Fertility travel in a post Covid era

The pandemic forced fertility clinics, particularly ones which relied on international patients, to adapt. Speaking at the LaingBuisson Fertility Forum 2021 earlier this month Juliet Skinner, Consultant Gynaecologist, Barbados Fertility Centre, Dimitris Kavakas, CEO, Redia IVF, Eleonora Devoti, Commercial Department, Reproclinic Barcelona, Spain, and Matej Stejskal, CEO, FutureLife, Czech Republic describe how their fertility services have had to change.

Most managers of fertility clinics attracting international customers would agree that the pandemic was a difficult period.

For Reproclinic Barcelona, protocols for staff working from home were swiftly created and much of the pre-treatment consultation work was moved online. Webinars to answer patient questions and advice from nutritionists on optimising fertility health pre-IVF were offered. The after-effect of the pandemic has also grown the fertility services offered by the clinic. Witnessing how a lockdown can stop cycles of treatment, patients have become more interested in egg and sperm freezing options.

Time was used constructively at the Barbados Fertility Centre. The clinic moved to fully electronic records, and held new patient consultations over the phone. There was not a drop off in enquiries during this time – in fact, the clinic found that clients had more time for fertility treatment decisions. Pre-pandemic, 90% of the clinic’s patients travelled to them, mainly from the US, but also from Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong, and Europe. Before the Barbados government initiated the lock down in June 2020, the clinic had already pulled cycles of treatment, and after this date it focussed on treating local patients, using strict safety protocols. International business slowly grew again from August that year. Now the clinic is finding that, as more people are working remotely, patients are willing to travel and stay for longer periods of time. It projects a significant growth over the next 3-5 years, starting with a strong Q1 in 2022.

The Czech Republic’s FutureLife closed to international patients in March 2020, but quickly adopted their service delivery. Using their EU network of centres, the company was able to move cells and gametes to clinics closer to the patients, in the UK and Ireland for example, rather than expect patients to travel to them. Many more doctors were also persuaded to provide online consultations, which was welcomed by patients. As a result, FutureLife has seen a rapid return of international patients and is optimistic about future flows of fertility travel.

The pandemic led Redia IVF to invest heavily in technologies for customer communication and evolve their patient-centric approach. Networks of collaborating laboratories were created, within patients own countries, to minimise travel distance and allow frequency of testing to continue.

So what can fertility clinics do better, to attract international patients post-pandemic?

Invest in language co-ordinators, recommends Dimitris Kavakas, Redia IVF. This is especially important for communication on taking medicines, which have a direct impact on success rates. Greater shared learning and transparency around success rates, costs and service is also key. Finally, consider accreditation suggests Juliet Skinner, Barbados Fertility Centre, who has found that American patients are fully aware of and are likely to be influenced by a JCI accreditation.