How much does IVF cost in Melbourne?
IVF stands for In Vitro Fertilisation. This term directly relates to the combination of eggs and sperm to create embryos outside of the body.
However, colloquially, we understand IVF to mean much more. It is the use of technology to assist infertile couples to be able to get pregnant against the odds and to have a family where this may not otherwise have been possible.
IVF technology can also have application in other scenarios, for example allowing for conception using donor eggs, sperm and embryos, to allow for gestational surrogacy or to facilitate genetic testing of embryos so that inherited diseases are not transmitted to the next generation.
IVF costs relate not only to the laboratory elements of IVF treatment (advanced science, applied by expert scientists and laboratory technicians using state of the art IVF laboratory and embryo storage facilities), but to an extensive and complex dynamic collaboration of a multidisciplinary professional team, before egg collection and after embryo creation. This expert collaboration is essential for women and couples who successfully conceive through IVF.
What is the cost of one round of IVF treatment?
On average, one round of IVF treatment costs a patient $10,000 -12,000 for a treatment involving an egg retrieval, however more than half of this total amount is returned to you if you are eligible for Medicare, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and +/- private health insurance subsidies.
Stimulated cycle costs are the most expensive part of IVF treatment.
The average out of pocket cost for an embryo transfer cycle is much less. Depending on the type of treatment chosen, this cost is closer to between $2000 and $3000.
It is important to consider that the average number of complete egg collection cycles most Australian couples undergo is 3 with an average of 3 embryo transfer attempts in addition to this to achieve a live birth.
What is the cost of one round of egg freezing?
The cost of egg freezing varies significantly depending on whether a patient is eligible for Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme benefits and rebates/and or private health insurance contributions.
If all costs are completely out of pocket for a patient, the total of all costs involved in elective egg freezing including IVF laboratory costs, specialists’ costs, hospital costs and medication costs work out to be roughly $8000 per cycle.
Compared to other providers of egg freezing services in Melbourne, WHM and Life Fertility Clinic Melbourne are cost competitive and provide value for service, striving for best long term patient outcomes and an incomparable patient care experience.
When budgeting to freeze your eggs, please note that for most patients, two treatments may be indicated to achieve a resource of 20-30 eggs frozen that your WHM specialist will recommend. While a good future outcome can never be fully guaranteed, for a woman aged under 35 years, this method translates to more than a 90% probability of achieving a future live birth when returning to use her frozen eggs in IVF treatment.
What are the costs involved in IVF
Costs of IVF may seem high at first, however when we comprehend what is involved in freezing your eggs or creating an IVF baby, these are easily understandable.
Our philosophy at WHM is to be fully transparent regarding all cost elements of IVF treatment involved in your care. WHM is a specialist Women’s Health Practice where CREI (RANZCOG Board Certified Reproductive Endocrinologists and Infertility Subspecialists) lead comprehensive women’s health and fertility practice, offering the highest quality care to our patients. We provide holistic care and value to our patients with our endeavour and commitment to the highest level of patient service.
WHM fertility clinic partners with Life Fertility Clinic Melbourne who provide IVF laboratory services to our patients. IVF costs for laboratory elements of care are communicated in detail via our Life Fertility Clinic team when your individualised treatment plan has been designed.
Our values are to align expert care, technology and service in a unique private healthcare care model to deliver excellence in assisted reproductive treatments.
Laboratory care and methodology, while important, is only one part of IVF treatment and is therefore only one element of the costs involved.
Below is detailed the breakdown of holistic costs of IVF treatment.
IVF pre-treatment costs
Prior to commencing IVF, all women and couples need to engage a treating fertility specialist to manage their care. Pre-treatment evaluation will involve exploring your needs, evaluating your and, where relevant, your partner’s underlying medical concerns and identifying conditions and disease states that contribute to any underlying infertility.
A thorough diagnostic evaluation is critical to optimising IVF success rates, by correcting and managing intrinsic factors that contribute to a person or couples barriers to natural conception.
