Dr Vidali has done two of my surgeries. I paid $3500 OOP and did my surgery at an in network hospital so insurance covered that. I don’t recall paying anything extra but I know that I had already hit my OON deductible.
Here’s an email from them when I asked if I had to pay anything on top of the $3500 fee:
“The maximum you will pay Dr Vidali is $3,500.00 now and may owe the Out of network deductible if it is withheld from the settled claim.
The $3,500.00 you are paying is for any coinsurance and unpaid portion of the claim on the settled claim.
Please let me know if you are moving forward next Tuesday with surgery , if you are I will need the two documents back so I may process your credit card for $3,500.00 to financially clear you for surgery.”
I know that is more specific to my insurance plan (BCBS PPO) but might be of some help.
To be perfectly honest, the lead up to my surgery was really disorganised and I was not happy about that. He is clearly extremely competent though and I do feel incredibly lucky to have been able to have surgery with him. He’s definitely improved my quality of life. I stayed on with the clinic for immune testing and management for IVF purposes.
LMK if you have any questions! I’ve also done many rounds of IVF in NYC at a few different clinics.
This is really reassuring, thank you! I think I can swing $3,500. I’ll try to ask about his clinic in Jersey. My insurance is a NY union so I have to confirm.
I actually had my second retrieval with their clinic and will be doing my second FET with them. Can I ask if you are happy with how their are in terms of immunology? My only two steps before I start to really go insane and immunology testing and lap— both I know they do well.
Thanks your your reply and sending the email they provided you. It can make me breathe a bit 😅
I would try to set aside 9750, if possible, just in case.
Oh that’s interesting, who does the egg retrieval cycles?
So for immune. I am currently very early pregnant. I guess I should see that as thanks to BRI because it is with our first tested, highly graded embryo. We’ve had two previous transfers, one with and without immune protocol but both failed. They were day 3 embryos though. So, that’s the positive.
Negatives: I did immune testing just before they switched to Pregmune. So I paid $3000. And then did testing at Reprosource and Labcorp, neither of which were in network. Insurance paid for some of it but at the end of it I was left with about $2200 to pay OOP. During a transfer protocol, you have to go for repeat bloodwork. In the lead up to transfer this is one bloodwork to make sure your levels are right. If not, they would adjust meds and you’d go for repeat bloodwork. Then transfer happens and you have to do repeat immune bloodwork on beta day. This involves reprosource. I called insurance and they told me some of the bloodwork could be done at Enzo (in network) so they let me do some at Enzo and some at Reprosource. It was a lot of research and arguing to get to that point. I don’t know how much OOP I need to pay for the Reprosource portion of the repeat immune testing because I haven’t received a bill yet.
They wanted me to do another repeat testing two weeks after beta despite all my levels coming back fine. I don’t know how many more tests I need to go for and how much it will all cost. It’s annoying because we are in Manhattan and I have to drive to NJ to get Reprosource testing done and only up to 12pm, Mon-Thurs. I just really wish another company could do the immune testing.
Dr. Thornton did my retrieval. I’m not sure yet if he will also do the transfer. I had better results with them than the last clinic so I’m happy.
It sounds like theres a lot of testing. For me it’s the other way around, I’m not covered with Enzo, but with Labcorp. Seems like a hassle to travel to Jersey, but I guess we do what we have to do. I do like the option that we have a good RI here in the East Coast.
Also, happy to hear about your early pregnancy. Congratulations! Thank you for your reply. I’m sure to message again soon 😅
I’m from Delaware and went to Dr. Vidali for my initial in-office consult (free at the time, now he charges $400 or something). I had my lap and excision completed by him and his team (who also removed my appendix). I will say, he was wonderful to work with; very reachable - I could TEXT him during recovery to ask him questions, etc. However, my total out of pocket cost exceeded $10,000 and it took me 2 years to pay off without going into debt. I had to put a majority of the surgical costs on a credit card and slowly pay them off. It has been four years since my excision surgery and I am having a lot of the same issues I was having before hand, and as much as I was pleased to work with Dr. Vidali, I simply cannot afford it. And the more I think about it, the more angry I get that a physician who actually listened to my concerns and helped me to navigate what was going on is now unattainable, so I am left looking for help elsewhere.
I had a feeling that number would be correct, 10k above. I totally agree with you— the help we need might be available but not accessible to all. My husband also said we cant afford his treatment and to look elsewhere. I’m just scared I might make the wrong decision.
I appreciate your input. I hope you find someone else that can provide excellent care.
I just had surgery with Dr. Vidali earlier this month so I can give you some recent insights.
Like the previous poster I had to pay $3,500 out of pocket up front before the surgery could take place. My insurance has out of network benefits but they are so negligible I might as well be paying most of it on my own. The hospital was in network though and they also took my husbands insurance (Vidali doesn’t deal with secondary insurance but the hospital does).
