How to Select a Fertility Clinic

An important step toward a successful surrogacy journey, is choosing the right fertility clinic for you. That may sound like a pretty daunting task when you begin researching your options. So, where do you start? And what kind of questions should you ask to ensure you are in good hands? We have gathered some helpful resources and suggestions for you to consider.

Begin by searching for fertility clinics within a large radius in your area. This will cast the net wider and may bring to your attention a very reputable clinic that you might not have considered otherwise. While you do want to take location into account, it shouldn’t be a major deciding factor as quality service is worth the drive. As you research the clinics that have come up on your initial search you may want to find out how long their doctors have been there and what procedures they offer. An established practice should not have a high turnover rate as that might point toward poor management. If you call a clinic to ask a few questions or to set up a consultation, pay attention to how well they field your questions and honor your time. If you are rushed off the phone or are treated poorly, don’t expect treatment to improve once you become a paying patient.

Once you have narrowed down your list to a few clinics, it would be a good idea to schedule consultations with each one to see the clinic, meet the staff, and to ask your list of questions in person. As soon as you arrive take mental note of the cleanliness of the environment and if the staff is welcoming and helpful. Treat it as if you are interviewing them for a very important job, because you are! You want to make sure you are choosing a clinic with excellent quality control and ethics. Take detailed notes during your visits, then make a list of pros and cons for each clinic to help you decide. You will be spending a lot of time with and communicating with the clinic staff and health care professionals, so it is important to consider all of the answers to your questions and impressions you may have had during your visit.

Below are some questions you could use during a consultation:

1. How long has the clinic been established? How long have the medical director, doctors, and technicians been there?
2. What procedures do you do and how many treatments are carried out each year?
3. How familiar is the clinic with surrogacy in general? Will they work with surrogates?
4. How many surrogacy arrangements do they handle every year?
5. Are there any restrictions to treatment at the clinic? Age? Negative screening for AIDS tests or hepatitis B and C? Overweight (BMI must be less than 30)? (this can be a good indication of ethics)
6. Does the clinic offer genetic screening for Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis or other genetically transmitted diseases?
7. What is your success rate and how do you define it?
8. What is the live birth rate per embryo transfer?
9. How many pregnancies resulted in multiple births? Singletons?
10. What percentage of live embryo transfers were carried out versus frozen embryo transfers?
11. What tests will I/We need to have before treatment begins?
12. Why do I/We need to have each test?
13. What is the process?
14. How many times will I need to visit the clinic? Daily? Twice a day? Take time off work?
15. How many times will our surrogate need to visit the clinic?
16. Will there be any side effects from my/our treatment?
17. Who determines how many embryos are transferred? The IPs or the medical team?
18. What will happen if we don’t achieve pregnancy? How long before we can try again?
19. What is the cost of treatment? Cost of drugs? Cost of tests?
20. What payment methods do you accept?
21. How often will we be billed?
22. Will we see the same doctor/team members throughout the treatment?
23. Is the clinic open every day including weekends and bank holidays?
24. How do you communicate with your patients?
25. How do I communicate with your clinic after-hours?
26. Will I have an assigned nurse that I can contact with questions?
27. Do you have a designated 3rd party coordinator?
28. What counseling and/or patient support group is available to us?
29. Do you have a hospital affiliation in the event one of us or our surrogate experiences a complication?