Diagnostic tests essential for all patients considering IVF include male and female blood tests, at least one and sometimes serial sperm tests, pelvic imaging including high definition pelvic ultrasound assessments and in some cases fallopian tubal patency testing or HyCoSy. In addition all patients considering IVF should be offered the opportunity to undertake genetic evaluation of their chromosomal karyotypes and preconception genetic screening for recessive inherited diseases.
Depending on what is uncovered on initial pre-treatment investigations, follow up second tier investigations, corrective procedure or medical management of underlying conditions diagnosed may be recommended or required prior to IVF treatment.
Examples include laparoscopic surgical treatment of pathology suspected on pelvic ultrasound such as endometriosis, uterine septum, endometrial polyps or pelvic adhesions.
Male factor infertility further evaluation may require endocrine investigations, serial sperm studies including in some cases evaluation of sperm DNA fragmentation and potentially male surgical interventions such as varicocoele treatment.
The costs of IVF pre-treatment specialist appointments is available through our Women’s Health Melbourne administrative team, who can also provide surgical fee estimates on a case by case basis as every surgery is planned to be specific to individual patient needs.
WHM costs are set guided by the recommended surgical fee schedule of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) for advanced laparoscopic and hysteroscopic surgery.
Elements of IVF treatment: What are the different types of costs involved with IVF?
Costs involved in IVF treatment prior to your egg collection
Cost of investigations including pathology, imaging and ultrasound
When you first decide to commence an IVF treatment at WHM, your Women’s Health Melbourne Fertility Specialist will evaluate your personal underlying conditions and individual factors for your and if relevant for your partner and will construct a personalised IVF treatment plan for you. The costs of IVF differ patient to patient, depending on the treatment plan your specialist recommends for you.
The cost of investigations you may need to undertake in preparation for your IVF treatment are set and charged by providers external to WHM. You may be asked to attend pathology tests, which may incur out-of-pocket costs charged by the individual pathology service provider that you attend. WHM has partnered with Melbourne Pathology as our preferred service provider and have a Melbourne Pathology collection point on site, currently located within our consulting suites at 330 Balaclava Road Caulfield North for patient convenience while visiting our clinic.
External medical imaging providers and specialist women’s ultrasound clinics will be able to provide you with their updated costs for recommended services.
Elements and proportions of medical consultations, pathology and imaging testing may attract Medicare rebates for which you may be eligible to subsidise your costs of treatment.
A note about Medicare and IVF
In Australia, every calendar year (1st January to 31st December), the Medicare safety net exists to help lower your out-of-pocket medical costs for outpatient (out of hospital) services. This includes costs incurred to see a doctor or specialist and also costs of some pathology tests and imaging services. When you spend over a certain cost within a calendar year, while your doctor’s visit or test will cost the same, Medicare will provide you with a greater proportion of your costs back. Medicare Safety net thresholds apply to families. If you haven’t before, you can register as a family (together with your partner) with Medicare, so that costs incurred for either partner can add together and contribute to reaching your Medicare Safety net threshold together, after which you will both be eligible to receive higher Medicare rebates for future services.
Registering as a family for the Medicare safety net will reduce your overall IVF out of pocket costs, which is particularly relevant if, like many couples, more than one IVF treatment attempt is required to achieve your pregnancy and future family planning goals.
Cost of IVF counselling and consent
Prior to commencing IVF, it is important for us and also legally required that you are able to provide and document informed consent for your treatment. Your counselling appointment incurs a necessary pre-treatment cost.
We arrange a pre-treatment counselling appointment with an ANZICA (The Australian and New Zealand Infertility Counsellors Association) qualified fertility counsellor.
In the state of Victoria, where WHM is located, IVF practice is governed by the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act (2008) which mandates at least one session of formal fertility counselling prior to starting IVF .
Our ANZICA counsellors are also qualified social workers with training in fertility psychology and abide by ethical principles of confidentiality and professional conduct stipulated by the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW).
Our counsellor’s role is to ensure that you understand medical advice that has been provided to you, but also to ensure that you are comfortable with and understand any psychological or ethical implications of treatment and your rights, legal considerations and your current and future responsibilities, specifically within the state of Victoria’s legal framework. Our counsellors are also here for you to discuss coping strategies that may benefit you and/or your partner during your IVF treatment and to explore current life stressors and provide support.
