How to Choose the Right Fertility Clinic (And What Nobody Tells You Before You Start)
Which clinic would get me pregnant faster? The bigger well-know clinic or the smaller concierge type?
When you are early in trying to conceive and it's time to move to IUI or IVF, you often choose the clinic a friend recommended or one you found online. Maybe you also look at SART data to compare success rates. Or you simply go to the nearest one.
Did I go to the right clinic? Or is it me?
You could get pregnant on your first IVF cycle - it happens, even if it's not the norm. And if it does, you'd probably be so over the moon about bringing a baby home that any negative experience along the way just fades into the background.
Once you have a failed cycle though, you start wondering: did I go to the right clinic? Or is it me?
There are so many negative emotions when you struggle to conceive that it's often easy to blame someone else - the clinic, the doctor, the protocol. I have to admit, 3 years after my daughter has been born, and I am still torn. As much as I don’t want to admit, I continue to blame the protocol and the clinic for my first failed cycle. Maybe there’s some truth there, maybe not.
You have to know, though, that not all clinics are the same. In addition, the system doesn't give you support between appointments, when you go home and are left alone to make some of the biggest decisions of your life.
Let's not forget that as humans, our goal of existence is to survive and reproduce. So when that feels threatened, it's only normal to feel like it's the end of the world.
Now that I'm already a mother to a three-year-old IVF daughter, although I still carry many of those old feelings, I wanted to do the research and stay as unbiased as I can, so I can give you a clear view and help you figure out what the best clinic is for you.
Most People Start with One Question:
“Which clinic has the best success rates?”
It makes sense. It feels objective. Over time, however, most people realize the decision is far more nuanced than a number on a website. What often matters just as much, sometimes more, is how care is actually delivered, how decisions get made, and how supported you feel throughout the process.
Before you even get to that, there's something important you should know about those success rate numbers.
When evaluating clinics, most people go straight to SART data, the most commonly referenced source for success rates. But here's something worth knowing: SART data doesn't capture canceled cycles. These are cycles where you went through all the medications and egg retrieval, but no transfer happened because the eggs or embryos simply weren't viable. Those cycles were still part of your cycle but they don't show up in the numbers. So a clinic's statistics may look better than the full picture tells.
That doesn't mean the data is useless. It just means it's one piece of the puzzle, not the whole picture. That’s one reason comparing clinics only based on SART data can be misleading. SART data also does not account for how complex your case is or how often a clinic adjusts your treatment when something isn't working. Lastly, SART data doesn't tell you anything about the health of your baby, only that a pregnancy occurred.
Remember also this: those numbers reflect thousands of patients, not you specifically. You are not a statistic.
Different clinic models, different strengths
Fertility clinics aren't simply "big" or "small", though that's honestly how I thought about them for the longest time. They exist on a spectrum, and where a clinic falls on that spectrum shapes almost everything about your experience.
High-volume, multi-physician clinics
These clinics often offer:
Extensive experience across a large number of cycles
Strong laboratory systems and embryology teams
Structured protocols that support consistency
Broader scheduling coverage, including weekends when timing matters
Exposure to a wide range of cases and treatment responses
The high volume allows their teams to develop strong pattern recognition and efficient systems for managing time-sensitive treatment.
At the same time, care is often distributed across teams, coordinators, and systems. You may not see the same doctor at every appointment and depending on how the clinic is owned and operated (some are physician-led, others are part of larger investment-backed networks), priorities and resources may or may not work in your favor. Some patients report feeling supported. Others feel like a case number.
Smaller, physician-led clinics
These settings often offer:
More continuity with the same doctor
Longer, more personal consultations
More individualized discussion about your treatment
A sense of familiarity and relationship over time
Less fragmentation in communication
The lower patient volume may allow for more in-depth discussion for your specific case. Some smaller clinics also take a more holistic approach, and may refer patients to nutritionists or wellness practitioners to support the non-clinical side of the journey, though this varies widely by practice.
The tradeoff is that smaller clinics may have less scheduling flexibility, fewer physicians on call, or more limited infrastructure. It really depends on the practice.
