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5 tips for choosing the BEST IVF clinic | IVF, IUI, egg freezing | Finding IVF Success Rates - YouTube
Channel: FertilitySpace
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you might be surprised by this one you
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might not have thought of this one when
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you were
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taking a look at which clinic you might
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like to work with
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hi and welcome to the fertility space
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channel we help women take control of
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their fertility
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learn about reproductive health and find
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the best fertility provider to suit
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their unique needs
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today we're going to be talking about
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the five steps for how to choose a
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fertility clinic
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so when is it time to seek out a
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fertility clinic when should you even
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start looking to work with a fertility
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specialist
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it depends on what you're looking to do
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at the fertility clinic
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if you have been struggling to conceive
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the asrm
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the american society for reproductive
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medicine actually has guidelines
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on how long you should try naturally
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based on your age
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before reaching out to a specialist so
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the asrm recommends that if you are
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younger than 35 years of age the female
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is younger than 35 years of age
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you should try to conceive naturally for
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at least 12 months before reaching out
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to
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a clinic to get some testing done if
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you're older than 35 they recommend
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trying for six months before going in to
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get some testing done
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they recently updated their guidelines
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in february of 2020
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to also include that women that are 40
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years or older
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should come in sooner for testing they
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didn't state how many months of
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trying you should do naturally but
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clinics generally recommend about
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three months if you're 40 years of age
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or older
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so what is infertility so the asrm
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has a definition for this infertility is
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defined
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as the failure to achieve a successful
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pregnancy
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after 12 months or more of regular
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unprotected sexual intercourse
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or due to an impairment of a person's
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capacity to reproduce
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either as an individual or with her or
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his partner
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for women that are just going in looking
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for egg freezing they
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they're looking to preserve their
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fertility they're not trying to get
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pregnant right now
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it's a little bit different you don't
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have to wait until you're a specific
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age fertility declines with age so egg
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quality
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actually declines with age as well so
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the sooner you can go in for testing and
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and speak to a physician about freezing
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your eggs the better so
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definitely do it while you're younger
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you don't have to wait until you're 35
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okay so let's dive right into the five
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steps
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step number one is to check with your
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insurance i know that not everyone has
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infertility coverage for treatment or
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sometimes even for testing
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but if you do have insurance coverage
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for anything to do with infertility it's
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a really good place to start
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just to check in with your insurance and
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see which clinics
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are in network for you if you
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skip this step and you actually go
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working with whichever clinic you want
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and you find out later that they're out
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of network your insurance will
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definitely pay
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for less but sometimes they won't pay
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for anything at all
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so it's better just to check with them
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ahead of time and make sure that
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you're working with one of their
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in-network providers
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if you don't have infertility coverage
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that's totally fine
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skip this step the rest of the steps
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aren't dependent on having insurance
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coverage at all step two is to compare
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success rates between different clinics
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so annually clinics fertility clinics
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actually report their
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ivf success rates to either the cdc
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or to start the society for assisted
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reproductive technology
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so you can find these stats online on
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the cdc's website or on the sart website
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some clinics report to both some clinics
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just report to one so if you're looking
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for a particular clinic you might want
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to check
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both websites but that's where you can
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find those and you can start to compare