Topics covered during your counselling session may explore concepts relevant to IVF that you have not previously thought about.
Examples include
How you would feel if in the course of your IVF treatment, embryos or gametes in excess to your immediate clinical needs may be created.
What would your wishes be, or that of your partner be if one of you were to pass away prior to your family being complete?
Would you like to provide your partner with permission to use frozen eggs, sperm or embryos if you were no longer living?
How would you like scientists to treat and/or dispose any embryos, eggs or sperm found during your IVF treatment that for complex reasons may not be suitable for clinical use?
At the end of your counselling session, our counsellor will confirm with you whether you feel ready to provide holistic informed consent for IVF treatment and if you feel fully informed and ready, will co-sign a consent form to witness this consent together with you and your partner.
Pre-treatment fertility nurse education sessions
Included in your IVF treatment costs will be access to specialist fertility nurse support. Our fertility nurses will be integrally involved in your treatment and their care, support and guidance will be invaluable to you as a patient undertaking IVF.
Each patient’s circumstances and IVF plan is uniquely tailored.
In order to be able to achieve eggs for you to utilise in an IVF treatment, a complex course of medicines will be planned for you to use for approximately two weeks in preparation for your egg collection.
Your fertility specialist will have designed your IVF plan and explained your plan to you and where relevant to your partner, in grand detail. However, it is often your fertility nurse who will explain to you exactly what you need to do on a day-to-day level. Your fertility nurse will support you to understand and to be able to complete the medical aspects of your documented consent for IVF treatment. Your nurse will explain and make sure that you understand and feel confident to enact your personal medication schedule during your treatment.
Quite often, medications used in IVF are challenging for patients to learn to self-administer. Many IVF medications are given as injections and part of your nurse lead pre-treatment education involves teaching you to self-inject your IVF medications. This involves carefully explaining what to do, supporting you to overcome any fears in self injecting, providing you with support and making sure you are very confident. Our nurses will teach you tricks and techniques so that you feel safe and able to self-administer necessary medications at home.
Our IVF specialist nurses also provide you with contact details for in and out of hours support.
We want you to feel no question is silly, your concerns heard are validated and to empower you with knowledge and confidence as you prepare for your IVF treatment.
IVF and egg freezing medication costs
IVF medications, in the pharmaceutical market are extremely costly. It can cost roughly $2000 to $3000 out of pocket to pay for the IVF medications you will need for your treatment cycle if you are not eligible for Australian Pharmaceutical benefits Scheme Subsidies.
If your IVF or egg freezing treatment is Medicare subsidised, you will be able to access very generous Australian government subsidies for many of your IVF medications. However, even for Medicare eligible IVF treatment cycles, some medications required or prescribed specifically for you by your doctor are not PBS subsidised.
An example of a required medication that is not PBS subsidised is progesterone medications used for luteal phase support during frozen embryo transfer cycle treatments in IVF. This means that for all IVF patients, Medicare eligible or not, significant out of pocket medication costs may be incurred during your treatment.
Medication costs are paid directly to the pharmacy from which your medication is purchased.
IVF Treatment Costs
Egg collection costs outside of the IVF clinic
IVF egg collections for our patients are undertaken with expert care at Frances Perry House. Frances Perry House is your leading private women’s health hospital in Melbourne, caring for women at all life stages, from pre-conception to delivery of your baby and beyond.
At Frances Perry, WHM fertility specialists care for the most complex of IVF patients. As WHM fertility specialists are supported at Frances Perry House by a multidisciplinary team including specialist anaesthetic support, our IVF program is empowered to support patients with complex medical concerns including patient with high BMI who are denied treatment through many IVF units.
Frances Perry independently set hospital admission charges and bed fees. Costs of hospital admission will be quoted prior to your egg retrieval and are payable directly to Frances Perry House, a hospital run by Ramsay Health Australia.
Your out-of-pocket costs for day surgery admission will significantly depend on whether or not you have elected to invest in a private health insurance policy that covers IVF.
Hospital admission costs will also be impacted, for your first hospital admission of a calendar year as to whether or not you have elected to pay an insurance policy excess fee in order to reduce your health insurance premium.
