Why We’re Seeing More Patients Travel for Fertility Treatment

In recent years, traveling for fertility treatments has become an increasingly popular option for individuals and couples seeking to start or expand their families, as well as for those wanting to preserve their fertility for the future through egg freezing. The decision to undergo fertility treatment is deeply personal and often challenging, involving emotional, physical, and financial considerations. The idea of leaving their home city for treatment might seem daunting at first; however, it’s a more seamless process than you may think! When you’re open to traveling for treatment, you also open yourself up to more options for high quality, personalized, and compassionate fertility care. 

Here are some of the reasons why someone might choose to travel to another city for fertility treatment or egg freezing, and what we do at Spring Fertility to make sure you’re supported through each step of the process!

Access to Specialized Care & Advanced Technologies

One of the primary reasons fertility patients may choose to travel for treatment is the opportunity to access specialized care and advanced reproductive technologies that may not be available in their home region. Patients with complex fertility issues or those who have experienced multiple failed treatments may find that their local clinics lack the expertise or resources to offer more advanced options. Traveling to a clinic with a specialized focus on certain conditions, such as recurrent miscarriage, male infertility, or genetic disorders, can provide access to the latest research and techniques.

Payment & Financing Options

Cost can be a major consideration for individuals and couples when choosing a fertility clinic, and out-of-state clinics might offer financing and payment options that your local clinic may not. 

At Spring, we offer self-pay egg freezing patients a no-interest payment plan option, so that the cost of an egg freezing cycle can be paid for in monthly installments rather than all at once. Additionally, the “Spring Promise” is our shared risk program. If you freeze 20 eggs before age 35 or 30 eggs before age 38 with us, and if you’re unable to achieve a successful pregnancy from those eggs in the future, we will refund all money paid to Spring for your egg freezing cycle.

Peace of Mind About Where Your Tissue Is Stored

Recent changes to state legislature around reproductive rights have, understandably, made fertility patients concerned about the future of IVF and the safety of their frozen tissue. For that reason, some individuals and couples (especially those who live in more conservative states) have chosen to undergo fertility treatment in democratic states that are less likely to pass legislation that impacts fertility treatment. 

It’s important to note that, after egg retrieval, the majority of the work and time required of you for the process has already been done. When you decide you’re ready to come back to use your tissue to build or grow your family, all that’s necessary is a return trip to the clinic where your tissue is stored in order to complete an embryo transfer. Transportation of tissue is also an option, at additional cost and responsibility of the patient.

Traveling for Treatment at Spring Fertility

If you are considering traveling for fertility treatment, we’d love to partner with you. For our out-of-town patients, this is how we navigating the treatment process to ensure top quality care and the best outcomes possible:

1. Pre-cycle Phone Call with a Spring Fertility New Patient Coordinator: Our New Patient Coordinator team will help to guide you through the process of becoming a Spring patient. They will share more about your options for completing your monitoring locally, offer specific hotel recommendations for when you do need to travel to a Spring clinic, and make sure that you have all of your non-clinical questions answered.
2. Initial Testing: Completing your initial bloodwork and ultrasound before your consult with a Spring Fertility physician is recommended but not required. If you are able to complete this testing before-hand, you and your physician can have a more comprehensive and specific conversation about your treatment plan.
3. Initial Consultation: Your consult can be completed via videoconference from the comfort of your own home. You will meet with a Spring physician to review your medical history, your goals, and together, you will put together a treatment plan that works for you!
4. Pre-cycle Checklist: You will have a dedicated care team to ensure that you’re prepared for treatment — from building out your proposed treatment calendar, to medication ordering and injection training classes.
5. Cycle Start/Baseline Appointment: Based on your individual menstrual cycle, your Spring Fertility team will advise you when to schedule a baseline ultrasound visit with your local monitoring clinic. If everything looks good, you’ll begin administering your injections that evening.
6. Monitoring visits: You will visit your local facility ~3–5 times over the course of your treatment cycle to check your follicle growth via transvaginal ultrasound and bloodwork. Your Spring Fertility physician will interpret your test results, manage your care, and modify dosing of your medications as necessary to ensure you get the best possible results from your cycle.
7. Travel to Spring Fertility Clinic: You will drive or fly to your Spring Fertility clinic location on day 8 to complete your egg retrieval. For patients intending to create embryos, we also ask that the sperm producing partner (or donor sperm) is on-site at Spring the day of the egg retrieval. Most patients can travel home as soon as the day after your procedure.
8. Egg Retrieval: The egg retrieval is a 20-minute outpatient procedure, performed under general anesthesia, followed by ~an hour of recovery. Most patients take the rest of the day off from work to rest. You can travel home as early as the day after your retrieval.