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Reproductive Medicine Reports
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Quality Care
Fertility and Reproductive Medicine Reports
Birth Rates in the Reproductive Medicine ClinicThe staff of the Reproductive Medicine Clinic at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin believes in helping couples through technology, teamwork and compassion. In our efforts to help couples achieve success in creating a family, we are aware that infertility treatments have been criticized for creating pregnancies of high order multiple gestations (triplets or more).
| Multiple gestations put both the mother and babies at risk for serious health problems. The mothers are at risk for preeclampsia, premature labor requiring prolonged bed rest or hospitalization, gestational diabetes, anemia and placental problems. The babies are at risk for complications such as preterm birth, respiratory distress syndrome, intracranial hemorrhage, cerebral palsy, blindness and death. |
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Visit the Web site for the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology for national and individual reports on success rates for in vitro fertilization. |
At the Reproductive Medicine Clinic, we take a conservative approach. We have achieved high levels of success for our in vitro fertilization (IVF) couples, while limiting the number of multiple gestations.
In 2006, our clinic transferred on average 2.0 embryos per IVF cycle while maintaining a high delivery rate of 46.7 percent per embryo transfer attempt (for women under age 35). There were no triplet or higher pregnancies achieved through our IVF program in 2006.
At the Reproductive Medicine Clinic, we are aware that most health insurance plans do not cover infertility services for our patients. To help minimize the out-of-pocket expenses for couples, we generally do not require repeat testing unless the test results from earlier testing were ambiguous or outdated. Patients are encouraged to provide prior medical records so the physician can review results of prior testing to avoid repeating tests. Our reproductive endocrinologists and fellowship-trained urologist recommend testing that is tailored to the individual.
Patients who are pursuing treatment at the Reproductive Medicine Clinic are required to have limited screening before pursuing IVF or Insemination. General health screening will be recommended for all patients including but not limited to infectious disease screening for HIV & hepatitis, thyroid studies, and basic hormone function tests. Most of these tests are covered by insurance regardless of whether the patient has infertility coverage or not. Recommended testing may be declined by the patient after proper informed consent.
The Reproductive Medicine Clinic has attempted to keep the cost of our therapies as low as possible by making the fee for IVF services below the market average. A usual and customary cycle of standard IVF costs $10,000 to $12,000 (excluding stimulation medications).
A couple’s decision to have a child is a very personal choice. When a couple needs to seek the help of a fertility specialist, the Reproductive Medicine Clinic believes the couple’s desires should dictate the care they receive. Our physicians create a plan of care and provide recommendations to the couple; it is ultimately the couple’s decision as to which therapies they wish to pursue.
Sometimes couples are faced with very difficult decisions about what is most important to them. Some couples believe that being genetically related to the child is critical while others believe that experiencing a pregnancy and getting an opportunity to parent a child is more important than genetics. We will present all possible options to each couple but the decision on what is acceptable always remains with the couple.
When the decision is made to use donor eggs, the age of the donor is the most important factor for success. To optimize the egg quality, the Reproductive Medicine Clinic only accepts women age 34 or under into our egg donation program. Most patients who pursue egg donation are older or have premature ovarian failure. The increase in success rate with donor eggs over the use of a woman’s own eggs when she is beyond age 37 can be seen in the 2006 Reproductive Medicine Clinic statistics below.
Although the majority of couples who seek treatment through the Reproductive Medicine Clinic are married, the clinic does not discriminate according to marital status, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity or income.
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