Our WHM and Life Fertility Clinic Melbourne teams can assist you in understanding any eligible Medicare Item numbers for your egg retrieval procedure (e.g. 13212) and any other surgical procedures performed on the same admission (such as hysteroscopy e.g. 35630).
Private Health Insurance for IVF
Private Health Insurance is a policy an individual can purchase that represents an agreed contribution structure for medical services needed by that person.
Many different insurance companies and policies exist. The contribution your private health insurance will make towards your IVF or egg freezing treatment will depend on the kind of health insurance policy you have purchased, and may be subject to agreed wait periods and any nominated annual excess charge.
If you are planning a family, it is a good time to consider whether your private health insurance policy suits your needs and aspirations for the kind of care you would like yourselves and your family to have during preconception, pregnancy and around giving birth.
Private Health Insurance contributions mainly pertain to hospital in-patient admissions, for example for IVF egg retrieval procedures.
IVF anaesthetic costs
During your egg retrieval treatment at Frances Perry House, while your fertility specialist is concentrating on collecting your eggs, a trained and skilled anaesthetic specialist will be caring for your safety and comfort.
Our anaesthetic team have been hand-picked by our specialists and represent elite specialists in their fields. The majority of our anaesthetic specialists are additionally ICU trained.
Your anaesthetist will ensure you feel no pain during your egg retrieval procedure and that any pain you may experience afterwards is well controlled with prescribed medications.
The role of your anaesthetic specialist is to keep you safe and pain free while your eggs are being collected.
You will be charged a fee by your anaesthetic specialist, for which for eligible IVF and egg freezing patients, Medicare and private health insurance rebates may apply.
Anaesthetist’s fees are charged directly by the anaesthetic doctor who performs your egg retrival procedure and will be quoted for you by their team prior to your egg collection.
IVF scientist costs – attending your egg retrieval
Part of your global IVF fees include the costs for two of our scientists to attend your egg retrieval. As your IVF specialist carefully extracts fluid from your ovaries (this is drained by a needle inserted trans-vaginally under ultrasound guidance in real time into your ovarian follicles using suction aspiration technique), a highly trained scientist known as a clinical embryologist uses a high-power microscope co-located in the operating theatre to search for and find individual microscopic egg cells.
Invisible to the naked eye and unable to be seen on ultrasound by your fertility specialist, it is these miraculous egg cells that we require in the Assisted Reproductive Treatment laboratory to perform IVF and to help you have a baby.
Up until this point, the procedure and costs incurred for egg freezing and IVF are exactly the same. Both IVF and egg freezing may or may not be subsidised by Medicare, the pharmaceutical benefits scheme and private health insurance. Application of subsidies can significantly affect your out-of-pocket costs for assisted reproductive treatment services, however service provision costs and fees are the same.
A second scientist cares for your eggs and transports them under perfect conditions to our IVF laboratory. It is in the IVF laboratory that eggs collected will be either frozen or fertilised.
Eggs must wait at least two to four hours between collection and when they may be ready to undertake next steps. During this time, biological development phases and steps occur in the eggs themselves that render them capable of being successfully fertilised.
IVF laboratory costs
It goes without saying that the set-up costs of an IVF laboratory are immense, investing in complex equipment, experience specialised scientific staff, microscopic tools, culture media and specialist disposable tools such as IVF manipulation and embryo transfer specialised instruments.
To achieve your best IVF outcomes, great attention to detail is paid to every aspect of not only your care, but that of your eggs, sperm and embryos.
Sperm collection and treatment costs
If your partner is supplying a fresh sperm sample for use on the day of your IVF egg collection, our andrology department will direct sample collection and will perform selective sperm preparation to ensure we have isolated the best sperm available for treatment.
In some cases, our andrologists prepare frozen sperm samples for treatment or may need to search through operative specimens of testicular tubules surgically extracted to find sperm for IVF in some cases.
Depending on the quality and amount of sperm available on the day of IVF, various sperm selection techniques and fertilisation techniques may be required in the IVF laboratory to achieve fertilization. These may include standard IVF insemination, ICSI (Intracytoplasmic sperm injection) IMSI (high magnification sperm selection) or variations such as laser assisted ICSI.
