Shady Grove Fertility, a pioneer in offering an IVF treatment financial guarantee, known as Shared Risk, has reduced the price of its most popular financial option by nearly 15% for women under 35 and extended the age in which a woman is eligible to participate using her own eggs by 2 years through age 40.
“The majority of the patients who apply for Shared Risk meet the criteria for the program. Since its inception, we have had 16,000 Shared Risk participants, and more than 82 percent have taken home a baby. In other cases, we provided a 100% refund to support other family building options,” says Michael J. Levy, M.D., Shady Grove Fertility Co-founder and the developer of this innovative program that first launched in 1992.
“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 option 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,” adds Dr. Levy.
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.
“We are really excited to redesign this program to be more affordable and more inclusive. For a large proportion of enrollees, the cost of the program has been rolled back to the same price we offered back in the 1990s, a rarity in healthcare in this era of 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 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(age 40 and 11 months),” adds Joseph Doyle, M.D., of SGF’s Rockville, MD location.
“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,” says Jason Bromer, M.D., of SGF’s Frederick and Hagerstown, MD locations.
Shady Grove Fertility’s 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 the patient doesn’t take home a baby, SGF provides a full refund.
About Shady Grove Fertility (SGF)
SGF is a leading fertility and IVF center of excellence with 50,000 babies born and counting. With 41 physicians and 28 locations throughout MD, PA, VA, GA, and D.C., we offer patients individualized care, accept most insurance plans, and make treatment affordable through innovative financial options, including treatment guarantees. More physicians refer their patients to SGF than any other center. Call 1-888-761-1967 or visit ShadyGroveFertility.com.
Dana DeBoer | [email protected] | 301.545.1378
Shady Grove Fertility Marketing Team
