your monitoring appointments.

To get an appointment at the clinic, we send them a monitoring and lab order for each visit. We’ll let you know after we submit the order, and you’ll call the clinic to schedule each appointment. Do your best to get morning appointments.

If the monitoring clinic doesn’t do bloodwork on site, schedule a blood test at a local Quest Diagnostic. It is important that you get your blood tested the same day as your ultrasound.

7. Go to your local monitoring and lab appointments.

Monitoring Appointments

• Take a printed copy of your monitoring order with you. They should have it in their system, but bring a copy just in case.
• We ask that you gather as much information as possible at each visit. At your appointment, ask for a printout of your ultrasound and email it to us immediately after. If possible, video record the ultrasound and send it to us in case the clinic doesn’t send the information in a timely manner.
• Send an email to: monitoring@draimee.org with the subject line: “Remote Monitoring Scans” and email “Hi! I just had my monitoring appointment today. Here are my scans.” 

Your help in gathering this timely information ensures Dr. Aimee has what she needs to review your progress and update your treatment plan as necessary. By working together as a cohesive team, we are setting you up for the best retrieval experience possible!

Lab Appointments

• If the monitoring clinic doesn’t do bloodwork on site, we’ll send you a separate lab order to get tested at a local Quest Diagnostic.
• Remember, it’s important that you get your blood tested the same day as your ultrasound.

8. Follow your updated Medication Calendar.

Dr. Aimee will review your progress and adjust your treatment plan as needed. She’ll look at your follicle growth from the ultrasound images and assess your blood test results to predict how many mature eggs you might have. Dr. Aimee will update your Medication Calendar based on how your body responds to the meds.

After each monitoring visit, she’ll review your scans and email you an updated Medication Calendar.

Important Note: To avoid last minute med issues, you should have at least two days worth of meds ahead of time.

9. Travel to the SF Bay Area for your procedure.

Flights

• If you prefer to have your last monitoring appointment with Dr. Aimee before the retrieval, book your flight to arrive 3-4 days before the retrieval date. 
• Otherwise, book your flight to arrive at least one day before the retrieval date. Your procedure will take place at The Egg Whisperer Lab in San Ramon, California. Dr. Aimee will confirm the location with you. 

Traveling with Medication

• As you’ll likely be traveling with your meds, we’ll provide you with a TSA letter stating that you’re on an injectable medication protocol and traveling with meds.
• If your medication list includes Omnitrope, you’ll need to travel with a small cooler pack.

Hotels

Recommended lodging near The Egg Whisperer Lab: Hyatt House or San Ramon Marriott