What you might not realize you are evaluating
When people say they are choosing a clinic, what they're usually trying to answer is something much more personal:
Will I feel heard?
Will my plan change if something isn't working?
Do I trust the people guiding me?
Will I get answers when I need them, not just at my next appointment?
Do I feel like a person in this process, or a case being managed?
These questions don't show up in marketing materials but they shape your experience just as much as any clinical outcome. Sometimes you only start asking them after a failed cycle because you didn't know what to ask before you started. That's not your fault. You just didn't have the information and that’s exactly what happened to me.
Ownership, structure, and why experiences can vary
Something most people don't think to ask is who actually owns their clinic. It matters more than you'd think.
Some clinics are physician-led, meaning the doctor you see is also the person running the practice and has a direct stake in your outcome. Others are part of larger networks or have been acquired by private equity or hedge fund investment companies. That's more common than you might realize, and it's not automatically bad. However, it does mean that decisions about staffing, resources, and how much time your doctor gets to spend with you can be influenced by factors that have nothing to do with your care.
It doesn't mean you can't get great care at an investment-backed clinic. It just means it's worth knowing who's making the decisions and asking the right questions when you walk in.
So how do you actually choose the right clinic?
I’d suggest that you stop Googling "best fertility clinic near me" and start asking better questions. Here's what I wish someone had handed me before I walked into my first appointment:
Communication Do you actually understand what's happening and why? Or do you leave every appointment with more questions than answers?
Continuity Will you see the same doctor throughout your treatment or will you be passed around between whoever is available that day? Does this matter to you?
Adaptability Ask why they chose this specific protocol for you and if something isn't working, does your protocol change?
Responsiveness When you have a question between appointments, and you will, how quickly do you get a real answer? Who will be communicating with you regularly, and do you feel that person can actually give you the support you need?
How you feel walking out the door This one is underrated. Do you leave feeling informed and supported? Or confused and dismissed? Do you leave the office crying because you received a diagnosis or a treatment plan or because how the diagnosis and treatment plan was delivered to you? There's a big difference.
I remember leaving my clinic crying every single time during my first IVF cycle and it was not because of the diagnosis or because of the idea of IVF itself. It was the doctor. He just wasn't a good fit for me. I felt discouraged, hopeless, and ashamed every time I walked out. And yet I was too afraid to ask for a different doctor, not because I thought he would retaliate, but because doctors rotated and I worried that even a subtle shift in the energy of the room could somehow affect my cycle. Looking back, that fear kept me somewhere I shouldn't have stayed.
Trust that feeling. It matters.
If you aren't receiving the care you need, if it doesn't feel like a good fit, it's okay to find another doctor or clinic. You are allowed to do that. I wasn't able to do it but you should. Advocate for yourself and protect your sanity.
Why WOVA
Drawing from my own experience, if I could go back in time, I would have chosen a clinic where I was treated like a person, not a case because trying for a baby took us a long time and it was the hardest phase of my life.
Even if I chose a different clinic, though, this process can be so draining and isolating…and even in the best care, you can still feel ashamed, lonely, and desperate. What's often missing isn't more medical support.
That’s why I built WOVA - because even when clinical care is excellent, you still have lots of questions when you go home between appointments. The everyday decisions on how to better support your body and manage your life without driving yourself crazy and losing your identity in the process cannot be filled by a clinic, no matter how exceptional they are.
Moreover, you cannot expect from one expert to understand your whole body. You often need several experts working together to help you move through this feeling grounded and supported. WOVA focuses on the non-clinical side, on the day-to-day decisions of what to eat or avoid, how to improve your sleep or reduce stress, what lifestyle and environment shifts to prioritize. You don’t work with one expert. You have a team.
If you are looking for support on the day-to-day decisions that can influence your fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and the health of your future child, we're here.
If you find yourself asking:
What should I eat to support my cycle?
Will stress affect my chances?
How do I sleep when my mind won't stop?
What environmental toxins are affecting my fertility?
How do I keep my relationship from falling apart through all of this?
You're in the right place. Join WOVA → START HERE
With love,
Gabie Peytchev
Written from personal experience and conversations with fertility doctors and clinicians.
