Obstetrical & Gynecological Associates, PLLC — An Honest Editorial Review

4.8 stars / 856 reviews. If you searched Google for "Obstetrical and Gynecological Associates, PLLC" in Houston and ended up at a practice the website and waiting-room signage call OBGYN Medical Center Associates (OMC), you are in the right place. Obstetrical and Gynecological Associates, PLLC is a registered Texas corporate entity; OBGYN Medical Center Associates (a Privia Health affiliate) is the patient-facing brand. Both point to the same large OB/GYN group at 7900 Fannin Street, Suite 4000, inside the Texas Medical Center. This editorial is for fertility-curious patients trying to understand what this practice does, what it does not do, and where Houston's reproductive-endocrinology (REI) specialists fit in — all at the state's largest metro market for fertility clinics in Texas.

This is a general OB/GYN practice, not a reproductive-endocrinology clinic. That distinction matters if you are specifically searching for in vitro fertilization, and we unpack it below.

About the Practice

OBGYN Medical Center Associates traces its founding to 1962, when a group of Houston OB/GYNs — most trained at Baylor College of Medicine and affiliated with Methodist Hospital and St. Luke's — established the practice inside what would become the Texas Medical Center. Those same founding physicians personally borrowed money to build The Woman's Hospital of Texas, described as the first Texas hospital dedicated to the health of women and newborns. More than sixty years later, OMC reports delivering over 1,600 babies annually and is now part of the Privia Health physician network.

The practice is a multi-physician group with a large roster. Physicians currently listed on the practice's public provider page include:

• Oluremi Okoronkwo, MD — Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Maryam Hakimzadeh Baird, MD, FACOG
• Carrie Ball, MD, FACOG
• Dawn Black, MD, FACOG
• Tara Lynn Bruce, MD, FACOG
• Jason Cooper, MD, FACOG
• James Gullett, MD, FACOG
• Shelly Leeds-Richter, MD, FACOG
• Casey McCloud, MD, FACOG
• Sameen Nooruddin, MD
• Lucia Pacheco, MD
• Carlos Ramos, MD, FACOG
• Gregory Shelton, MD, FACOG
• Ivonne Escudero Smith, MD, FACOG
• Stephanie Smith-Sham, MD
• S. Mark Cone, MD, FACOG — Gynecology
• Meagan Bray, FNP-BC — Nurse Practitioner
• Veronica Castillo Webb, NP — Nurse Practitioner

Provider rosters at large groups shift; verify current staffing and board certification through the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) public lookup before your first visit.

Hospital Affiliations

OMC providers deliver primarily at The Woman's Hospital of Texas (the hospital the practice's founders helped establish) and use Fannin Surgicare for outpatient gynecologic surgery. Individual physicians may maintain additional privileges at Houston Methodist and other Texas Medical Center hospitals; confirm the specific delivery and surgery hospitals directly with your chosen provider.

Services Offered

OBGYN Medical Center Associates / Obstetrical and Gynecological Associates, PLLC offers the standard breadth of a full-service general OB/GYN group:

• Obstetric care — prenatal, delivery at The Woman's Hospital of Texas, and postpartum
• Routine gynecology — annual exams, contraception, menopause management
• Minimally invasive and robotic gynecologic surgery
• Bone densitometry and in-office diagnostics
• Clinical and laboratory services
• Basic infertility workup and evaluation (public site explicitly lists "infertility" among services)
• Same-day appointments for established patients

Intrauterine insemination (IUI) and ovulation induction are routinely offered by some general OB/GYN groups in Houston but are not individually enumerated on OMC's public service list. Confirm with your physician which diagnostic and early-treatment steps are performed in-house versus referred out.

What This Practice Is — and Isn't

Obstetrical and Gynecological Associates, PLLC is not a SART-member IVF center. It does not appear in the SART Clinic Summary Report or the CDC ART clinic-level report — two registries every U.S. clinic performing in vitro fertilization is legally required to participate in. If you need IVF, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), egg retrieval, embryo transfer, donor-egg cycles, gestational carrier coordination, preimplantation genetic testing (PGT-A/M/SR), or egg/embryo cryopreservation for fertility preservation, you will need a separate referral to a reproductive endocrinologist.