In some cases, it is known from the outset that ICSI will be required. ICSI is a micromanipulation technique where a very highly skilled and trained embryologist carefully injects a sperm individually into each egg collected. ICSI is time consuming, delicate and requires the use of costly equipment and consumables and has a separate Medicare item number in its own right to standard insemination IVF.
If you require ICSI for fertilisation, this will impact and increase the cost of your IVF treatment. You will also be eligible for a separate Medicare rebate for the ICSI component of your treatment.
On some occasions, while pre-treatment tests may not have predicted ICSI would be necessary, the sperm sample available on the day of treatment is of insufficient concentration, motility or quality for IVF standard insemination as was previously planned. You should consider the additional costs of ICSI, as from time to time, the additions of ICSI may be necessary to achieve fertilisation on the day. If this is the case, conversion to ICSI would be requested by your doctor under the advice of senior embryologists involved in the care and treatment of your eggs, sperm and embryos.
Egg freezing treatments
In egg freezing treatments, eggs are vitrified on the day of egg collection.
The process of oocyte (egg) vitrification takes several steps. We use the Vitrolife Rapid-I vitrification system and device to safely freeze eggs and embryos, maximising their survival.
We use an aseptic, closed system, which removes any concerns regarding potential contamination from liquid nitrogen during transport and storage of gametes and embryos.
Your oocytes or embryos don’t come in direct contact with liquid nitrogen, using the Rapid-I system. Straws containing up to two eggs or one individual embryo are ultrasonically sealed providing safe storage.
We invest in the highest quality equipment to ensure your best outcomes, which is covered within your ART treatment costs.
Costs of caring for your embryos in the laboratory
While the time for your IVF injectable medications and your egg collection may be over, your embryos will be cultured for up to one week in the laboratory. During this time they will be lovingly attended by incredibly caring and proficient embryologists who make sure all conditions (temperature, oxygen, carbon dioxide levels, pH, media concentrations) are ideal for your developing embryos. All care and fastidious attention is paid to ensure your embryos have the brightest chance of developing ideally.
Embryo freezing
Many patients and clinicians elect to freeze embryos rather than to proceed directly to an embryo transfer in a stimulated IVF cycle. This can serve goals of embryo banking for longer term extended family planning, awaiting results of embryo genetic testing or simply seeking to separate out IVF treatment elements to make treatment less burdensome and easier to cope with for a patient with an ambition to transfer their best embryo back in the more favourable and receptive environment of a natural menstrual cycle.
Your approach will impact your cost of IVF treatment.
Your global cost of IVF treatment is best served by planning for the bigger picture.
As a patient and particularly as a female, egg quality is a very big factor in achieving IVF success. Both egg quality and egg numbers are influenced by age as is the biggest and most important marker of IVF success – achieving healthy live births.
IVF patients, when they first enter treatment are the best prognosis candidates for success that they will ever be from that moment forward. When a woman first comes to IVF, she has the most eggs she will ever have moving forwards, and she is the youngest that she will ever be. In IVF, a stitch in time saves nine.
Overall, a good strategy for minimising your lifetime number of IVF treatments and associated costs is to consider your big picture aims and family building desires and to bank embryos for the future. As a general rule, with the average IVF patient being aged over 35 years, to achieve a similar treatment outcome, one IVF cycle today on average translates to 2-3 IVF cycles 2-3 years from today.
Your WHM IVF specialist will ask you about your focus and big picture goals and will design your most cost-effective IVF strategy, on your team to achieve the family you want cost most effectively over time.
Embryo testing
Genetic testing of embryos is a form of the most micro of microsurgical techniques, is costly, takes time and skill both for embryo biopsy, DNA amplification, testing which may involve karyomapping and test results interpretation.
PGT or preimplantation genetic diagnosis may be utilised to screen embryos for specific monogenic genetic mutations responsible for the transmission of genetic diseases or illnesses (PGT-M). PGT-SR can be used to detect chromosome structural rearrangements such as reciprocal or Robertsonian chromosomal translocations or chromosome inversions which can result in IVF and natural conception recurrent implantation failure or miscarriage.