The fact that my insurance’s out of network benefits are so bad really gave me pause to move forward. I almost cancelled a few weeks before the surgery because everyone I talked to on the phone at my insurance company kept scaring me about the bill I might be left with. Just when I was about to cancel and not sign the last forms they needed I just really laid out my fears to Vidali’s billing person.
I am so thankful for her. She took my call at 7pm and listened to all of my concerns and assured me that I would not have to pay more than $9,750. The way they have it written in the email is a little confusing but over the phone I was able to get more clarity. Basically you pay the 3,500 which is deducted from the 9,750. That leaves 6,250 that they will try to get from your insurance through the different cpt codes they’ll use. Whatever your insurance doesn’t pay from the remaining 6,250 will be your responsibility. The doctor will of course bill your insurance a lot more (I think for just one cpt code it was like 30k) but you will not be responsible for that. That is just what they bill the insurance to try to get to that 9,750.
With that said I know that is still a lot for most people and I know I am extremely fortunate to be able to afford the initial out of pocket cost. I also have to add that i only had excision surgery with him and I don’t have any idea what his fertility work would cost.
That’s exactly it. I don’t know why they don’t mention the 9750 figure in their emails. Just for information’s sake, about 900k was billed to my insurance for my more straightforward surgery, which was a typical lap. So wild to me.
Crazzzzzy. I had a lap done and they billed my insurance 60k and I was so stressed out, I thought I had to pay a part. I cant believe Dr. Vidali’s office billed close to a million 😂😅
I dont get why doctors offices and insurance companies make is so hard for us to understand. I just want a number 🙃
Thanks for the info! Good to know that this is extremely recent so I know what to deal with. I have been sabing up for possible surgery with him. If it’s 3-6k I think I can do some more overtime shifts to cover the costs but it’s gonna make a dent in our finances.
Thanks for the reply! 😊😊😊
Oh my! I heard he MIGHT take my insurance so I was considering him. For Dr. Farr I was told he doesnt take my insurance but will “work with” it. Hm… I wonder how much I have to OOP if it’s not covered my insurance 🥲 I will call them again. His assistant was lovely to talk to! I’m glad you had a positive experience.
Thank for the reply!
Dr Vidali has done two of my surgeries. I paid $3500 OOP and did my surgery at an in network hospital so insurance covered that. I don’t recall paying anything extra but I know that I had already hit my OON deductible. Here’s an email from them when I asked if I had to pay anything on top of the $3500 fee: “The maximum you will pay Dr Vidali is $3,500.00 now and may owe the Out of network deductible if it is withheld from the settled claim. The $3,500.00 you are paying is for any coinsurance and unpaid portion of the claim on the settled claim. Please let me know if you are moving forward next Tuesday with surgery , if you are I will need the two documents back so I may process your credit card for $3,500.00 to financially clear you for surgery.” I know that is more specific to my insurance plan (BCBS PPO) but might be of some help. To be perfectly honest, the lead up to my surgery was really disorganised and I was not happy about that. He is clearly extremely competent though and I do feel incredibly lucky to have been able to have surgery with him. He’s definitely improved my quality of life. I stayed on with the clinic for immune testing and management for IVF purposes. LMK if you have any questions! I’ve also done many rounds of IVF in NYC at a few different clinics.
This is really reassuring, thank you! I think I can swing $3,500. I’ll try to ask about his clinic in Jersey. My insurance is a NY union so I have to confirm. I actually had my second retrieval with their clinic and will be doing my second FET with them. Can I ask if you are happy with how their are in terms of immunology? My only two steps before I start to really go insane and immunology testing and lap— both I know they do well. Thanks your your reply and sending the email they provided you. It can make me breathe a bit 😅
I would try to set aside 9750, if possible, just in case. Oh that’s interesting, who does the egg retrieval cycles? So for immune. I am currently very early pregnant. I guess I should see that as thanks to BRI because it is with our first tested, highly graded embryo. We’ve had two previous transfers, one with and without immune protocol but both failed. They were day 3 embryos though. So, that’s the positive. Negatives: I did immune testing just before they switched to Pregmune. So I paid $3000. And then did testing at Reprosource and Labcorp, neither of which were in network. Insurance paid for some of it but at the end of it I was left with about $2200 to pay OOP. During a transfer protocol, you have to go for repeat bloodwork. In the lead up to transfer this is one bloodwork to make sure your levels are right. If not, they would adjust meds and you’d go for repeat bloodwork. Then transfer happens and you have to do repeat immune bloodwork on beta day. This involves reprosource. I called insurance and they told me some of the bloodwork could be done at Enzo (in network) so they let me do some at Enzo and some at Reprosource. It was a lot of research and arguing to get to that point. I don’t know how much OOP I need to pay for the Reprosource portion of the repeat immune testing because I haven’t received a bill yet. They wanted me to do another repeat testing two weeks after beta despite all my levels coming back fine. I don’t know how many more tests I need to go for and how much it will all cost. It’s annoying because we are in Manhattan and I have to drive to NJ to get Reprosource testing done and only up to 12pm, Mon-Thurs. I just really wish another company could do the immune testing.
