By Leslie Schreiber

There are over 440 fertility clinics in the United States today.[1] Unfortunately, not all of them are top-flight organizations with their own laboratories and platoons of embryologists. Before you sign any contracts with a clinic, there are some important questions to ask concerning the clinic’s birth success rate.

According to the CDC, “[Assisted reproductive technology] success rates vary in the context of patient and treatment characteristics, such as age, infertility diagnosis, number of embryos transferred, type of ART procedure, use of techniques such as ICSI, and history of previous births, miscarriages, and ART cycles.”[2] While not every clinic advertises its success rates,[3] every clinic is required to report its outcomes to the CDC annually.[4] The information is available; you may have to do a bit of homework to find it. The CDC’s website is a good place to start.

Moreover, you should inquire about both IUI and IVF success rates (if the clinic’s website is unclear) and make sure that the information is “broken down by age, number of embryos, etc.”[5] In addition, you should ask about the clinic’s ratio of single embryo transfers (SET) performed to the number of double embryo transfers (2BET).[6] Single embryo transfers avoid the possibility of multiples. In addition, a clinic performing only SETs meets the current accepted standards set by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.[7]

IVF does not guarantee you’ll have a baby, but you boost your chances by finding and working with a clinic that has an established and certifiable success rate.

[1] M. Fox, “A Million Babies Have Been Born in the U.S. with Fertility Help,” NBC News (Apr. 28, 2017), available at: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/million-babies-have-been-born-u-s-fertility-help-n752506.

[2] “ART Success Rates,” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, available at https://www.cdc.gov/art/artdata/index.html.

[3] https://fertilitysuccessrates.com/

[4] “IVF Success Rates for Fertility Clinics in the United States,” available at https://fertilitysuccessrates.com/.

[5] H. Huhman, “The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Fertility Clinic…and Knowing When to Get a Second Opinion,” Huffington Post (Dec. 6, 2017), available at https://www.huffingtonpost.com/heather-huhman/the-ultimate-guide-to-choosing-a-fertility-clinicand-knowing-when-to-get-a-second-opinion_b_7525998.html.

[6] Id.

[7] Id.