Cost considerations with infertility therapy: outcome and cost comparison between health maintenance organization and preferred provider organization care based on physician and facility cost

Of 98 retrospectively selected patient couples insured under one scheme (group I) who, based on performance of a hysterosalpingogram (HSG), were assumed to be under active infertility care, 96 were confirmed as infertile, These were matched by date, patient age and time of HSG to 96 patients under infertility care (group II). Both patient populations were then prospectively evaluated for outcome and cost of treatment. Total physician charges for groups I and II were similar. However, charges per achieved clinical pregnancy were higher in group I than group II since group I patients demonstrated a lower pregnancy rate (28/96, 29%) than group II patients (41/96, 43%) (P = 0.05), Within group I, pregnancy rates were identical, whether treatment was provided by generalists or subspecialists, In group II, all care was provided by specialists. The number of days of treatment did not vary between groups I and II, though generalists in group I provided significantly fewer treatment days than specialists in either group I (P = 0.003) or in group II (P = 0.021), This was primarily due to a significantly higher patient drop-out rate in group I patients, and especially amongst those who received care from generalists (P < 0.0019). Group I patients also encountered significantly more surgical procedures than group II patients (P = 0.0016), If physician charges are discounted and customary surgical facility costs are added, the actual cost structure for fertility care in group I patients was dramatically higher than in group II patients. The most cost-effective format to provide infertility care of high quality appears to be a managed care setting in which subspecialists provide a majority of care and in which patient choice is restricted to those subspecialists.