Selecting Your Medical Clinic

May 24, 2021
Jennifer Tharrington

Hands cradling another set of hands holding a red heartOne of the very first (and most important) steps in a surrogacy journey is selecting your medical clinic. Your reproductive endocrinologist (RE) is like the quarterback of your family building team. So it’s important that he/she be up to the job. Here are some tips on choosing a fertility clinic and reproductive endocrinologist.

When researching clinics, you can find information:

  1. On their websites
  2. On the Center for Disease Control’s fertility clinic statistics report page 
  3. On the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology website (which includes outcome statistics for clinics)
  4. By speaking to a representative in person or over the phone 
  5. By asking about the clinic and doctor’s reputation in Facebook groups for intended parents and people experiencing infertility 
  6. By meeting and interviewing your doctor in person 

Here are some questions to ask each RE/clinic that you consider:

Care and Treatment 

  1. What are your criteria for accepting new patients (age limits, marital status, etc)? 
  2. Will I see just one doctor or will it be a shared approach by all the physicians in the practice? 
  3. Are the physicians providing my care board-certified? Are any specialists in reproductive endocrinology?
  4. What is your treatment approach and timeline for my case?

Success Rates and Expected Outcomes 

  1. Does the clinic follow American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) practice guidelines?
  2. What is your clinic’s success rate, on the whole, for patients like me?
  3. If you are a same sex couple, feel free to ask what percentage of patients of that clinic identify as LGBTQ+. 
  4. How many surrogacies have you done in the past year? In the past 5 years? 
  5. Do you have egg/sperm/embryo donors available? If not, do you assist with arranging for donor eggs/sperm/embryos if needed?

Finances 

  1. Do you take my insurance? 
  2. Which costs, if any, are covered by my insurance and which are not? 
  3. Do you have a financial counselor or other staff person to assist me with understanding how to afford my journey? 
  4. What are your available payment options? 

No team is successful without a strong quarterback. So it’s important to do your research before drafting your top pick! 

If you have questions, please contact us today! Because sometimes it takes a village. 

The following two tabs change content below.

Latest posts by Jennifer Tharrington (see all)