Houston is exceptionally rich in REI options. Programs within Harris County and the surrounding metro include:

• Houston Fertility Institute (HFI) / Aspire Fertility Houston — the longest continuously running ART program in the Southwest; 14-location hub-and-spoke network. See our editorials on Houston Fertility Institute and Aspire Fertility Houston.
• CCRM Fertility Houston — part of the national CCRM network. See our CCRM Fertility Houston editorial.
• New Hope Fertility Institute of Texas — Houston-based, mini-IVF focus. See our New Hope Fertility Institute of Texas editorial.
• Shady Grove Fertility — Shenandoah (The Woodlands/Spring) — national SGF network with a Houston-north location. See our Shady Grove Fertility (Shenandoah/Woodlands) editorial.
• HART Fertility Clinic (The Woodlands / Conroe) — independent REI in north-metro Houston. See our HART Fertility editorial.

You can compare the broader set at our Texas fertility-clinic directory.

On the MEDCENTER GYN SERVICES, PLLC Relationship

Our directory independently indexes another Houston entry — MEDCENTER GYN SERVICES, PLLC — with the same 4.8 / 856-review rating. After corporate and NPI-registry cross-checking, these directory entries appear to refer to the same practice operating at 7900 Fannin Street, Suite 4000:

• Obstetrical and Gynecological Associates, PLLC is the long-running registered corporate name.
• OBGYN Medical Center Associates, PLLC (NPI 1487051959 on public registry) and closely related registered Texas entities using "Medical Center" / "Medcenter GYN" naming refer to the same practice under its Privia-affiliated patient-facing brand.
• All point to the same Fannin Street address, same phone (713-512-7500), same physician roster, and same Google Business Profile signal (a shared 4.8 / 856-review footprint is a strong indicator of identical business listings consolidated into a single brand).

This page is the canonical Fertlo editorial for the practice because "Obstetrical and Gynecological Associates, PLLC" is the more complete and historically primary corporate name. The medcenter-gyn-services-pllc-houston-tx directory entry is flagged as referring to the same entity.

Texas Insurance Context

Texas is not a fertility-mandate state. Texas has an "offer law" (insurers that sell group health must offer IVF coverage as an option, but employers are not required to buy it), and Texas Medicaid does not cover IVF. In practice, most Houston-area patients pay out of pocket for IVF — typical self-pay ranges run $15,000–$25,000 per cycle before medications — unless they have an employer-sponsored fertility benefit through a carve-out administrator (Progyny, Carrot, Maven, WINFertility).

Where a general OB/GYN like OMC can help financially: the initial fertility workup — day-3 labs (FSH, LH, estradiol, AMH, TSH, prolactin), pelvic ultrasound for antral follicle count, hysterosalpingogram (HSG) for tubal patency, semen analysis for the male partner — is frequently covered under standard medical benefits even when IVF is not. Having that workup complete before walking into an REI consult means the specialist starts with data, not blank lab slips. See our state-by-state fertility insurance mandates guide for a broader overview of the U.S. coverage landscape.

Patient Experience

A 4.8 / 856 Google rating across an 18-provider practice delivering 1,600+ babies annually is a meaningful signal — review volume at that scale makes statistical noise irrelevant. Common praise themes for OMC in public feedback center on physician continuity across pregnancies, Texas Medical Center convenience (Fannin Street is directly on the TMC footprint), and the depth of the provider bench when your preferred physician is unavailable. Recurring critiques — as with any large group delivering at a hospital system — tend to involve phone hold times, scheduling friction, and occasional charting-system inconsistencies between Privia platforms. Those are the standard tradeoffs of scale.

Rating volume is not a substitute for fit. And for fertility specifically, a Google rating tells you nothing about IVF outcomes — because this practice does not perform IVF. Use SART and CDC ART data to compare REI programs; use Google reviews to gauge day-to-day OB/GYN experience.

