How Do You Choose A Fertility Clinic?

Once you know you are going to be seeing a reproductive endocrinologist, you and your partner have even tougher questions ahead of you.

Before you go ahead and select a fertility clinic, here are some things you'll want to discuss:

• Are we willing to undergo invasive tests, and ultimately possibly invasive treatment that could include strong medications with unpleasant and sometimes dangerous side effects?
• How far are we willing to go to have a biological child?
• Are there other options, such as adoption, we should look into as well?
• Can we afford fertility treatment? What might the cost ultimately be, and where does the limit lie for us?

Selecting The Right Clinic

Before you can choose the right fertility clinic for you, you'll first have to define what "right" means. There are essentially three factors to consider: success rates, cost, and the quality of care. 

Finding the success rates of individual fertility clinics in the United States is not complicated. While clinics may provide you with this information either on their websites or during a consultation, the federal database kept by the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a very valuable tool that enables you to compare the success rates of clinics around the US.

You will easily be able to find information on the overall success rate, defined as a live birth after treatment, for any given procedure — intrauterine insemination, IVF, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to name examples. Beyond that, you will want to look at how successful a particular clinic is in treating women in your age group. 

Cost is another factor you will want to consider, and that includes insurance options.

To find out if you live in one of them, you can visit the website of RESOLVE, the national fertility association. Your insurance options may affect the clinic you choose. Those who are not covered for infertility treatment and will financing the treatment themselves might also want to look into payment plans offered by fertility clinics. Do be aware that these plans may not come with favorable interest rates, and that a bank loan can be a less expensive choice. 

See Also: Infertility Medical Conditions in Women

Finally, you'll want to get a feel for your clinic and decide whether you feel at ease there. Some of the things you will look for are bound to be matters of individual preference — do you like the doctors and the clinic, and is the clinic anywhere near your home? Some questions that may help you make a better decision include:

• Where did the doctors you will be seeing study?
• How long has the staff — including doctors, technicians and the medical director — been working at the clinic?
• Which procedures are available? How many patients does the clinic have and how many cycles are performed each year?
• What procedures for preventing mistakes such as embryo mix-ups or using the wrong semen sample are in place?
• What is the clinic's view on treating post-menopausal women? Are there age limits? How many embryos are generally transferred during an IVF cycle? What does the clinic think of single-embryo IVF? These questions will give you an insight into how ethical the clinic is.