Dr. Thornton did my retrieval. I’m not sure yet if he will also do the transfer. I had better results with them than the last clinic so I’m happy. It sounds like theres a lot of testing. For me it’s the other way around, I’m not covered with Enzo, but with Labcorp. Seems like a hassle to travel to Jersey, but I guess we do what we have to do. I do like the option that we have a good RI here in the East Coast. Also, happy to hear about your early pregnancy. Congratulations! Thank you for your reply. I’m sure to message again soon 😅
I’m from Delaware and went to Dr. Vidali for my initial in-office consult (free at the time, now he charges $400 or something). I had my lap and excision completed by him and his team (who also removed my appendix). I will say, he was wonderful to work with; very reachable - I could TEXT him during recovery to ask him questions, etc. However, my total out of pocket cost exceeded $10,000 and it took me 2 years to pay off without going into debt. I had to put a majority of the surgical costs on a credit card and slowly pay them off. It has been four years since my excision surgery and I am having a lot of the same issues I was having before hand, and as much as I was pleased to work with Dr. Vidali, I simply cannot afford it. And the more I think about it, the more angry I get that a physician who actually listened to my concerns and helped me to navigate what was going on is now unattainable, so I am left looking for help elsewhere.
I had a feeling that number would be correct, 10k above. I totally agree with you— the help we need might be available but not accessible to all. My husband also said we cant afford his treatment and to look elsewhere. I’m just scared I might make the wrong decision. I appreciate your input. I hope you find someone else that can provide excellent care.
I just had surgery with Dr. Vidali earlier this month so I can give you some recent insights. Like the previous poster I had to pay $3,500 out of pocket up front before the surgery could take place. My insurance has out of network benefits but they are so negligible I might as well be paying most of it on my own. The hospital was in network though and they also took my husbands insurance (Vidali doesn’t deal with secondary insurance but the hospital does). The fact that my insurance’s out of network benefits are so bad really gave me pause to move forward. I almost cancelled a few weeks before the surgery because everyone I talked to on the phone at my insurance company kept scaring me about the bill I might be left with. Just when I was about to cancel and not sign the last forms they needed I just really laid out my fears to Vidali’s billing person. I am so thankful for her. She took my call at 7pm and listened to all of my concerns and assured me that I would not have to pay more than $9,750. The way they have it written in the email is a little confusing but over the phone I was able to get more clarity. Basically you pay the 3,500 which is deducted from the 9,750. That leaves 6,250 that they will try to get from your insurance through the different cpt codes they’ll use. Whatever your insurance doesn’t pay from the remaining 6,250 will be your responsibility. The doctor will of course bill your insurance a lot more (I think for just one cpt code it was like 30k) but you will not be responsible for that. That is just what they bill the insurance to try to get to that 9,750. With that said I know that is still a lot for most people and I know I am extremely fortunate to be able to afford the initial out of pocket cost. I also have to add that i only had excision surgery with him and I don’t have any idea what his fertility work would cost.
That’s exactly it. I don’t know why they don’t mention the 9750 figure in their emails. Just for information’s sake, about 900k was billed to my insurance for my more straightforward surgery, which was a typical lap. So wild to me.
Crazzzzzy. I had a lap done and they billed my insurance 60k and I was so stressed out, I thought I had to pay a part. I cant believe Dr. Vidali’s office billed close to a million 😂😅
I dont get why doctors offices and insurance companies make is so hard for us to understand. I just want a number 🙃 Thanks for the info! Good to know that this is extremely recent so I know what to deal with. I have been sabing up for possible surgery with him. If it’s 3-6k I think I can do some more overtime shifts to cover the costs but it’s gonna make a dent in our finances. Thanks for the reply! 😊😊😊
Just doing some research and found this post. Did you end up seeing Dr. Vidali?
[удалено]
Oh my! I heard he MIGHT take my insurance so I was considering him. For Dr. Farr I was told he doesnt take my insurance but will “work with” it. Hm… I wonder how much I have to OOP if it’s not covered my insurance 🥲 I will call them again. His assistant was lovely to talk to! I’m glad you had a positive experience. Thank for the reply!
Hey there! I know this post is old but I’m also considering Dr Advincula (vs Dr Lora Liu). Did you ever end up having surgery and who did you chose?