Westchester Fertility — An Honest Editorial Review

The fertility care market in Westchester County sits at a crossroads between two gravitational forces: the dense, large-network academic programs anchored in Manhattan — Weill Cornell, Columbia, NYU — and a growing set of independent boutique practices serving the suburban population that has neither the commute tolerance nor the appetite for a high-volume urban clinic. For patients in White Plains, Scarsdale, Yonkers, Greenwich, and the surrounding communities, Westchester Fertility represents one of the most established independent options in the region. The practice has operated at 136 South Broadway in White Plains since 1994, founded and continuously led by Dr. Michael B. Blotner — a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist who has spent more than three decades helping patients build their families. The clinic draws a 4.3-star patient rating and has cultivated an intensely personal reputation, summarized by the #BlotnerBabies social media tag patients use to document their outcomes. This guide examines what the practice actually offers, who leads its clinical team, and what prospective patients should understand before scheduling their first appointment.

Physicians and Clinical Team

Westchester Fertility is deliberately structured as a small, high-touch practice, with Dr. Blotner at its center and a tight-knit team of clinical and laboratory specialists supporting him.

Dr. Michael B. Blotner, MD is a reproductive endocrinologist with over four decades of experience in the field. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude, before earning his medical degree. He then completed a four-year residency in obstetrics and gynecology followed by a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Michael Reese Hospital and the University of Chicago — training that gave him a rigorous foundation in both the clinical and scientific dimensions of fertility medicine. Before opening his private practice in 1994, Dr. Blotner served as an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Pennsylvania Hospital (University of Pennsylvania) and at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, where he worked in the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology. He holds dual board certifications in obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive endocrinology and infertility, and maintains privileges at eight regional medical centers, including White Plains Hospital, Stamford Hospital, and Phelps Memorial Hospital Center. He is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and an active member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART), and the Society of Reproductive Endocrinologists. Patients consistently describe his approach as direct, genuinely caring, and willing to troubleshoot difficult cases — a clinical personality that tends to match particularly well with patients who have experienced prior treatment failures.

Mike Levanduski, M.S., G.S. is the practice's laboratory director and embryologist, and in many respects the scientific backbone of the IVF program. He holds a Master of Science from the University of Idaho (1987) with a specialization in embryology and IVF, and is certified by the American Board of Bioanalysis (1997). Before joining Westchester Fertility, Levanduski worked as a research scientist at Granada Biosciences, Inc., a biotech firm where he conducted extensive IVF research across multiple species and pioneered nuclear transfer (cloning) procedures. He is a member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the New York Embryology Society, has authored patent-pending stem cell technology, and has published research with renowned embryologist Dr. Karl Illmensee on embryo splitting. Levanduski also consults internationally with other IVF laboratories on quality assurance standards — an indication that his expertise extends well beyond the immediate needs of a single-clinic practice. Patients undergoing retrieval or transfer cycles will find him in the first-floor laboratory, where, as the practice notes, he tends to work listening to music while handling embryos with focused precision.

MaryBeth Palatucci, BA, CLT completes the clinical team, providing coordination and laboratory clinical support that helps maintain the continuity of care patients frequently cite in their reviews.

Services and Treatments

Westchester Fertility offers a full spectrum of fertility treatments, from lower-intervention approaches to advanced assisted reproductive technology, all provided under one roof without external referrals:

• Ovulation Induction and Timed Intercourse — The starting point for many patients, using oral or injectable medications to stimulate regular ovulation, often paired with close monitoring cycles.
• Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) — Appropriate for mild male-factor infertility, unexplained infertility, single parents by choice, and same-sex female couples using donor sperm.
• In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) — The clinic's primary advanced treatment, performed with the embryology laboratory on-site. See our IVF guide for a detailed walkthrough of what the process involves at each stage.
• Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) — Performed in-house by Levanduski for cases of severe male-factor infertility or previous fertilization failure.
• Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT/PGD) — Embryo biopsy performed on day-5 or day-6 blastocysts, with analysis enabling patients to screen for chromosomal aneuploidy or specific hereditary diseases including cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, Progeria, and hemophilia.
• Egg Freezing — Offered using both classical slow-freeze and vitrification techniques. The clinic also performs sperm cryopreservation and embryo cryopreservation.
• Egg Donation — A full donor egg program for patients who cannot use their own eggs.
• Laser Laparoscopy and Endometriosis Treatment — Minimally invasive surgery performed by Dr. Blotner for endometriosis, pelvic adhesions, and tubal disease that may be affecting fertility.
• Fibroid Removal — Outpatient uterine fibroid surgery as indicated prior to fertility treatment.
• PCOS and Hormonal Management — Including treatment for polycystic ovarian syndrome and hirsutism.
• Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Evaluation — Workup and treatment for patients who have experienced multiple miscarriages.
• LGBTQ+ and Same-Sex Fertility Services — Including donor insemination and IVF pathways for same-sex couples and single parents; the practice uses an updated infertility definition inclusive of donor-insemination pathways.
• Halachic-Compliant Fertility Services — The practice has specific experience working with Jewish community patients whose religious observance requires coordination with a rabbinic authority on the technical specifics of fertility treatment.

For patients in the broader Hudson Valley and lower Connecticut corridor, Westchester Fertility's location and breadth of services make it a viable alternative to commuting into Manhattan. You can explore fertility clinics in New York to compare options across the state.

Laboratory and Success Rates

The on-site IVF laboratory is one of the practice's defining features. Rather than partnering with an external embryology lab — a common arrangement at small practices — Westchester Fertility maintains its own full-service facility licensed by the New York State Department of Health and subject to routine FDA inspection. The laboratory performs the complete cycle of ART procedures in-house: egg retrieval, fertilization, ICSI, embryo culture, assisted hatching via laser, embryo biopsy for PGT, and embryo transfer preparation. For male-factor workup, the andrology suite handles semen analysis, sperm washing and isolation, and cryopreservation, and the practice coordinates with urological specialists for more complex procedures including MESA (microepididymal sperm aspiration) and TESE (testicular sperm extraction).

Levanduski's background in international quality assurance consultation means the laboratory operates under standards designed for external scrutiny, not just internal benchmarking. His two-plus decades of PGT experience — specifically embryo biopsy for hereditary disease avoidance — is a meaningful differentiator for patients who need genetic workup integrated into their cycles.

Westchester Fertility does not publish cycle-specific success rates on its website. Patients should request SART-reported data directly from the clinic or consult SART's public clinic summary database, which publishes IVF outcomes by clinic and age group. Because Westchester Fertility is a smaller, independent practice, annual case volume will be lower than large multi-physician programs — which means SART statistics, when available, should be interpreted with appropriate attention to sample size. Prospective patients should ask specifically about live birth rates per intended egg retrieval for their age bracket during the initial consultation, and should not rely on pregnancy rate figures alone.

Patient Experience

Patient reviews of Westchester Fertility are consistent in their themes across Yelp, Google, and specialty fertility review platforms. The practice earns a 4.3-star overall rating, and the qualitative pattern that emerges from the reviews describes a clinic where the small team size is an asset, not a liability.

Personalized, name-based care. Multiple reviewers note that staff know their individual cases in detail rather than relying on chart lookups mid-conversation. For a patient going through the emotional difficulty of fertility treatment, being recognized as a person — not a file number — matters.

Dr. Blotner's directness. Reviewers describe him as "extremely knowledgeable," "honest," "hardworking," and "dedicated." Patients who have experienced failed cycles elsewhere frequently highlight that Dr. Blotner takes time to troubleshoot rather than defaulting to the same protocol. One theme that surfaces in reviews is his awareness of current research and willingness to adapt treatment approaches based on a patient's specific response history.

Staff warmth and competence. The clinical team — described by reviewers as "absolutely phenomenal" and "incredibly supportive" — appears to provide continuity through a process that can span many months. For patients going through a difficult fertility journey, having consistent human contact with familiar staff makes a meaningful difference.

The #BlotnerBabies community. The practice's organic social media presence — patients who have had successful pregnancies posting under the #BlotnerBabies tag — provides a form of outcome visibility that structured review platforms do not. It also reflects the emotional investment the practice makes in patient outcomes beyond the clinical cycle itself.

Considering At-Home Insemination?

Not every fertility journey begins in a clinic. At-home intracervical insemination (ICI) is a lower-cost, private option that suits patients with no known fertility diagnosis — including single parents by choice, same-sex couples, and people who want to try a few cycles before committing to clinical treatment.

