The Numbers Tell You Something Rare Is Happening Here
When a medical practice accumulates 11,672 Google reviews and holds a perfect 5.0-star rating, the instinct is to be skeptical. Volume and perfection don't coexist easily in healthcare — patients leave reviews when they're frustrated, anxious, or in pain, and even the most beloved practice has difficult days. Yet Louisiana Women's Healthcare in Baton Rouge has sustained that rating across an extraordinary breadth of experience: 70,000 women served annually, more than 150,000 in-person visits per year, and over 5,000 babies delivered every single year. The rating isn't an anomaly. It's the signature of a practice that has spent more than 25 years building something genuinely unusual — a women's health institution that patients trust from their first pelvic exam through pregnancy, fertility challenges, and beyond.
That track record matters if you're a woman in Baton Rouge navigating the decision of where to anchor your healthcare.
Who Is Louisiana Women's Healthcare?
Louisiana Women's Healthcare — known locally as LWH or LWHA — is the largest private practice dedicated exclusively to women's healthcare in Louisiana. Based on the campus of Woman's Hospital at 500 Rue de la Vie in Baton Rouge, the practice was founded more than 25 years ago and has grown to encompass 35 OB/GYN physicians, all focused on one specialty: caring for women at every stage of life.
In May 2021, LWHA formalized a partnership with Ochsner Health, Louisiana's largest health system, becoming part of its network with the stated mission of "improved outcomes, leading technology and enhanced innovation." For patients, the practical effect has been immediate access to Ochsner's Epic electronic health record platform — meaning your medical history, labs, and appointments are integrated into the MyOchsner portal, accessible wherever you are. Physicians from LWHA remain at the same location, delivering at Woman's Hospital as they always have.
The practice's tagline — Touching Lives, Welcoming Lives, Saving Lives — reflects a scope that goes well beyond routine care.
The Physicians
With 35 OB/GYNs on staff, LWHA offers patients something that solo practices and small groups simply cannot: genuine continuity paired with genuine coverage. When you're 38 weeks pregnant and your primary physician is unavailable, you aren't handed off to a stranger — you're seeing a colleague from the same practice who has access to your full chart through Epic.
Among the physicians on staff are Dr. Shawn Kleinpeter, MD; Dr. Candace Moore, MD; Dr. Sharon Lee, MD; Dr. Pamela Lewis, MD; and Dr. Michael Perniciaro, MD — the latter a gynecologist who, before transitioning away from obstetrics, delivered more than 10,000 babies, a record that made him the most prolific OB/GYN in Louisiana history by that measure.
All 35 physicians are OB/GYN-trained, meaning every provider on staff has board-eligible training in both obstetrics and gynecology. This matters when fertility enters the picture: an OB/GYN practice of this scale can manage the full diagnostic workup in-house, coordinate care with reproductive endocrinologists when needed, and remain your medical home regardless of how your fertility journey unfolds.
To view the full physician roster and request an appointment with a specific provider, visit LWHA's physician directory.
Fertility and Infertility Services
LWHA approaches infertility as a diagnostic and clinical problem to be solved within the context of comprehensive women's healthcare — not a niche referral to be farmed out. Their fertility services include the full diagnostic workup for both partners, evaluation of correctable underlying conditions (hormonal imbalances, ovulatory dysfunction, structural issues), and treatment options including artificial insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The practice also offers pre-conception counseling, which is worth considering even before you start trying. Tracking cycles, optimizing timing, understanding what baseline labs should look like before a planned pregnancy — this is where LWHA's breadth of physicians becomes particularly valuable. You can begin that conversation with your regular OB/GYN and escalate to fertility-focused care within the same practice network when appropriate.
LWHA's published guidance: if you are under 35 and have been trying to conceive for more than 12 months without success, speak to your OB/GYN about fertility testing. If you are 35 or older, that window shortens to six months. Either way, starting that conversation with a trusted provider who already knows your reproductive history is a meaningful advantage over starting from scratch at a stand-alone fertility center.
For a broader look at the fertility clinic landscape across the state, see Fertlo's Louisiana fertility clinic directory.