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based on success rates for your age
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range they're stratified by
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age which clinic might be preferable for
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you
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for those of you who are going to be
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checking out the ivf success rates i
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have a little tip when you're looking at
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the metrics there are
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a lot of numbers on there and sometimes
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it can be a little
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bit difficult to figure out which ones
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actually might give you the most
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information
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so a lot of you are going to look on
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there and you might think you should be
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looking at the clinical pregnancy rate
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that's definitely a good place to start
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always get to take a look at the
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clinical pregnancy rate
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then some of you might have thought oh
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there's live birth rate on there that
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makes sense i should look at the live
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birth rate
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yes definitely good getting a little bit
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closer
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the best metric to look at is the
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singleton
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live birth rate so that's definitely a
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good metric to look at when you're
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evaluating which clinic
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you might be interested in working with
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it's important to keep in mind that some
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of you might be thinking oh you know i'm
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just going in for testing or you know
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maybe i want to have an iui done i'm not
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necessarily looking for ivf
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totally get that clinics don't often
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uh report their iui success rates
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they don't report them at least to the
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sart or the cdc that reporting is just
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for ivf
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uh you can always ask them about iui
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success rates and what what it would be
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most likely for you and your age and
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your diagnosis
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but it's always good just to take a look
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on sart and the cdc
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if you're just doing an iui or even if
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you're just looking into egg freezing
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it'll at least give you an idea of how
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many cycles this clinic does
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annually and possibly give you an idea
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about the quality of the lab
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and how many patients they see that are
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actually in your age range
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so that even might help you decide which
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clinic you might want to work with even
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if you're not necessarily going for
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ivf at fertility space on our clinic
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profiles you'll see that for each
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clinic we look at we highlight the
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singleton live birth rate
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for the ivf success rates we get our
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data from the cdc the rest of the
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metrics are
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on there as well for you to take a look
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at but we specifically highlight
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the singleton live birth rate because
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that gives you the best indication of
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you know not only which clinics are
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following best practices but
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that's the ideal outcome when you're
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going through
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uh you know artificial insemination or
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assisted reproductive
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technology it's just to get one healthy
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baby
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from a cycle they try to avoid
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twins and multiples of higher orders
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because that can always lead to
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adverse outcomes for the mother and for
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the babies so
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one baby so definitely look at the
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singleton live birth rate
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and for those of you interested about
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iui success rates because i mentioned
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that
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clinics don't usually report on that to
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the cdc or to start
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we are going to be doing a video looking
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at the clinical research to see what the
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general success rates are for iui for
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different patient populations so
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keep that in mind look out for that
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video if you if you do want a general
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idea of what
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of what the success rates are with
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intrauterine insemination
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okay so we just said a lot about success
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rates and i they're very important but
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just keep in mind that they're not the
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end-all be-all
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when you're comparing clinics that that
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you're interested in working with
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there are a lot of reasons why success
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rates can differ between clinics and it
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might not always mean
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that it'll differ for you if you go to
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one clinic
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over the other one reason is the number
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of cycles
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between two clinics for one particular
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reporting year
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could be vastly different one clinic
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could be newer one clinic could be
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outside of the metro area so they have
