Mid-Sized IVF Clinic with 1-Year Storage Auto Transfer: A CryoFuture Success Story
The Situation
A mid-sized IVF clinic was facing challenges in managing its growing frozen specimen inventory and maintaining consistent communication with patients regarding annual storage fees. Many patients, after completing their treatment, continued to store their specimens at the clinic, leading to a steadily increasing inventory that became difficult to manage. The clinic wanted to improve communication with patients, ensuring they were well-informed about their storage options. Specifically, the clinic aimed to help patients decide whether to continue storing their specimens at the clinic or transfer them to a long-term storage facility if they weren’t planning to return for treatment within a year.
Our Solution
CryoFuture provided a streamlined solution that enhanced the clinic’s specimen management and patient communication process. We implemented a comprehensive communication system that regularly updated patients on the status of their frozen specimens, allowing them to make timely decisions regarding continued storage or transfer to a long-term facility. This not only reduced uncertainty for patients but also helped the clinic proactively manage its inventory.
In addition, CryoFuture handled all aspects of transferring specimens to a secure, off-site long-term storage facility. We took responsibility for patient outreach, obtaining the necessary consents, and provided free transport to move the specimens, lifting the logistical burden from the clinic. This enabled the clinic to focus on storing specimens for active treatment patients, while ensuring that specimens not needed within a year were moved to a cost-effective long-term storage solution.
To further alleviate the clinic’s storage constraints, CryoFuture introduced a solution where every new IVF patient signed a consent agreeing to the automatic transfer of their specimens to an off-site long-term storage facility after storing with the clinic for one year. This proactive step ensured that the clinic could manage its specimen inventory more efficiently by preemptively addressing long-term storage needs at the beginning of each patient’s treatment.
With this streamlined system in place, the clinic now maintains only a one-year supply of active treatment specimens, significantly reducing its on-site inventory and storage costs. The clinic no longer needs to conduct extensive inventory audits, and patient communication is now more efficient and consistent, allowing patients to make informed decisions.
The Results
Improved Patient Communication: Implemented an annual communication system to keep patients informed about their frozen specimens and storage options.
Auto-Transfer Policy: Introduced an automatic transfer agreement for new patients, ensuring specimens are moved to long-term storage after one year if no further treatment is planned.
Efficient Specimen Management: Assisted in transferring long-term storage specimens off-site, allowing the clinic to focus on active treatment patients.
Cost Savings for Patients: Helped patients save on rising in-clinic storage costs by moving specimens to a cost-effective long-term storage facility.
Streamlined Operations: Reduced the clinic’s inventory to only active treatment specimens, eliminating the need for extensive audits and simplifying specimen management.
By partnering with CryoFuture, the mid-sized IVF clinic significantly improved its operational efficiency, reduced storage costs for patients, and enhanced communication. This allowed the clinic to focus on its core mission—providing top-quality fertility care—while CryoFuture handled the logistics of long-term specimen storage, patient outreach, and automatic transfer protocols.
