Top Ten Tips for Choosing an Infertility Clinic or Doctor |
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- Is the
reproductive endocrinologist board certified? The American Board of
Medical Specialties lists board certifications for doctors.
- Is the clinic a
member of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine and
the Society of Assisted
Reproductive Technology? Does their embryology lab follow the
guidelines of the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology? How
did the lab do on their last inspection?
- Check out the
CDC statistics for the clinic, but first listen to the Creating a Family show on Choosing a Clinic to put the statistics into perspective.
- How many
procedures like the one that you think you will need (e.g. IVF,
donor egg, frozen embryo transfer) has the clinic done in the last
year? This information is available in the CDC statistics. The
Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology posts statistics that are more current than those on the CDC site.
- Does the clinic
exclude patients that fit your profile of age, FSH level, marital
status, past failures at infertility treatment, or sexual
orientation from their IVF program?
- Schedule an
initial appointment and talk with the RE. Do you have a good feel
about working with this person? Does her style of medicine and
communication fit well with yours? How did you like the other staff
members you dealt with?
- Who is
available on the staff to answer your phone questions? Do they have
a timeframe for returning phone calls? What hours are they
available for phone consultation?
- Does the clinic
provide financial arrangements such as payment plans, shared risk,
or refunds for patients similar to you?
- How convenient
is it for you to work with this clinic?
- What hours and
days is the clinic open? Larger clinics are usually open 7 days a
week, 52 weeks a year. Smaller clinics often run IVF cycles in
“batches” so they will be open 7 days a week for a
certain period of time and then only 4-5 days a week when they are
not doing IVF cycles.
- If you need
appointments before or after work, make sure they have appointments
at those times and ask how far in advance must you book to get
those times?
- How much time
does it usually take for routine office visits for blood work and
sonograms?
- Is parking
readily available?
- What additional
services are offered by this infertility clinic?
- Mental health
professional specializing in infertility?
- Donor egg
program?
- Surrogacy
program?
- Complimentary
medicine or mind/body type programs?
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