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less number of
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cycles so that's something to keep in
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mind
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is um you know you might be looking at a
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really large clinic that does
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you know a thousand cycles a year and
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then looking at one that only does 300
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cycles a year
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and that could possibly affect
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the data and it might not be accurate
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for what would happen
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for your particular age range if you
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went to that clinic
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patient population might also differ
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between
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two clinics so a clinic might see
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the majority of the patients that they
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see might be a different
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age group than you or they might have a
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different diagnosis
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so that's something to keep in mind as
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well that could skew the outcomes a
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little bit
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one way or the other compared to how the
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outcomes at that clinic would be for you
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some clinics also take on harder cases
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sometimes they
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they're referred a lot of patients from
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other fertility clinics where they've
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had failures in the past
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and that can always affect their
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outcomes as well so it's something just
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to look into
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to try to understand a little bit more
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about why each clinic has
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certain success rates um so definitely
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look at the success rates and they're
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important and they can be really
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informative but just you know remember
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that
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you can't control for all the
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confounding factors so let's take a look
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at the next steps as well to help you
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have a more
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uh holistic view of a clinic when you're
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trying to decide which one to work with
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and for everything we mentioned in the
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video today just so you know
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it's all going to be linked below so if
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you did want to check out the cdc and
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see their success rates
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or start or fertility space or if you
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wanted to look at those
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asrm guidelines for the ages and when
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you should go in for
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infertility evaluation that's all going
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to be linked below
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so check out the description if you did
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want to you know research into this
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further
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step number three is to check clinic
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distance so you might think
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that choosing a clinic that's a little
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bit farther away versus a closer one
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won't really make a difference because
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you only go in once or twice to check in
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with
[586]
with the doctor but if you're going to
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be going through infertility treatments
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or egg freezing
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keep in mind that there actually are a
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lot of early morning appointments
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and there might be times during a
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treatment cycle where you have to go
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in three or four times in a week for
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early morning
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monitoring and you know if you have to
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drive further away that could sort of
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eat into things that you have to do for
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your personal life or you know getting
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back
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in time to start work so just keep that
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in mind that clinic distance is
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important
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it's also important to note that some
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clinics
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have several locations you need to
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figure out which one
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is the main location and which one are
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which ones are satellite locations the
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reason being
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is that if you end up going to a clinic
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and you realize that the closest one to
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you that you thought you would be going
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to all the time
[639]
is a satellite location you might not be
[642]
able to have everything done there and
[644]
find yourself
[645]
traveling more often to the main
[647]
location so if that's further away
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it's just something to be aware of
[652]
satellite locations
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often have limited hours limited
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services and not all doctors
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part of a fertility clinic group will go
[663]
to satellite locations sometimes
[665]
only maybe two out of five of the
[667]
doctors go to that satellite location
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if you're okay just going in for
[671]
monitoring
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and seeing another doctor or a different
[674]
nurse than you're used to
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at a satellite location that's totally
[678]
fine then do it
[679]
um just to let you know that the doctor
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that you're going to be working with
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might not actually be the one who's
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available at satellite locations most
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often
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step four is to review doctors
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so once you have a couple of clinics
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that you're interested in
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it's also really important to take a
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look at the physicians to see which
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reproductive endocrinologist so that's a
