How to Choose an IVF Clinic

You just found out that you need “in-vitro” fertilization to conceive. You might feel upset, your head is spinning with implications of what it all means, and you start wondering about the treatment cost, whether it will be successful, and where to go for your IVF treatment.

Selecting the “best” IVF clinic can be a perplexing experience. You search online only to find an overabundance of data along with confusing and inconsistent pieces of information. You find half a dozen infertility clinics in your area and have really no idea which one to choose.

Let me share with you a little-known secret: It all comes down to the performance of the clinic’s embryology laboratory, which, in turn, hinges on the experience and personality of the lab director. The physicians do not influence the probability of your success nearly as much as the excellence, or the lack of it, of the IVF laboratory staff.

Here lies the crux: No reliable information is available to compare the performance of embryology laboratories of various IVF clinics. I have been a part of the infertility medical field for almost 40 years, and with as much insight as I should have, I know precious little about how well embryology laboratories in my area are doing.

One possible source of knowledge is the compilation of treatment outcomes of US fertility clinics collected by the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART). Unfortunately, clinics self-report their data to SART, and unscrupulous clinics have been found to inflate their reports of successful outcomes. SART states that clinic-specific outcomes should not be the sole resource used by the public to select an IVF center.

Since it may be impossible to “figure out” which IVF clinic to choose, you may decide to use your intuition to guide you:

1. Go online and review the websites of all infertility centers offering the treatment you were told you need. There will be some websites, say three or four, that you will get better “vibes” about than the rest.
2. Call them all, have some questions ready, and see what kind of feeling you get from over-the-phone communication. Do not ask for an appointment yet.
3. “Sleep” on the impressions you have gained, and the next day, call two of them back and ask for an initial appointment.
4. Go to the first appointment, and if you “fall in love” with the place, you have found your clinic. Call the other one to cancel your appointment. Otherwise, keep your options open, have your initial consultation at the second clinic, and decide between the two.

This might seem like a lot of effort on your part, but it should pay off not only in your overall treatment experience but, hopefully, in increasing your probability of a successful outcome.