OB/GYN Services Beyond Fertility
LWHA's scope extends well beyond fertility care. The practice provides routine obstetrics (prenatal through postpartum at Woman's Hospital), gynecologic surgery for more than 4,000 patients annually, annual wellness exams, PCOS management, family planning and contraceptive counseling, and pre-conception counseling. On-site lab services mean routine bloodwork is drawn and processed at the same location. When higher-risk pregnancies require maternal-fetal medicine support, the Ochsner network provides that escalation pathway without requiring patients to transfer to a different health system entirely.
Louisiana's Fertility Insurance Landscape: What You Need to Know
Louisiana presents a particular financial challenge for patients pursuing fertility treatment. The state does not require private insurers to cover IVF, artificial insemination, or fertility medications. Under Louisiana Stat. Ann. § 22:1036, insurers are prohibited from excluding coverage for diagnosing and treating a correctable medical condition solely because it results in infertility — but that protection is narrow. It does not mandate that any assisted reproductive technology be covered. It does not require coverage of fertility drugs. An insurer can, and often does, offer a plan with minimal fertility benefits and remain fully compliant with state law.
There is one narrow bright spot: Louisiana now requires many health plans to cover fertility preservation — egg and sperm extraction and up to three years of storage — for patients facing cancer treatment or other medical procedures that threaten fertility. That mandate phased in beginning in 2024 for new plans and 2025 for existing plans. For everyone else, the cost of IVF in Louisiana is largely out-of-pocket.
This makes it essential to have a detailed conversation with both LWHA and your insurer before starting any assisted reproductive treatment. Understanding what your plan covers for diagnostics, monitoring, and procedures — and what it doesn't — will help you plan financially from the beginning. Fertlo's fertility insurance guide by state lays out every state's mandate in detail, and our IVF cost by state tracker gives realistic estimates of what treatment costs out of pocket in Louisiana.
For broader guidance on evaluating your options, our editorial team has written a thorough guide on how to choose a fertility clinic that covers what questions to ask, what success rate data means, and how to weigh cost against clinical expertise.
Why the Reviews Matter
Return for a moment to those 11,672 Google reviews. In healthcare, online ratings are typically skewed negative — people in pain, in grief, or with billing complaints are more motivated to write than satisfied patients. The sheer volume at LWHA matters as much as the score: with more than eleven thousand reviews, the sample size is large enough to make the 5.0 rating statistically meaningful rather than a fluke of small numbers.
What does that rating reflect in practice? When you read through LWHA patient comments, consistent themes emerge: physicians who take time to explain, staff who treat patients with dignity, a system that feels well-organized despite its size. For a woman navigating infertility — which involves vulnerability, repeated appointments, and emotional weight — the quality of clinical relationships matters enormously. The reviews suggest LWHA has built a culture that honors that.
Combined with the Ochsner Health partnership, the co-location at Woman's Hospital (one of Louisiana's leading facilities for women's and newborn care), and the 25-year institutional depth, LWHA presents a compelling option for Baton Rouge women who want their fertility care integrated into a practice that can follow them through whatever comes next.
To schedule an appointment, call (225) 201-2000 or visit lwha.com.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Louisiana Women's Healthcare offer IVF, or only basic fertility diagnostics?
LWHA offers both. The practice provides the full diagnostic workup for infertility — bloodwork, hormonal panels, imaging — along with treatment options including IUI (artificial insemination) and IVF (in vitro fertilization). Because LWHA is a large OB/GYN group practice rather than a stand-alone fertility center, patients can often complete initial evaluations with their regular physician before escalating to fertility-focused treatment without leaving the practice.
Will my insurance cover fertility treatment at LWHA?
Louisiana does not mandate that private insurers cover IVF, fertility medications, or most assisted reproductive technologies. Coverage depends entirely on your individual plan. Some employer-sponsored plans include fertility benefits; many do not. LWHA is integrated with Ochsner Health and accepts most major insurance plans for routine OB/GYN care, but patients should verify fertility-specific benefit details directly with their insurer before beginning treatment. Fertlo's fertility insurance guide by state explains Louisiana's law in full.
How do I get an appointment at Louisiana Women's Healthcare, and can I choose my physician?
Yes — LWHA allows patients to request a specific physician from their roster of 35 OB/GYNs. New and returning patients can schedule via the LWHA appointments page, through the MyOchsner patient portal, or by calling (225) 201-2000 during regular business hours (Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.). Walk-in urgent gynecologic care may be available through the Ochsner network for established patients.