As demand for IVF accelerates, the sector’s lack of lab innovation may be a liability with increased managed care

This News Digest Story is paid featured content.

BY INSIDE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

The U.S. fertility market is expanding rapidly, but the core engine of IVF—its lab infrastructure—hasn’t evolved in step. While policy mandates and employer-sponsored benefits continue to drive demand, labs still operate with manual workflows and limited technological integration. The result: stalled improvements, operational inefficiencies, and missed opportunities for scale.

70% of Large Employers Now Offer IVF Coverage

California’s new IVF insurance mandate, effective June 2025, extends coverage to nine million people for three egg retrievals and unlimited embryo transfers. It follows a 2023 federal policy that granted IVF access to nearly one million government employees.

This public investment is mirrored in the private sector. A 2023 Mercer survey shows 42% of employers with over 500 workers now offer fertility benefits—up from 27% in 2018. Among the largest firms, the figure nears 70%. These numbers reflect a shift: IVF is no longer niche—it’s becoming a standard benefit in competitive hiring environments.

Get Exclusive Updates on the Future of the IVF Lab

100 patients enrolled in groundbreaking IRB-approved study

Follow Conceivable Life Sciences on LinkedIn for exclusive updates from the AURA IRB study.

Measuring AURA, Conceivable’s automated IVF lab against today’s clinical benchmarks
Designed to improve consistency, efficiency, and outcomes
Get early insights before results are widely published
Be first to see what could redefine embryology

The revolution is underway. Don’t miss the data that could change your lab forever.

Follow Conceivable Life Sciences on LinkedIn today.

FOLLOW ON LINKEDIN

Technology Gap Limits Scale

Despite rising demand, IVF lab operations remain largely manual. Most procedures rely on embryologists performing microscopic tasks by hand—a model that hasn’t significantly changed in decades. IVF success rates went from 5% in 1980 to 41% in 2025. Over the last ten years, success rates have stalled at 45%.In addition, operational constraints continue to limit lab throughput and consistency.

Where other healthcare sectors have adopted automation and AI to scale, IVF has lagged. Fragmented technologies and delicate biological procedures have slowed innovation. But new approaches are beginning to challenge that inertia.

Automation Moves From Concept to System

One example is Conceivable Life Sciences, which has developed an AI-powered automated IVF lab system. Rather than offering a single device or isolated tool, the system is designed to handle the the vast majority of IVF processes—from cell handling to monitoring and data capture. Early clinical testing has produced promising results, with ongoing trials aimed at validating its impact on outcomes and lab efficiency.

The emergence of full-system solutions could mark a shift in how investors and clinic networks evaluate IVF technology—not just by technical capability, but by scalability and integration potential.

Lab Pressure Points Are Growing

The push for efficiency is being felt most in the lab. IVF lab directors and supervisors face increasing cycle volumes without a proportional rise in staffing or equipment upgrades. Repetitive workflows, vulnerability to error, high costs, and inconsistent quality across sites remain persistent challenges.

These pain points pose risks to both clinical outcomes and financial performance—especially for larger fertility networks backed by private equity, where return on investment is closely tied to operational scale.

Companies like Conceivable point to what’s possible when the focus shifts from individual tools to integrated systems. Whether the rest of the industry follows suit will help determine if IVF can meet both the scale of future demand and its long-term financial potential.