How to Compare Fertility Clinic Success Rates
A Guide for Ohio, Indiana & Kentucky Patients
Comparing fertility clinics is not as simple as looking at one number on a homepage. Success rates come from a real, standardized reporting system. Reading them well still takes context. Patient populations can differ clinic to clinic, even across neighboring parts of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. This guide walks through how to actually compare clinics using SART data. For a broader checklist covering credentials, cost and communication, see our companion guide, Questions to Ask When Comparing Fertility Clinics.
What is SART, and why does it matter for comparing clinics?
SART, the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, requires member clinics to report outcomes using the same definitions and formulas. That shared standard is what makes comparison possible at all. Without it, you would be comparing each clinic’s own marketing language instead of real data.
What is a live birth rate, and why is it the number that matters most?
A live birth rate is the percentage of cycles that resulted in an actual birth, not just a positive pregnancy test. SART tracks it a few different ways. The two most useful are the live birth rate per intended egg retrieval and the cumulative live birth rate, which counts all embryo transfers from a single retrieval. The live birth rate is the most meaningful number to compare, since pregnancy rates alone can look encouraging without reflecting how many patients actually go home with a baby.
Can I really compare two clinics side by side?
You can, but carefully. Two clinics can report very different numbers for reasons that have nothing to do with quality of care, including how selective they are about which patients they treat, how many cycles they perform each year, and which specific metric they highlight. This matters especially across a region like ours, where a large tri-state practice and a smaller single-location clinic can have very different patient populations even a short drive apart.
Why do success rates vary so much between clinics in the same region?
Age and diagnosis affect outcomes more than almost any other factor, and patient populations differ from clinic to clinic. A clinic that treats a large share of complex or older patients can report a lower overall rate while still providing excellent care to each of them. Reading rates broken out by age group, not just an overall average, gives you a fairer comparison.
What should I look at beyond the headline number?
The cumulative live birth rate tells you the chance of success across a full retrieval and all resulting embryos, not just the first transfer. It is also worth checking the multiple birth rate, since a clinic prioritizing single embryo transfer is often making a deliberate safety choice that can affect a single-cycle number. None of this shows up in one percentage alone.
Does SpringCreek publish its own SART report?
Yes. Our success rates page links directly to our actual SART Clinic Summary Report, rather than only summarizing it. We factor all patient outcomes into our reported rates, including patients up to age 55, in keeping with ASRM guidelines.
Where can I look up SART data myself?
SART’s own database at sartcorsonline.com lets you search any member clinic by name and view its reported outcomes by year and age group, alongside the national summary report for comparison. Reading a clinic’s data directly is worth doing rather than relying only on how a clinic describes its own numbers.
What else should I ask beyond the numbers?
Success rate data answers an important question, but not every question. Our companion guide, Questions to Ask When Comparing Fertility Clinics, covers the parts of a comparison a SART report cannot answer on its own, including credentials, lab accreditation, cost and communication.
If you’re ready to take the next step, schedule an appointment at SpringCreek Fertility to set up your consultation.
Want the fuller picture first? Our companion checklist, ‘Questions to Ask When Comparing Fertility Clinics’, covers everything these numbers can’t tell you.
