What to Ask

When preparing for your first appointment with Fertility Specialists of Houston, it is probably a good idea to write down a list of all the questions that you would like to ask. This may seem unnecessary at the time, but worry and emotions could cause you to forget some important questions you might have. Creating a written list will alleviate the stress of having to remember and will give you the time needed to listen and take notes during your appointment.

In addition to your personal questions, the following are some questions that you may want to ask on your first visit to Fertility Specialists of Houston. As one of our potential patients, you have the right to know all the details about our services and treatment.

  1. What percentage of your patients is in my age group?
  2. What tests will my partner and I have to go through prior to treatment?
  3. How long will it take to diagnose our problem?
  4. What is the time frame from when we are diagnosed to when we can begin treatment?
  5. Is there any sort of waiting list for the treatment?
  6. Do you participate in clinical trials? If I am eligible, will I be able to participate?
  7. Are you comfortable with my doing my own research and possibly suggesting a particular course of treatment?
  8. What are your live birth success rates?

Following your testing and after receiving results to review, we recommend that you schedule a follow-up meeting with our physicians. The following questions will help determine how your treatment will proceed:

  1. How long should I expect to undergo treatment?
  2. What surgical procedures might you recommend for my partner and/or me?
  3. How many ovulation induction cycles with or without intrauterine insemination (IUI) do you recommend before moving to in vitro fertilization (IVF)?
  4. How does your office handle weekend inseminations? Are they done here or at another site? Do you perform the weekend inseminations?
  5. How many IVF attempts will you make?
  6. What is your IVF success rate per embryo transfer? How many embryos do you generally transfer?
  7. When undergoing IVF, will you perform all egg retrievals and embryo transfers? If either of these are not always performed by you, who will perform them?
  8. When undergoing IVF, will egg retrieval be performed at your office or through the outpatient clinic at a hospital?
  9. How will you monitor my treatment and how often?
  10. Will you always perform treatment monitoring or is it possible that on occasion another physician or a nurse might monitor?
  11. How is your practice affiliated with the embryology lab? Are the lab procedures done here or off site?
  12. What are the credentials of your laboratory and your laboratory director?
  13. What is your opinion about complimentary medicine such as massage, acupuncture, and relaxation?
  14. What are your office hours and are you available after hours and on weekends?
  15. How will I communicate with you? Do you return phone calls the same day? Do you call back personally if I request?
  16. What role does the nursing staff play? Do they return calls or do you?
  17. If necessary, do you have access to donor egg, embryo and sperm programs?
  18. How do you handle insurance pre-approvals?
  19. If my insurance doesn't cover testing and treatment, can we make arrangements for a payment plan or credit card payment?