Cost-Effectiveness of Care

Abstract

Oocyte donation represents one of the most expensive assisted reproductive technologies (ART) currently available to infertile couples. However, it consistently has offered better success rates than other fertility treatment. There is little direct evidence, but plenty of inferential data, to suggest it is a cost-effective treatment option. The overall costs of infertility services in the United States was estimated to be $1 billion in 1987.¹ In 1995 nearly $200 million dollars was spent on in vitro fertilization (IVF) alone (based on 1993 Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology [SART] data).² Overall in the United States in 1993 approximately 6% of ART cycles initiated in SART participating programs in the United States involved the use of donor oocytes. Given the wide range of cost in donor oocyte cycles, it is difficult to estimate how much was actually spent on this treatment modality. Although the per cycle cost is substantially more, the total donor oocyte costs are less than conventional in vitro fertilization. It has been estimated that only 5% of ART cycles in the United States are performed at centers that do not report their results to SART.¹ Thus, these statistics may be used to estimate the overall costs of oocyte donation in the United States. Based on a projected average of $12,000 per cycle, this would amount to an estimated $33,192,200 spent on oocyte donation in 1993. This is, however, a conservative estimate.