How Clinics Are Improving the Customer Journey

Fertility treatments have become a big business globally. Whereas treatment for fertility was once an innovative research area less than half a century ago, such treatments are now widespread and standard recommendations for patients of a certain criteria pursuing care. Today, with 2.5M cycles performed every year resulting in >500k deliveries globally, IVF is considered mainstream treatment. Further, treatment options have expanded beyond infertile couples and individuals, and have now entered the realm of proactive via elective egg and embryo freezing and genetic testing.

With such great strides in both the science, availability, and popularity of treatment, it should follow that the patient journey should also improve. Luckily, a number of new clinics are embracing technology, data, and holistic care to usher in a new, improved, and ultimately more affordable, customer journey.

The majority of clinics offering fertility services are privately owned by individuals, groups of physicians, and, increasingly,  investor groups. In 2022 alone, fertility startups raised >$345M in venture capital, more than double since 2019. This influx of capital has accelerated the positive development of fertility service practice and improved various pain points in the fertility journey.

This new crop of clinics are adopting the latest technology, combining at home testing and monitoring solutions with cutting edge in office services - both decreasing trips to the doctor and increasing outcomes. Over the last decade, the fertility industry has roughly doubled their success rates from ~30% success to >60% success per IVF transfer, while drastically reducing the rate of multiple births. Further, since such fertility centers often offer all services, procedures, and laboratory testing on site, they can offer new services to patients as soon as they become available, rather than sending them out through a complicated referral network. Patients can also enjoy product and supplement recommendations sold directly through the clinic.

In addition to improved services, clinics are also utilizing software to create streamlined patient experience and backend workflow management, often developing their own proprietary technology. As a result, the patient enjoys an easy to use interface, and the clinic is able to collect and analyze high-quality data from both in person or telehealth evaluations and online inputs to drive decision making on treatment options.

Venture backed clinics with expanded budgets are also able to increase marketing and patient services efforts to educate the public, destigmatize the process, and comfort patients with detailed guides and expectations for each step of the process. Taking it a step further, premium clinics often employ patient concierges to create a high touch fertility navigation process, often extending to pre and post conception support, mental health services, nutrition and lifestyle recommendations, and more - creating a holistic approach to fertility treatment.

These tech enabled, human centric, integrative clinics are increasing the accessibility of the process, making it more approachable and therefore widening the potential audience. A key feature in many is price transparency, where clinics are upfront about costs and can often integrate payment plans or accept employee fertility benefits, and in few cases, insurance. This transparency reduces a major stressor of patients struggling to navigate the financial burden of fertility treatments.

‍