Insurance & Savings

A recent national survey conducted by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, of whom Shady Grove Fertility is a visionary partner, reveals the overwhelming majority of respondents (n=425) cite financial challenges are the biggest hurdle to seeking infertility treatment.

SGF believes cost should not be a barrier to seeking help from a fertility specialist. “At Shady Grove Fertility, our top priority is to clear the obstacles our patients face when trying to start a family. We feel that by reducing or eliminating the financial stress of fertility treatment, more patients will be able to seek care and move forward with treatment,” shares Michael J. Levy, M.D., co-founder of Shady Grove Fertility.

Financial Programs for Affording Fertility Care

When in need of fertility care, people often ask, “How will I pay for treatment?” The good news is 90 percent of SGF patients have coverage for their initial physician consult and 70 percent have some level of coverage for diagnostic testing and treatment, including intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF). The news is especially good for Maryland residents who often benefit from state-mandated IVF coverage.

For those patients without adequate insurance coverage, SGF has created guarantee and discount programs exclusively for their patients. SGF was the first practice to create an IVF program with a refund guarantee, known as the Shared Risk 100% Refund Program. This exclusive program provides patients with the opportunity to pay a flat fee for up to six IVF or donor egg cycles and any subsequent frozen embryo transfers. In the event the patient does not take home a baby, SGF provides a full refund (some exclusions apply).

Other popular programs that make treatment affordable include SGF’s Shared Help Discount Program, an income-based program that offers a discount on most treatments and procedures provided by SGF, the Military Discount Program, which offers active U.S. military and reservists a 25 percent discount off qualifying self-pay rates, and a Shared Donor Egg Program, which reduces the cost of donor egg treatment by up to 50 percent when sharing donating eggs with other patients—an approach that does not lower the chances of conception but does significantly lower the cost.

How the Shared Risk Program Helped These Patients

“For us, Shared Risk was just the lifeline we needed. We had exhausted our other options at other centers and always came up short on cash and with no baby. This amazing program gave us the peace of mind that we needed—knowing a practice had a vested interest in our pregnancy outcome was incredibly reassuring to us. And now, we’re finally going to be parents,” shares one recent SGF Shared Risk patient.

Since understanding insurance benefits and financial options can be daunting to patients, we have dedicated financial counselors assigned to each patient to help navigate through the decision making process.

“Removing the barriers that stand in the way of patients receiving fertility treatment is critical to our practice. Our financial programs address this need, and the end result is we’ve had more than 50,000 babies born and counting,” adds Levy.

To learn more about SGF’s financial programs, or to schedule an appointment with a physician, contact the New Patient Center at 1-888-761-1967 or submit a brief online form. 

Medical Contribution by Joseph Doyle, M.D.; Jason G. Bromer, M.D.; Michael J. Levy, M.D.; and Eric A. Widra, M.D.

Great news for self-pay patients using their own eggs! We just relaunched our most popular financial program, our flagship IVF financial guarantee,  Shared Risk.  And, even better, we have reduced the price for a large proportion of participants using their own eggs by 15%, and extended the age in which a woman is eligible to participate using her own eggs by 2 years through age 40.

SGF is the only center in the nation to offer a money back treatment guarantee for women over 40 using their own eggs: take home a baby or receive a 100% refund.

FAQ about SGF’s IVF treatment guarantee, Shared Risk 100% Refund Program

Q: What is SGF’s Shared Risk 100% Refund Program?
A: Shady Grove Fertility was the first fertility practice to create an in vitro fertilization (IVF) guarantee program known as the Shared Risk 100% Refund Program.

Available to patients who do not have insurance benefits or are choosing not to use their benefits to cover the cost of their fertility treatment, our exclusive program provides patients with the opportunity to pay a flat fee for up to six IVF or donor egg cycles and any subsequent frozen embryo transfers. If you don’t take home a baby, we provide a full refund. Patients using donated eggs, donated embryos, or doing Shared Risk Frozen Embryo Treatment are not eligible for the reduction in pricing.

Q: What’s new about the IVF treatment guarantee and how does this benefit patients?
A: We are really excited to be able to redesign this program to be more affordable and more inclusive. For a large proportion of enrollees using their own eggs, the cost of the program has been rolled back to the same price we offered back in the 1990s, a rarity in healthcare with  skyrocketing prices at every turn.

