How To Choose a Fertility Clinic

Advice on how to choose a fertility clinic where you will feel comfortable and have success

by Isaac Glatstein, MD, MSc

Choosing a fertility clinic is an important decision — one that could impact your dreams of starting a family. Along with ensuring safe, effective treatments, it’s important to find a clinic where you feel comfortable and supported. Ultimately, your choice should come down to a combination of factors: your comfort level, the likelihood of success, your insurance and your budget.

In this blog, I’ll share expert advice on how to choose a fertility clinic that checks all these boxes — and if Conceive NJ is the right fit for you, we’d be honored to help you on your journey.

Before diving into choosing a fertility clinic, it’s important to determine whether you need to see a specialist in the first place. If you’ve been trying to conceive without success for a while, or if you’re dealing with specific concerns like irregular cycles or age-related fertility issues, it might be time to explore professional help.

How to choose a fertility clinic where you will be comfortable

While amenities like modern facilities are important, the real consideration when choosing a fertility clinic is how comfortable you’ll feel dealing with sensitive issues like infertility, intimacy and the desire to grow your family. Fertility care can be emotional, stressful and full of uncertainty, so it’s essential to find a clinic that makes you feel at ease.

At Conceive NJ, we’ve created a state-of-the-art, patient-friendly space designed with your comfort in mind. But beyond that, we prioritize creating an atmosphere of trust, where you can openly communicate about your journey.

Affordable fertility treatment cost

We believe the cost of fertility treatment shouldn’t stand in the way of your dream of having a family. That’s why we focus on providing affordable options without sacrificing the quality of care. We offer price transparency and work with you to explore the most cost-effective treatment options.

How do we keep treatment costs down?

• Maximizing insurance benefits: We help you make the most of your insurance to reduce out-of-pocket expenses.
• Affordable packages: For those with limited or no insurance, we offer budget-friendly IVF (in vitro fertilization), IUI (intrauterine insemination), egg freezing, and embryo transfer packages.
• On-site lab services: Our high-quality lab helps save on additional costs.
• Discounted medications: We negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to provide medications at the lowest possible cost.
• Financing options: We partner with leading financing companies to make your care more affordable.

Key elements to look for in a fertility clinic

Only by having a trusting relationship with a clinic’s providers can you be truly comfortable. Patients considering choosing a fertility clinic should look for certain elements of the practice and its care. When considering a clinic, keep these factors in mind:

• Personalized care: Your fertility specialist and the key clinic staffers you will see regularly will get to know you and your story, no matter how arduous or complicated.
• Compassionate communication: Fertility treatments can be challenging, so you’ll want to choose a clinic that understands the emotional toll and works to alleviate that stress. These people should communicate that they understand the stresses that infertility and its treatments can bring to everyday life, while doing everything they can to mitigate those tensions.
• Access to your doctor: Ensure you’ll have regular, direct interactions with your fertility specialist during key visits.
• Openness to complex cases: A confident clinic won’t shy away from difficult cases but will collaborate with you to create the best treatment plan.
• Patient education: Understanding details is an important aspect of being comfortable. Education can be through discussion, handouts, an information-rich website, and the easy ability to connect with clinic providers to ask questions.
• Good communication: The clinic’s staff should be responsive to your inquiries, helping you feel supported at every step.
• Inclusivity: It’s important to choose a clinic that provides fertility services for LGBTQIA+ patients, ensuring everyone has access to the care they need.

Big fertility clinic, or small fertility clinic?

The pros of a large clinic include the ability to see multiple doctors, usually at multiple locations. Cons of a large clinic are that you can feel like you’re just a number and you might see a different doctor who is less likely to be familiar with all the fine details of your case.

The pros of a small clinic are that you will see the same doctor every time. It will be easier and more likely that you build a good relationship with the doctor and the staff. Your experience is more apt to be one of highly individualized care. Cons might be fewer locations and perhaps shorter hours.

Conceive NJ is intentionally a small and intimate fertility clinic, though we offer all the same services a larger clinic does. Some services like counseling might not be in-house but many patients prefer the virtual counselling options that we offer as its more convenient for their demanding schedules. And we certainly fulfill all the pros you would expect from a smaller clinic.

Choosing a fertility clinic offering complete fertility services, from fertility testing to treatments

Make sure the clinic offers a complete line of fertility services. This ensures that the clinic has the fertility testing and infertility treatment options any patient may need.

Fertility testing should include comprehensive, in-house hormonal testing, structural evaluation of female reproductive systems and organs, assessment of ovarian reserve, semen analysis, hysteroscopy, hysterosalpingography and other diagnostic procedures, all in the comfort and familiarity of the clinic setting.

Genetic screening and preimplantation genetic testing

Genetic screening is an important service for a clinic to offer. In fertility, this is typically comprehensive genetic screening before conception to identify problems that could result in pregnancy and birth failure or in birth defects in a child. Preimplantation genetic testing can evaluate an embryo created through IVF for genetic issues that can cause failed pregnancy or birth defects, allowing the clinic to transfer only healthy IVF embryos for implantation.

For those interested in gender selection, the genetic testing of embryos should also include this option.

Ovulation induction, egg freezing and more

The clinic should offer a full line of fertility treatments such as ovulation induction, IUI, IVF, egg and embryo freezing.

Ask about additional services like egg donor programs, as well as insurances accepted and financial assistance.

Check credentials of the fertility specialist and IVF lab

You will definitely want to select a clinic where the fertility specialist is highly trained. In fertility medicine, this means the specialist should be board-certified in reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI). Additional specialized training is also a very good sign that the fertility doctor is highly trained and up-to-date on the latest techniques and evidence-based treatments.

Much of the crucial work in fertility medicine – from testing to treatments like IVF – occurs in the IVF lab. You should select a clinic that has its own in-house IVF lab that conducts embryology and andrology work.

The lab should have the latest technology and equipment, from hormone evaluation to sophisticated embryo monitoring systems. The lab director should be certified by the American Board of Bioanalysis as a High-complexity Clinical Laboratory Director (HCLD).

Conceive NJ prides itself on having some of the most highly trained and recognized fertility professionals in the industry, on both the clinical as well as laboratory sides of the practice.

What do other patients have to say, including on platforms like Yelp and Google?

One of the best ways to get first-hand information about a fertility clinic is from someone who has been a patient there. A family member or a friend can be a great source for a real-world evaluation of a clinic. So can primary care providers, a woman’s OB-GYN or a man’s urologist.

Online reviews are a very common source for finding what other patients say about a fertility clinic. Consumer sites like Google Reviews and Yelp offer insights that can be quite valuable.

Of course, online reviews may be biased. In medicine, patients can be unhappy with their results or personal insurance and may not give an objective review. Still, online reviews can give you a good idea of a fertility clinic’s reputation with patients, as well as the overall patient experience.

Conclusion on how to choose a fertility clinic

Utilize the tools at your disposal to find out as much as you can about a fertility clinic before making a choice. The basic requirements are first, for you to feel comfortable in the clinic and to be in a trusting relationship with your physician and the clinic staff. Second, is to choose an affordable, quality clinic where your chances of having a family through their treatment is very good.

If you’re considering Conceive NJ, we’d love to talk to you about your options, answer your questions and help you take the next steps toward growing your family.