While the breadth of individuals seeking fertility services has become increasingly wide, they will all experience challenges during their journey. The truth of the matter is that fertility care is mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially taxing. Fertility care has notably high dropout rates, with the two major contributors being emotional distress and financial strain.
Fortunately, it is within these two areas that operators and investors can make the most impactful changes and lessen the patient burden by ensuring seamless and patient-centric experiences. Fertility centers should embrace patient-centered care not only because it is the right thing to do but also to generate and maintain a positive reputation in the community. This will enable them to attract new patients and retain existing ones, thereby promoting financial sustainability. In our final blog post of the fertility care series, we will discuss specific ways organizations can improve overall operations at their fertility centers and keep the patient experience central throughout the care journey.
Putting Patients First: The Essentials of Patient-Centric Fertility Care
Fertility treatments are high-dollar services that are often not covered by insurance; it’s not uncommon for patients to use their life savings when undergoing them. The heavy financial load, coupled with the emotional toll of their unique fertility situation, means patients have a low tolerance for poor operational experiences, and many opt to change clinics if their needs are not met.
The graphic below depicts an optimal care journey for a couple pursuing fertility care. This schematic shows some of the highs and lows patients will inevitably experience and highlights key opportunities for building trust between patients and their fertility care provider.
A Patient-Centric Fertility Care Journey
Many patients will experience suboptimal outcomes at some point in their fertility care journey and may consider withdrawing from the process. Earning and maintaining patients’ trust is key to patient retention, but to do so requires strong operations.
The following table details best practices for the key fertility care components introduced in the graphic above. Organizational leaders should consider ways they can improve in each of these areas to optimize operations and create a seamless patient experience.
Building Trust: Creating Loyalty Through the Patient Experience
With the growth potential for fertility care, fertility centers must ensure their ability to attract and retain patient volumes and operationally accommodate an increase in demand. Fertility centers should prioritize improving the patient experience, both as an ethical responsibility to patients and for the financial sustainability of the practice. A patient-centered experience will not only alleviate the emotional burden on fertility care patients but also promote trust between those patients and the provider organization. Patients often discuss their clinic experiences with one another, which means building a positive reputation can help attract and retain patients and promote market share growth.
Fertility centers must also consider proactively seeking feedback from patients and making operational adjustments to address negative feedback in a timely manner. Health systems that avoid doing the work to implement patient-focused care run the risk of losing patients in this high-demand service that could drive meaningful revenue to the organizations.
Considering improving the operational experience of your fertility center? ECG can partner with you to assess, strategize, and implement change.
Edited by Emily Johnson
Published September 25, 2024
