9 Tips for Choosing the right fertility center

Fertility treatment is a rollercoaster! Choosing the fertility center that meets your needs is important! Here are 9 tips for choosing the best center.

1. Location- You may have to travel to your center frequently. You will have your consultation and once your cycle starts, you will likely have frequent ultrasounds and blood draws. Some centers may require you to have your bloodwork at their center (even if there is a closer lab to you). They may need the results sooner than an outside lab can provide in order to adjust your treatment plan, if necessary.

2. Cost- Always call your insurance to determine your benefits! Are there centers that are in-network? It will be a cost savings if your insurance covers fertility treatment and you stay ‘in network’. If you do not have insurance coverage, cost will be just as important. Always ask about cash payment options and if they have any ‘bundles’ packages.

3. Kids- This may be an uncomfortable question to think about. Some clinics allow children, others do not. The first center I went to allowed children. I did not have any children at the time. Now, my clinic does not allow children. This makes it challenging since we do not have a babysitter and a simple blood draw can be hard to coordinate. However, this may work better for some women if seeing children is triggering.

4. Complementary resources- Some centers offer additional services such as acupuncture, dietician, and mental wellness.

5. Clinic hours- Similar to location, you want to optimize the convenience when you can!  Think about your responsibilities and what would work for you. Some centers will offer early appointments or weekend appointments for monitoring labs and ultrasounds. I loved the 6am ultrasound. This allowed us to have my daughter stay home with my husband while I went to the clinic. I was even able to get back before work started!

6. Tele-health capabilities- As above, this is potentially another convenience. We had our initial consultation via Telehealth and a few other visits when our plan changed. My fertility center is 2 hours away and I was fortunate to have this option.

7. Connection- you need your team to ‘feel right’. This is emotional and you want to feel supported and heard by the practice as a whole.

8. Communication-Some clinics will utilize patient portals. Other will use email or telephone. Although this may not affect your decisions overall, it is important to understand how you will be communicating with your team.

9. Treatment options- It is important to choose a center that offers a variety of treatments such as IUI, IVF, ovulation induction, cryopreservation etc. It is oftentimes harder to transfer care and start over with baseline and preliminary testing if you find out your center does not offer a specific treatment.