As our success rates have improved, we are able to reduce the cost.  After analyzing data from thousands of patient cycles, we determined it would be possible to make improvements to the cost structure that would lower the cost for more than 60 percent of participants using their own eggs, and open the program up to more people by extending the age eligibility criteria by 2 years, from just under 39 to just under 41 (40 and 11 months).

The extension of the age limit is largely possible because of improved IVF technology, called preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A), that facilitates the identification of healthy embryos. PGT-A is now included in the Shared Risk package for women ages 38-40. Because women in this age group have a higher proportion of abnormal eggs, embryo testing allows us to choose those that are chromosomally normal and more likely to result in a healthy birth

The program relaunched May 1, 2018.

Q: SGF’s Shared Risk 100% Refund Program sounds too good to be true.  Is it hard to qualify?
A: The majority of patients who apply for Shared Risk meet the criteria for the program. Women must be under age 41 (age 40 and 11 months to qualify, with all egg retrievals occurring before a woman’s 41st birthday. Women over 41 may participate in our Shared Risk 100% Refund Program for Donor Egg (additional fees apply for using donor egg).

Q: What’s included in the program?
A: All cryopreservation and storage fees & frozen embryo transfer (FET) costs included and do not count against six cycles. Medications are not included.

Patients enrolled in Shared Risk are still eligible for Shared Help and Military Discount, and financing through Fertility Finance is available.

Q: What are the success rates of SGF’s Shared Risk 100% Refund Program for a woman using her own eggs?
A: Since its inception, we have had 16,000 Shared Risk participants and more than 5,000 (35 percent) have delivered a baby on their first attempt. More than 82 percent have taken home a baby. In other cases, we provided a 100% refund to support other family building options.

More than 1,000 patients who delivered a baby on their first cycle returned for further treatment and selected the Shared Risk 100% Refund Program again.

Q: How does offering an IVF treatment guarantee benefit patients?
A: For people who don’t have insurance for IVF, the idea of treatment with no guaranteed outcome is risky, which is why we originally created Shared Risk. We designed a solution that provides patients who want to pursue treatment the opportunity to do so without having to bear the financial burden should treatment not be successful. Patients are not obligated to complete all treatment cycles available in the program, and can stop treatment at any time and receive a 100% refund.

Q: Where can I obtain more information about SGF’s IVF treatment guarantee programs for autologous (using own eggs), donor egg, donor embryo, and frozen embryo transfers?
A: We hold monthly financial webinars for patients and prospective patients to learn more about our financial options. All events are complimentary and interested parties must register to attend. Visit out calendar of events to learn more.

To learn more about SGF’s IVF treatment guarantee or to schedule an appointment, please contact our New Patient Center at 1-877-971-7755 or complete our brief online form. 

We often hear from patients that the cost of fertility treatment is the biggest barrier to scheduling a first consultation,” says Dr. Anne Namnoum of SGF Atlanta. “Patients often think IVF is their only option and it’s not affordable.” SGF Atlanta believes cost should not be a barrier for seeking fertility care. Affording IVF treatment is possible through the practices exclusive Shared Risk 100% Refund Program for both IVF or donor egg to make IVF treatment affordable.

“The program was designed specifically for our patients and includes a fixed cost of up to six IVF treatment cycles. If you do not get pregnant, or choose to withdraw from the program, you receive 100% of your money back,” says Namnoum. SGF Atlanta was able to first introduce the Shared Risk Program following their merger with Shady Grove Fertility in 2017. The program offers a simple guarantee: take home a baby or receive 100% of your money. (Note: Some exclusions may apply, please talk with your financial counselor to learn more.)

“Many patients think this program is too good to be true, but with over 20,000 Shady Grove Fertility families who have participated in this program, we see it as a financial safety net when pursuing fertility treatment,” adds Namnoum. Today, about 82 percent of our Shared Risk 100% Refund Program participants will go on to take home a baby.

How do I know if I am eligible for the Shared Risk Program?

The Shared Risk 100% Refund Program is available for patients either through our autologous program, meaning the female partner will be using her own eggs, or our Donor Egg Program, for those women using donor eggs. Each of these treatment options has their own set of eligibility criteria.

Is there a guarantee program for my remaining frozen embryos?

“We offer a Shared Risk 100% Refund Program for Frozen Embryo Transfers (FETs) to couples with remaining frozen embryos from a previous fresh treatment cycle,” says Namnoum.