When to Add a Clinical REI

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and ASRM both recommend a fertility workup after:

• 12 months of unprotected intercourse without pregnancy if you are under 35
• 6 months if you are 35 or older
• Immediately, regardless of age, if you have known tubal disease, severe endometriosis, a history of two or more pregnancy losses, irregular or absent cycles, or a male partner with abnormal semen parameters

Move from your OB/GYN to a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist when any of the following are true:

• Your workup identifies tubal disease, severe male factor, or diminished ovarian reserve
• Three to six cycles of ovulation induction or IUI have not produced a pregnancy
• You need IVF, PGT, donor gametes, a gestational carrier, or fertility preservation
• Your age and diagnosis combine to make time-to-IVF clinically urgent (ASRM guidance favors earlier IVF for patients 38+)

See ASRM evaluation-of-infertility references on PubMed for the underlying evidence, and our how to read IVF success rates guide when you're ready to compare REI programs in Houston.

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.

Location and Contact

• Legal entity: Obstetrical and Gynecological Associates, PLLC (also registered as OBGYN Medical Center Associates, PLLC)
• Patient-facing brand: OBGYN Medical Center Associates (a Privia Health practice)
• Primary address: 7900 Fannin Street, Suite 4000, Houston, TX 77054 (Texas Medical Center)
• Phone: (713) 512-7500
• Hours (Fannin office): Monday–Friday, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
• Website: myprivia.com/obgynmedicalcenter

The practice also operates satellite offices in Houston Heights (427 W. 20th St, Suite 303), Sugar Land (The Woman's Place, 15890 Southwest Freeway, Suite 400), Webster (Gulf Coast MRI & Diagnostic), Angleton, and the Humble/Kingwood/Atascocita area. Verify which providers rotate to each satellite before booking.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does this practice show up under two different names in the Fertlo directory? Obstetrical and Gynecological Associates, PLLC is the registered corporate entity; OBGYN Medical Center Associates (sometimes referenced in state filings as "Medcenter GYN Services, PLLC") is the patient-facing brand under the Privia Health network. The 4.8 / 856-review Google signal, the 7900 Fannin Street address, and the physician roster align across both entries. This page is the canonical Fertlo editorial; the MEDCENTER GYN SERVICES listing refers to the same practice.

Does Obstetrical and Gynecological Associates, PLLC perform IVF? No. This is a general OB/GYN group, not a reproductive-endocrinology clinic. It can perform initial fertility workup (labs, HSG, pelvic ultrasound, semen analysis coordination) and may offer ovulation induction or IUI per individual physician practice, but it does not offer IVF, ICSI, egg retrieval, embryo transfer, PGT, donor gametes, or fertility preservation. Patients needing those services are referred to Houston REI programs such as Houston Fertility Institute / Aspire Fertility, CCRM Fertility Houston, New Hope Fertility Institute of Texas, Shady Grove Fertility in Shenandoah, or HART Fertility in The Woodlands / Conroe.

Does Texas insurance cover fertility treatments? Texas is not a fertility-mandate state. Texas law requires insurers that sell group coverage to offer IVF as a rider, but employers are not obligated to purchase it, and Texas Medicaid does not cover IVF. Diagnostic workup (labs, HSG, semen analysis, pelvic ultrasound) is often covered under standard medical benefits even when IVF treatment is not. Verify with your insurer before the workup and before any REI consultation.

Which hospital is affiliated with this practice? The primary hospital affiliation is The Woman's Hospital of Texas in the Texas Medical Center — a hospital the practice's founders helped build in the 1960s. Outpatient gynecologic surgery is routed through Fannin Surgicare. Individual physicians may maintain additional privileges at other TMC hospitals (Houston Methodist, St. Luke's); confirm with your specific provider.

Editorial note: Independently written by the Fertlo editorial team; not sponsored. Sources include the CMS National Provider Identifier registry, OBGYN Medical Center Associates' public provider page (myprivia.com/obgynmedicalcenter), Privia Health network affiliation listings, public hospital affiliation disclosures for The Woman's Hospital of Texas, and the practice's Google Business Profile. This clinic is a general OB/GYN practice; fertility-specific treatment claims in this editorial are limited to services publicly listed by the practice and verified in federal registries. See our editorial policy.