The Effect of a Comprehensive Incentive Program on Patient Participation in Elective Single Blastocyst Transfers

Effects of patient education on desire for twins and use of elective single embryo transfer procedures during ART treatment: A systematic review

“…Specifically, these studies showed that, when coupled with patient education, monetary incentives may be effective in increasing the use of eSET in countries as culturally diverse as the USA, Japan and New Zealand. In the USA, one study found that patients who were offered a monetary incentive programme that included free cryopreservation, limited storage of blastocysts, and a subsequent frozen cycle at no additional cost if the first cycle did not result in a live birth, elected single blastocyst transfers more often than patients without such incentives (58.8% versus 33.3%; P < 0.01) (Marek et al, 2005). Another study in New Zealand compared the effects of a clinic-wide SET policy compared with standard care, which was typically DET, and reported an overall increase in SET uptake after the introduction of patient education coupled with a second free cycle (Coetzee et al, 2007).…”

“…Overall, these studies demonstrated that financial costs play a key role in countries without public funding for ART treatments, and could be offset through different mechanisms including increasing the availability of public funding for IVF, insurance coverage and clinic-sponsored incentives (e.g. free cryopreservation services and free transfer of cryopreserved embryos), and thereby change patient preferences (Coetzee et al, 2007, Griffin et al, 2012, Marek et al, 2005). The effects of financial incentives may be weaker in countries that provide free publicly funded IVF cycles and have higher uptake of SET, such as Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, compared with countries with no universal public funding for IVF (Blennborn et al, 2005, Højgaard et al, 2007, Kreuwel et al, 2013).…”