The patient journey is a nightmare. They take it out on staff. Some people are doing something about it
Fertility patients today enter one of the most complex care journeys in healthcare, yet many clinics still lack systems to support them, even if they think they do. Even in well-resourced markets, individuals often navigate treatment through a patchwork of clinic portals, delayed communication loops, inconsistent instructions, and unclear next steps. The emotional burden of this fragmentation is significant. Patients routinely report uncertainty about medication timing, cycle progression, and what to expect between visits — all while balancing work, finances, family-building decisions, and the emotional weight of uncertainty.
“Never Seen Stress Levels Like They Saw In These Women”
Dr. Alice Domar, Chief Compassion Officer of Inception Fertility, told Inside Reproductive Health (IRH) about recent research on stress factors that make fertility patients drop out of treatment.
“They work with Navy SEALs and the NFL. They used to work with Russian Olympic teams. They had never seen stress levels like they saw in these women during the stim phase of their cycle. We presented at ASRM last year, comparing patients during their baseline versus their stim phase. And it was P values that I as a researcher can only dream about. was like P is less than 0.0007. So women were extremely physiologically stressed during the stim phase.”.
Many individuals reach critical decision points before receiving meaningful guidance, particularly in the months leading up to (attempted) conception, when modifiable lifestyle factors can influence reproductive, maternal, and child health outcomes. Yet most people receive little direction during this stage, despite the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the World Health Organization underscoring the importance of pre-pregnancy intervention. As a result, many begin trying to conceive without understanding risk factors, fertility-impacting behaviors, or when escalation to medical care is appropriate.
Geographic disparities deepen the problem. Large segments of the U.S. live in counties with limited access to OB-GYNs or reproductive specialists, meaning that early questions — “Should I be concerned?”, “Is this normal?”, “What can I do right now?” — often go unanswered. For many, seeking clarity requires extensive travel, long waits, or reliance on online information that may be inaccurate or unvetted.
These issues place a disproportionate load on clinics, which face increasing patient expectations for real-time answers, yet operate within staffing constraints, high visit volumes, and varied workflows across physicians, nurses, and coordinators. The cumulative effect is a widening gap between what patients need — immediacy, continuity, emotional support, and tailored guidance — and what existing systems were built to provide.
It is against this backdrop that digital concierge platforms have begun to reshape how patients move through fertility care.
RMA-NY Taps Conceive to Better Support Patients. Doveras Wins Over Pre-IVF Patients
Conceive addresses the communication and emotional-support gap by offering 24/7 access to trained fertility nurses, peer coaches, and curated community groups, all aligned with clinic protocols. Its partnership with RMA of New York brings this model directly into clinical care, giving patients continuous support across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Westchester locations after a successful pilot demonstrated reductions in patient stress and improved clarity during treatment. The offering extends the clinic’s reach beyond business hours and helps stabilize the patient experience during the highest-uncertainty stages of care.
Meanwhile, thousands of individuals seek guidance well before entering a fertility clinic — a population often overlooked in traditional models. Doveras fills this preconception gap by synthesizing findings from over 100,000 clinical studies into personalized, evidence-based lifestyle recommendations across nutrition, toxin exposure, and wellness. Its research cohort of 600 participants from 46 states shows high engagement among individuals in regions with limited provider access, with 52.2% reporting they had not yet seen a healthcare professional for fertility concerns. The platform’s reach among racially diverse and geographically dispersed populations demonstrates how digital tools can extend pre-pregnancy support far beyond traditional clinical boundaries.
Conceive and Doveras illustrate how patient concierge and digital clinic solutions are filling structural gaps the field has long struggled to address: real-time support, equitable access, continuity between visits, and actionable guidance before, during, and after treatment.
“If patients are dropping out because they're simply too stressed to continue, we're not doing our job” Domar warned.
You Can Stop Being Left Out Now, Y’Know
Next Big Exposure Before PCRS. Why miss out when you get so much for so little? 🤪
If your organization belongs to this category but wasn’t included in this “State of” report, then your competitors are dominating the attention of your customers: REIs, fertility network executives, embryologists, and others.
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