PGT-A can be used electively to screen for more random chromosomal number problems or aneuploidy which become more and more common as women and couples attempt pregnancies at more advanced ages.
Costs for embryo testing, depending on the reason it is utilised may involve a pre-test work up of patients, partners and sometimes a study of relatives DNA, necessary to produce a robust, specific and reliable test for their diagnosed genetic problem.
Women and couples in this circumstance will also have the cost of consulting with a Clinical Geneticist who oversees the process for familial mutation investigation, linkage analysis and karyomapping evaluation. Medicare rebates are now available for PGT-M and PGT-SR pre-test work up and test application.
IVF laboratory costs involved in PGT are related to specialist embryo biopsy and sample preparation for testing and up to date costs for this can be quoted by life Fertility Clinic Melbourne.
Genetic laboratory costs for genetic pathology testing and reporting of embryos are charged separately to patients by the genetic testing laboratory where samples are analysed. Currently Life Fertility Clinic Melbourne embryo biopsy samples are tested in Melbourne at Virtus Genetic Diagnostics laboratory. The number of embryo samples received and tested influences the total cost of testing.
Preparation of embryos for transfer
The cost of preparing for embryo transfer differ significantly depending on the clinical circumstances of the embryo transfer.
You may be preparing for an embryo transfer of a fresh embryo in the same treatment month in which an egg collection occurred.
Very commonly you will be preparing for a frozen embryo transfer which involves tracking of your natural cycle from cycle day 1 and carefully using ultrasound cycle tracking, hormonal blood test evaluation and sometimes planning an ovulation trigger medication to fastidiously pick the most perfect timing for your embryo to be gently returned to your womb when your endometrial environment is receptive.
Other types of preparation for frozen embryo transfer include ovulation induction or HRT supported (hormone replacement therapy) or artificially supported embryo transfer cycles. The type of cycle chosen impacts medication costs involved. As a general rule, medications are not eligible to be subsidised by the pharmaceutical benefits scheme in frozen embryo transfer cycles.
The type of cycle used will be chosen with reference to your clinical circumstances in consultation with your WHM Fertility specialist. Once decided, cost information can be clarified for you.
IVF embryo thaw cycle laboratory costs and day attendance facility fee costs charged by Life Fertility Clinic Melbourne are the same, regardless of the type of pretreatment preparation directed by your specialist.
The placement of your embryo back to your womb in an outpatient procedure performed by a WHM and Life Fertility Clinic Melbourne fertility specialist assisted with ultrasound guidance performed by a trained fertility nurse. Embryo transfer is also attended and assisted by a trained IVF embryologist who will have prepared your embryo for transfer that day.
Embryos are prepared for transfer using a special adjuvant substance known as Embryo Glue (made from purified hyaluronate or hyaluronic acid). While this investment does add cost, this has been scientifically proven to improve IVF success rates.
IVF COSTS FAQS
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Some patients choose to apply for early access to their superannuation savings in order to help fund IVF treatment. Please note that there is no specific category for Assisted Reproductive Treatments that is directly eligible for funds release to pay for IVF.
In order to access superannuation funding for IVF, a documented case needs to be made under the category of mental health, where a health professional documents that a patient’s mental health is suffering due to stress, pressure or other pathology and that access to funds relief for IVF is supported.
At WHM our practice policy is to guide patients to seek an external objective psychologist’s assessment to support any claims they intend to make independent of WHM for early release of superannuation funds. This policy avoids any conflict of interest and acknowledges that trained mental health assessments are outside the scope of practice of your WHM fertility specialist’s specialty qualifications (FRANZCOG/CREI).
Costs would be incurred for the services of a mental health practitioner to complete the required formal assessment.
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Payment for IVF at our practice is requested at the start of an IVF treatment cycle.
We appreciate your understanding that as Assisted Reproductive treatments including IVF and egg freezing is very costly to undertake, we require upfront payment in order to provide you with our exclusive ART services.
Payment will be facilitated by our administration teams when you commence your treatment. Relevant Medicare rebates will return to you after each element of your treatment is completed.
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WHM is a private health care clinic. We strive to care for our patients beautifully, marrying the best of technology, CREI trained Fertility specialist expertise and an expert care team that is second to none.