Similar to the Shared Risk 100% Refund Program for IVF or Donor Egg, this program allows approved patients unlimited FET treatment cycles for as many frozen embryos as that patient may have available at the time she enters the program. In terms of program completion, a patient has the following possible outcomes: she will have a successful pregnancy and delivery; she will withdraw from the program at any time and receive a full refund; or she will use all of the embryos that are available without conceiving and receive a full refund as well.

Are there other discount programs to help make IVF treatment affordable?

SGF Atlanta’s Multi-Cycle Discount Program is not a guarantee program, but it does include one flat fee for all cycle monitoring, up to two fresh IVF cycles, cryopreservation, the first year of embryo storage and unlimited FETs.

Multi-Cycle vs. Shared Risk. What are the differences?

The first difference is the guarantee. The Multi-Cycle Discount Program may make sense for patients who do not meet the qualifications for the Shared Risk 100% Refund Program; however, it is important to note that the Multi-Cycle Discount Program does not offer a guarantee of outcome in the form of taking home a baby or a 100 percent refund.

The second difference is when the cycle is considered complete. In the Multi-Cycle Discount Program, SGF Atlanta considers the cycle complete when the patient reaches the egg retrieval. In our Multi-Cycle Discount Program, if no embryos result (due to a lack of fertilization), the patient will not get the opportunity to repeat the cycle; whereas in the Shared Risk 100% Refund Program, we consider the cycle complete at the point of embryo transfer. Should a patient have her eggs retrieved and have nothing to transfer (as a result of poor or no fertilization), she will get to repeat the cycle again.

“We encourage our patients to speak with one of our dedicated financial advisors as well as their physicians to help determine which option is best for you,” says Namnoum. “We know that fertility treatment is a financial commitment, but we are here to help guide you every step of the way,” adds Namnoum.

SGF Atlanta has three locations in Alpharetta, Atlanta-Northside, and Buckhead-Piedmont. To schedule an appointment with one of SGF Atlanta’s three physicians, Drs. Mark Perloe, Desireé McCarthy-Keith, or Anne Namnoum, please call 1-877-971-7755 or complete this brief online form.

A Recent National Fertility Survey Revealed 95% of People Feel that Cost is the Biggest Barrier in Pursuing Infertility Treatment

SGF recently partnered with RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association to host a national fertility survey to better understand the impact that cost has when choosing whether to pursue treatment. Responses from nearly 250 people indicated almost unanimously (95%) that cost is the biggest barrier in pursuing infertility treatment.

At SGF, we offer an extensive insurance network and multiple exclusive financial programs, including guarantee programs for IVF and donor egg, that make pursuing fertility treatment more affordable.

“At Shady Grove Fertility, our top priority is to clear the obstacles our patients face when trying to start a family. We feel that by reducing or eliminating the financial stress of fertility treatment, our patients have a better overall experience and outcome,” shares Michael J. Levy, M.D., our co-founder, and the brainchild behind SGF’s flagship financial guarantee program, the Shared Risk 100% Refund Program, a program that includes up to six in vitro fertilization (IVF) or donor egg cycles and any subsequent frozen embryo transfers (FETs) for one flat fee. In the event the attempts are unsuccessful, the patient may be eligible for a 100% refund. Eighty-two percent of participants take home a baby.

When in need of fertility care, people often ask, “How will I pay for treatment?” The good news is 90 percent of our patients have coverage for their initial physician consult and 70 percent have some level of coverage for diagnostic testing and treatment, including intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF). The news is especially good for Maryland residents who may benefit from state-mandated IVF coverage.

“We recognize that understanding your insurance benefits and financial options can be frustrating and confusing, and that confusion and uncertainty can paralyze a couple from moving forward. To make the process easier, we place a high value on making our financial and insurance process as transparent as possible,” adds Jason G. Bromer, M.D., of SGF’s Frederick and Hagerstown, MD offices.

Integral to Shady Grove Fertility’s patient-centric integrated care model, which addresses the medical, psychological, and financial needs of each individual, is an insurance benefits review and consult. “At SGF our team investigates and verifies patient benefits prior to or soon after initial physician consult so that each patient knows exactly what is covered and what is self-pay. We disclose terms, limits, necessary pre-authorizations, deductibles, and copays. We leave no stone unturned when it comes to being fully transparent,” says Angela Tablada, Patient Financial Services Manager.

