Why do IVF Clinics Belong to SART? SART member clinics must meet the highest standards of professionalism and patient care in IVF. Not every IVF clinic can belong to SART! IVF clinics that display a SART member badge have met rigorous criteria. They take pride in the transparency and stringency that allows them to display the SART member logo.
SART member IVF Clinics are committed to the highest standards of quality. IVF Clinics that display the SART membership logo provide the highest standards of contemporary infertility care (meaning, they follow best practices in IVF). SART members eligible to display the SART logo include more than 380 member practices, representing more than 85 percent of the ART clinics in our country.
Why else do IVF Clinics Belong to SART?
The IVF Laboratory: A commitment to the Highest Standards of Quality
The success of individual IVF cycles depends on the quality of the embryology laboratory. IVF Laboratories that proudly display the SART membership logo must be inspected and accredited by one of the premier IVF lab accreditation agencies; College of American Pathologists (CAP), Joint Commission (JCO), or New York State Tissue Bank certification for ART laboratories (NYSTB). Accreditation means that the embryology, andrology, and endocrinology lab are certified as compliant with the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) regulations (CLIA’88). The CLIA88 regulations are federal level regulations, which resulted from a Congressional examination and investigation of testing performed in physician office laboratories. The United States Department of Health and Human Services office define these regulations for all laboratory testing for assessment of human health, or the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of disease. CLIA applies to every laboratory and testing site in the United States, including IVF clinics. Fulfilling these requirements means that the IVF Lab Director is certified as a High Complexity Laboratory Director (HCLD) or American Board of Bioanalysis Embryology Laboratory Director (ABB- ELD). As of 2006 this certification is required of all lab directors. Accreditation promotes the quality and safety of IVF laboratory services to give physicians and patients confidence in the services the IVF Laboratory provides.
Research and Technology
SART doctors and scientists are leaders on the cutting edge of IVF and infertility medical technology and scientific advances. They are continually researching new breakthroughs for infertility treatment, and are recognized for excellence in infertility research and IVF technology development nationally and internationally. Member IVF practices must report (annually) their data to SART. These data include hundreds of parameters, including; how many IVF cycles are started, patient demographics, IVF success rates per cycle, and many other data points. Reporting these data is a rigorous task that takes dedicated highly trained embryologists and medical personal. SART member clinics notify SART within 3 days of any medicated IVF cycle being started, before the outcome of that cycle can be known. This ensures a commitment to the highest standards of data collection. The SART Clinic Outcome Reporting System (CORS) database collects data to fulfill the federal Fertility Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-493). The SART CORS database has informed over 165 highly impactful scientific studies. SART member IVF Clinics make data available for research and publications that have transformative power through continued participation in SART. SART IVF Clinic members are encouraged to use the national SART CORS database to ask powerful retrospective research questions. SART CORS publications have; validated elective single embryo transfers, illuminated powerful links between SART and state birth registries, and yielded prediction models that inform contemporary clinical IVF practice.
IVF Practice and Ethical Guidelines
SART IVF member clinics provide information and treatments that are up-to-date. SART is an affiliate society of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). ASRM ethical guidelines define what actions are morally right and cover every aspect of infertility and IVF treatment. They protect IVF patients, honor the trust between clinicians and infertility patients, anticipate harms and the possible consequences of IVF treatment, avoid undue intrusion, define informed consent, and provide for privacy and confidentiality. ASRM practice committee guidelines provide evidence-based outcomes for IVF, opinions on IVF best practices, diagnoses’, treatments, testing, and risk reduction. The embryologists and reproductive endocrinologists of SART member IVF clinics participate in continuing medical education and certification, to ensure the most up to date treatments are offered to IVF patients.
