How Fertility Clinics Are Making Services Cheaper For Patients

Fertility clinics have a reputation for being an expensive option for patients. However, many are now adjusting how they operate to reduce costs and become more efficient and productive. 

But what, precisely, are they doing to help? Let’s take a look. 

Advocating For Policy Changes

One thing fertility clinics are doing is advocating for policy changes that would make treatment cheaper. Many are directly appealing to lawmakers to find ways to change the current paradigm so that they can lower prices. 

For instance, many are recommending that governments let them source medications from countries that have freer markets in production and distribution. This approach would cut costs tremendously and prevent price gouging by local drug firms. 

Some are also looking for ways to negotiate bulk discounts with suppliers. However, this approach still doesn’t get rid of the status quo pricing model. 

Asking For Partial Government Funding

Another potential policy change would be to ask governments to provide partial funding. This approach would also lower prices while serving the special interest groups. 

Taxpayers won’t like this idea, but the economy as a whole might thrive if it got the go-ahead. With fertility rates falling, the country needs as many new people as it can get. And lowering the cost of treatments could help that happen. 

Countries like Belgium and Denmark already provide this level of funding. However, it is also gaining traction in other parts of the world. 

Improving Technology

Clinics might also be able to get their prices down by improving their technology. Instead of relying on outdated techniques, they could use new methods that bring down the price. 

For instance, many clinics are already looking at ways next-generation medicines could help them lower costs. These often provide a cheaper approach to hard-to-obtain conventional drugs. 

We could also see advances in lab and cell culture equipment bringing down costs. Already, the price of processing DNA is reducing. The same could apply to other technologies used in these clinics. 

Outsourcing Tasks

We could also see fertility clinics outsourcing various tasks to external companies that can do them cheaper and more efficiently. This trend is already very much underway in hospitals as a group but could come to smaller establishments, too. 

For instance, hiring a virtual healthcare assistant to deal with all the admin could remove the need to hire a staff member full-time. Larger clinics could outsource entire teams, saving tens of thousands of dollars per year on wages. 

Clinics could also take advantage of marketing agencies and fractional CFOs. Getting these done “as a service” could improve productivity and ultimately lead to lower prices for patients. 

Leveraging Flexible Payment Options

Finally, some clinics are experimenting with flexible payment options to bring down prices. While it isn’t the preferred choice of many, it can prove useful for spreading the cost and preventing people from dipping deep into their savings. 

For instance, many clinics now partner with financing companies that specialize in providing credit for fertility treatments. Patients can spread the cost over several months, even years.