“We know that patients liken trying to interpret complex insurance jargon to interpreting a foreign language, so it’s our job to pair each patient with an experienced personal financial counselor who will help navigate through the decision-making process in the most efficient way possible,” adds Tablada. “A step further, we pair an experienced managed care team with the financial counselor to ensure the patient’s plan coverage is maximized. We also organize our managed care teams by insurance plan so that our financial counselors can become intimately familiar with specific policies and establish relationships within each insurance organization,” shares Tablada.

In the event that you don’t have adequate insurance coverage, your SGF financial counselor will provide alternate financial options, including a variety of discount programs, such as its Shared Help Discount Program, an income-based program that offers a discount on most treatment and procedures performed at Shady Grove Fertility; a Military Discount Program, which offers active U.S. military and reservists a 25 percent discount off of qualifying self-pay rates; a Shared Donor Egg Program, which reduces the cost of donor egg treatment by up to 50 percent when sharing donated eggs with other patients; and a self-pay Medication Discount Program, which reduces the out-of-pocket medication expenses for self-pay patients with an average per cycle savings of up to $1,000 off retail pricing.

“We have always recognized that easing financial barriers to pursue fertility treatment is vital for our patients. We have developed many creative programs to address this need. The resulting improved access to care has been one of the factors in the tremendous growth in our practice,” adds Dr. Levy.

To learn more about SGF’s Financial Programs or to schedule an appointment with one of our 35+ physicians, please call 1-877-971-7755 or click here to complete this brief online form.

The state of New Jersey has recently signed into law new legislation that provides more inclusive and expansive fertility insurance coverage.

How has insurance coverage changed in New Jersey?

The new law reduces the waiting period for in vitro fertilization (IVF) coverage from 2 years to 1 year for women under age 35, and from 1 year to 6 months for women over 35. The new law also requires the State Health Benefits Program and School Employees Health Benefit Plan to provide this expanded insurance coverage. The law also now includes single women and women in same-sex relationships.

The changes are in line with the definition of infertility as provided by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Previously, the New Jersey law required women to be trying to conceive for 2 years prior to being eligible for coverage. This additional year brings undo financial and emotional burden for couples trying to expand their families.

Seeking proactive help to diagnose and treat infertility provides patients the best opportunity to overcome infertility and build their family,” says J. Ryan Martin, M.D., board-certified reproductive endocrinologist at Shady Grove Fertility in

• View a list of all accepted insurances

Do all states provide insurance coverage for infertility?

New Jersey is one of just 15 states that require insurance coverage for infertility. Maryland, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia are also among states that require insurers to either cover or offer coverage for infertility diagnosis and treatment.

How many people have coverage for infertility testing?

At Shady Grove Fertility, 90 percent of patients with insurance do have coverage for infertility testing, which leads to a diagnosis. With this expanded coverage in New Jersey, RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association estimates that at least 400,000 more people could benefit from this additional coverage.

What are the options for people without insurance coverage?

For people without insurance coverage, cost can sometimes stand in the way of seeking infertility treatment, which is why at Shady Grove Fertility, we have several financial programs in place to help ease the cost of treatment including financing through Fertility Finance, LLC and our exclusive Shared Risk 100% Refund Program for IVF or Donor Egg.

The Shared Risk 100% Refund Program offers patients up to six rounds of IVF treatment for one flat fee. The fee is inclusive of all frozen embryo transfers as well as. If the patient does not take home a baby or chooses to stop treatment at any time, they will receive a full refund (some exclusions apply).

• Medication discount programs
• Treatment discount programs

How can I get stated with diagnostic testing and treatment?

Shady Grove Fertility has 25 locations including four in Pennsylvania: Bala Cynwyd, Chesterbrook, Harrisburg, and Reading. To schedule a consultation with a physician, call 1-77-971-7755 or complete our online form.

At Shady Grove Fertility, we’re here to give you the caring support you deserve as you start or grow your family. As a leading fertility and IVF center of excellence, we offer patients individualized care, innovative financial options, over 30 accepted insurance plans, and pregnancy rates among the highest of all national centers. We offer patients the convenience of 19 full-service and 6 satellite locations across Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. More than 1,700 physicians choose Shady Grove Fertility to refer their patients, and more than 96 percent of our patients say they would recommend Shady Grove Fertility’s 35+ physicians to a friend. With 10 Shady Grove Fertility babies born each day, your dream of starting or growing your family are within reach.