We understand cost pressures that patients experience in accessing healthcare and endeavour to provide great value for our patients who seek care in our private practice setting.
We acknowledge there are patients for whom our private individualised model of IVF care is out of financial reach.
In Victoria, you may alternatively seek GP referral to a public hospital IVF program where you may be eligible for up to two IVF treatment cycles if you meet public hospital eligibility criteria. As with all public hospital services, hospital waitlists apply and treatment is provided by doctors in training supervised by more senior teaching staff. WHM expert specialists are proud to contribute to the Public Fertility Services at The Royal Women’s Hospital Reproductive Services Unit in teaching and training of junior doctors. In the public hospital model of care, patients are not under the personal and continuous care or responsibility of a chosen fertility specialist.
Please note all patients aged 42 and over are ineligible for public hospital based IVF care in Victoria using their own eggs.
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In Australia and as a clinic we are guided by the NHRMC ethical guidelines on the use of assisted reproductive technology in clinical practice and research and by Victorian and federal Australian law including the Human Tissues Act.
Sperm and egg donation cannot be paid and must be altruistic meaning that a donor provides their egg and sperm to help another person conceive without remuneration.
However, there are still however costs involved in preparing a donor to donate, in terms of pre-treatment diagnostic tests and medical appointments, sperm freezing and quarantine where indicated, counselling, any independent legal advice and agreements sought and the thorough documentation of consent for the planned and proposed treatment.
For an egg donor, ART treatment costs also involve the full preparation for a stimulated ART treatment cycle and egg retrieval procedure and aftercare.
It is legal and customary for recipients of egg, sperm and embryo donation to reimburse the reasonable medical expenses of a donor undertaking this pre-treatment process with the goal of ultimately helping the recipient to conceive.
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Every insurance company and policy is different and is a contract a patient enters into, separate to their doctor or service provider, with the insurance company they have chosen. The health insurance policy you have chosen will define the private Health insurance rebate for which you may be entitled, which is claimed and recoverable from your insurance company.
If you are not yet ready for IVF but would like to make sure you are eligible for the highest rebates possible for IVF and Obstetric health insurance cover, it is a good idea to research different health insurance policy options in advance. Many health insurance policies have lengthy waiting periods before their customers are eligible to claim benefits for IVF care and also have strong policies precluding the applications to pre-existing conditions (e.g. infertility requiring IVF diagnosed prior to taking out your private healthcare policy).
Hospital admission costs cover the day hospital’s expenses when you are admitted for your egg collection procedure. You will notice while in hospital at Frances Perry that you are safely cared for by an extensive team of multidisciplinary care professionals who facilitate your safe and comfortable experience in hospital and day surgery from pre-admission, during your surgery, throughout your post procedure recovery and preparing for your discharge home. While in hospital, Frances Perry provides your WHM and Life Fertility clinic Melbourne IVF Specialists with the highest quality equipment and service so that we can perform your procedure with care, comfort and clinical excellence.
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The elements of IVF procedural work that your WHM specialist is paid for during your treatment is a cycle management fee (for all decisions made about your treatment during the treatment cycle. In egg freezing and embryo freezing treatments this is managing your cycle up until your eggs have been collected. In an embryo transfer treatment this entails managing your treatment up until the point that your pregnancy test has been attended.
You will also be charged procedural fees that go to your WHM specialist for performing your egg retrieval and embryo transfer procedures. These procedures each have specific Medicare item numbers and where eligible have associated rebates.
It is important to note that medical review appointments that occur outside of active IVF treatments are not covered by IVF treatment fees. Charges for WHM specialist review appointments are clearly documented in your WHM welcome pack and are eligible for separate Medicare rebates for both you and if applicable for your partner too.
Written by Dr Raelia Lew
RANZCOG Board Certified CREI Fertility specialist, Gynaecologist and the Director of Women’s Health Melbourne.
Co-host of the Knocked Up Podcast, Co-founder of Ellechemy intimate wellness solutions. Raelia has a PhD in Preconception Health Promotion and Genetic Screening. Raelia is a leading Australian expert in IVF and egg freezing, pioneering a bespoke model of care.