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fertility specialist
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which one you would like to work with
[707]
a recent study and anecdotal evidence
[710]
from online
[711]
actually has found that the reason that
[714]
a lot of patients
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chose a specific clinic or even chose to
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stay with a clinic was due to the
[719]
quality of the relationship with their
[722]
physician
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so it's really important that when
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you're taking a look at which physician
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you want to work with
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you check reviews online you read their
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bio
[730]
perhaps to see uh you know if they have
[732]
a sub specialty within reproductive
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medicine that
[735]
they primarily focus on that might match
[737]
what you know what your diagnosis would
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be
[740]
and then also to check for personality
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fit
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so schedule if you can a couple of
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consultations with different physicians
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just to make sure that
[750]
you know there's a good personality fit
[751]
and that your style of communication
[754]
actually matches when you're going
[757]
through infertility treatment
[759]
it's not unheard of to be working with a
[761]
clinic for several months
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so you really want to make sure that the
[765]
person that you know is guiding you
[767]
through the process
[768]
and giving you all your protocols is
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someone that
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you can easily communicate with and that
[773]
you trust to guide you throughout the
[774]
process
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step five is clinic size
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you might be surprised by this one you
[782]
might not have thought of this one when
[783]
you were taking a look at which clinic
[785]
you might like to work with
[787]
but the size of a clinic can actually
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affect
[790]
you know whether you have a good
[792]
experience there depending on
[793]
what sort of experience you're expecting
[795]
for yourself and your personality
[798]
so this is one of those things where you
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really have to know yourself
[801]
and know if you're the type of person
[803]
that would prefer working with a larger
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clinic
[806]
or a smaller clinic so we're going to
[808]
compare the two really quickly just to
[810]
see reasons why you would want to go for
[812]
one or
[812]
the other and kind of what the pros and
[813]
cons are so generally
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larger clinics are known to have more
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appointment availability so that's good
[822]
they're also known to have a less
[823]
personal
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feel when you go in some some patients
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say that they
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can feel a little bit more like a number
[830]
and less like a person when they go into
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a larger clinic because they're a lot
[833]
busier and you get in and out you might
[835]
not see the same
[836]
nurse or work with the same care team
[838]
every time that you go in
[839]
and another reason uh another difference
[843]
is that when you're going to a larger
[845]
fertility clinic
[846]
your specific physician your
[848]
reproductive endocrinologist
[850]
might not do all of your procedures
[852]
himself or herself
[854]
so a lot of times uh the physicians
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switch
[858]
uh you know daily who's doing iui that
[860]
day who's gonna do the egg retrievals
[862]
who's gonna do embryo transfers so just
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keep in mind that
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if you're okay with that um you might be
[868]
working with a different physician for
[869]
some of your procedures but
[871]
you know for counseling and when you
[873]
have to go in for
[874]
consultations you'll definitely be
[876]
seeing your physician but that's just
[878]
something to keep in mind
[879]
smaller clinics are generally known to
[881]
have less appointment availability
[884]
they might have more limited hours than
[886]
a larger clinic sometimes they're not
[888]
open on the weekend or they have more
[890]
limited weekend hours than a larger
[891]
clinic would have
[893]
so that's something to keep in mind but
[896]
smaller clinics also are known to have a
[897]
more
[898]
personal feel you know every time you go
[900]
in you're likely to see
[902]
the same nurse and always see your
[904]
physician so you know you're working
[905]
with the same
[906]
care team there are a lot of patients
[908]
that like that
[909]
you know they like going in and knowing
[911]
it's the same people that they're going
[912]
to be talking to every single time and
[914]
when they call they
[915]
almost always talk to the same people
[917]
that can be really comforting when
[919]
you're going through the process
[921]
something that can be less favorable
[923]
about some smaller clinics this doesn't
[925]
happen at all small clinics but
[927]
when it comes to ivf cycles some clinics
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batch their ivf cycles because they do
[934]
less rounds of ivf when it comes to
[936]
their patient population
[938]
they sometimes need their cohorts of
[941]
patients
[942]
to wait like a month so they can sync
[944]
everyone up and start
[946]
a certain number of patients at the same
[947]
time so if you don't feel
[949]
constrained for time when you're going
[951]
through ivf and you can give yourself a
[953]
month or so
[954]
of leeway then that probably won't
[956]
affect you or bother you at all
[958]
but just check with those clinics to see
[960]
if they do batch their ivf cycles
[962]
and know if that's something that's
[964]
going to work for you or something
[965]
that's not going to work for you it's
[967]
it's it's all about like how it works
[969]
out for you it's kind of
[970]
a unique personal preference thing this
[973]
is more of a general rule
[975]
of what patients usually say about
[977]
larger and smaller clinics so it might
[979]
not be the case for the clinic that
[981]
you're interested in but these are just
[983]
general characteristics to be aware of
[985]
so that when you do start looking at
[987]
fertility clinics and reaching out
[989]
you can take these things into account
[990]
and maybe ask some of these questions
[993]
just to see what to expect when when
[995]
you're getting started going through the
[997]
process it's better not to be blindsided
[999]
and just to
[999]
know these things ahead of time going in
[1001]
so that you're prepared you know that
[1003]
you're okay
[1004]
with with these possible limitations of
[1007]
larger and smaller clinics
[1009]
neither is better they're just different
[1013]
so these are our top five tips for how
[1015]
to choose a fertility clinic but i would
[1017]
be
[1017]
interested to know what is most
[1020]
important to you when looking for a
[1021]
fertility clinic
[1023]
we didn't mention price and one of the
[1025]
reasons why
[1026]
if you're curious is because a lot of
[1028]
times
[1029]
clinics aren't very transparent
[1033]
on their website with their price that's
[1035]
something where you'd have to talk to
[1036]
them directly
[1038]
so i would definitely say that that's
[1039]
kind of later on in the steps when
[1041]
you've narrowed down which clinic you're
[1042]
most interested in
[1044]
is to give them a call maybe speak with
[1045]
their financial counselor
[1047]
and go over pricing um so i would say
[1049]
that's one of the reasons that that is
[1051]
further down the line
[1052]
but i recognize that that might be
[1054]
further to the top of the list for some
[1056]
of you
[1056]
for for how to choose a clinic so i'd be
[1058]
interested to hear what you think
[1060]
is your number one metric
[1063]
okay so with these five steps you're
[1065]
equipped to start looking for the
[1067]
fertility clinic
[1068]
that is best for you so if you don't
[1071]
know where to start or even how to start
[1073]
looking up clinics
[1074]
you can head to fertility space i'll
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leave the link down below
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to the search you can search hundreds of
[1080]
fertility clinics across the united
[1082]
states there with
[1083]
us and each clinic profile is going to
[1086]
have the
[1087]
cdc success rates locations
[1091]
services offered doctors available
[1094]
and then contact info as well so that's
[1097]
where you can get started
[1099]
i wish you luck if you have any
[1100]
questions please leave them below or you
[1103]
can shoot us an email i'll include that
[1106]
and then happy hunting i hope you find a
[1108]
clinic that works well for you
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