At-home insemination kits like those from MakeAMom come with step-by-step instructions designed for donor or partner sperm. Kits are a one-time purchase that can be reused until conception succeeds, require no clinic visit, and arrive in plain, discreet packaging. Many patients use them as a first step while working toward a fertility consultation — or alongside ovulation tracking while they wait for an appointment slot.

If you have a known fertility diagnosis, have been trying for 12 months without success (six months if you're over 35), or your physician has already recommended IUI or IVF, a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist is the right next step.

Insurance and Financing

New York State has one of the more comprehensive fertility insurance mandates in the country. The mandate, which took effect January 1, 2020 as part of the New York State budget, requires fully-insured large-group employer plans (101 or more employees) to cover up to three complete IVF cycles, including either fresh or frozen embryo transfer, for patients with a diagnosis of infertility. The mandate also includes coverage for the medications used in those cycles — a significant cost consideration, since injectable fertility medications frequently run $3,000–$6,000 per cycle independently. All plans — including small group and individual market plans — are required to cover medically necessary fertility preservation (egg or sperm freezing) for patients at risk of iatrogenic infertility from cancer treatment, surgery for endometriosis, gender-affirming care, or other medically indicated procedures.

Critically, New York's mandate uses an updated definition of infertility that includes donor insemination, which means same-sex female couples and single women who use donor sperm to conceive are eligible for covered IUI and IVF under qualifying employer plans. This is a meaningful protection not present in most state mandates.

Self-funded employer plans — common at very large private employers and some public entities — are governed by federal ERISA law and are not subject to New York's mandate. Patients covered by self-funded plans should review their Summary Plan Description carefully and ask the Westchester Fertility billing team to help verify coverage. Accepted insurance includes United Healthcare, UMR, TRICARE, and Cigna, among others. Patients whose plans do not cover IVF may want to ask specifically about multi-cycle financial arrangements and whether the clinic works with financing partners such as CapexMD or similar fertility loan programs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Westchester Fertility different from the large Manhattan fertility networks? The primary differences are scale and structure. Practices like NYU Langone, Weill Cornell, and RMA of New York operate across multiple sites with many physicians and higher annual case volumes. Westchester Fertility is a single-location, single-physician practice. For patients, that means every cycle is overseen by the same doctor rather than rotated across a physician team — a genuine advantage for continuity but also a real constraint if Dr. Blotner is unavailable. Patients who prize personalized physician relationships and do not want to commute to Manhattan generally find the trade-off worthwhile.

Does the clinic offer services for LGBTQ+ patients and single parents? Yes. Westchester Fertility explicitly serves LGBTQ+ and same-sex couples, including donor-insemination IUI and IVF pathways. The practice uses an updated definition of infertility consistent with New York's insurance mandate, which includes same-sex couples and single individuals who require donor gametes to conceive. The halachic-compliant services the clinic offers to Jewish community patients are an additional indicator of the practice's experience navigating the intersection of religious observance and reproductive medicine.

What should I bring to my first appointment? Arrive with any prior fertility workup you have had: cycle day 3 bloodwork (FSH, LH, estradiol, AMH), a recent semen analysis if applicable, prior imaging (hysterosalpingogram, ultrasound), and documentation of any prior IUI or IVF cycles. The more clinical history Dr. Blotner has at the outset, the more efficiently the first consultation can move from evaluation into a proposed treatment plan. The practice's morning monitoring hours — 7:30 to 10:30 a.m., Monday through Friday — are designed to accommodate patients who travel for monitoring before work.

How should I interpret fertility clinic success rates? IVF success rates reported by clinics and through SART are live birth rates per egg retrieval attempt, broken down by age group. A clinic's overall rate is heavily influenced by its patient mix: a practice that treats a high proportion of older patients or patients with complex diagnoses will typically show lower aggregate rates than one that primarily treats younger, straightforward cases. Always ask for age-specific rates (particularly under 35, 35–37, and 38–40) and ask how many cycles that number is based on. For a smaller-volume practice like Westchester Fertility, year-to-year variation in published rates is normal and should be interpreted with caution. The most useful questions to ask during your consultation are about outcomes for patients with your specific diagnosis and age profile, not the clinic's headline number.