Inside Reproductive Health Podcast

Some comebacks are quiet. This one isn't.

Vios Fertility, the Chicagoland practice famous for its culture and community, is officially relaunching. The clinic's founder, Dr. Angie Beltsos, has returned from Tampa's Brown Fertility to rebuild the practice and share her exact approach to Vios 2.0.

We dive into:

• Why patients are choosing their own fertility protocol before they even meet a doctor

• Her criteria for choosing a new EMR, and why none of them are perfect

• The concept of “alacrity” and why it's core to how Vios treats patients

• Where fertility practices overspend (and underinvest)

• How Vios is setting up a future for young REIs and other staff

• Who's a great fit for the new Vios team and who isn't

Many fertility doctors would like to be the destination REI, the one patients travel the world to see.

Dr. Lora Shahine, REI at Pacific Northwest Fertility and host of the Brave and Curious podcast has not only achieved this milestone, but joins us to discuss how her media presence brings patients to her and how that rapport changes the way she cares for them.

We dive into:

• How she attracts patients from all over the world

• How she keeps patients engaged while they're on the wait list

• Using rapport to retain patients and prevent dropout

• Pushing back against corporate IVF quotas

• What's gotten better in IVF over the last 20 years (and what hasn't)

We’ve interviewed a few young REIs recently who’ve told us their colleagues are miserable.

This week’s guest, Dr. Ali Szczupak of IVFMD Miami, is not one of them.

In fact, not only does she love her job, she's built clear boundaries around her work while still having the support and autonomy to build the kind of career she actually wants.

We dive into:

• How her relationship with her partners helps create a sustainable work-life balance

• The infrastructure that supports her as one of roughly 10 REIs at Inception’s IVF MD in the Miami area

• How she’s been able to build her personal brand with real autonomy

• Prelude/Inception’s physician liaison system for OB/GYN referrals

• How she pitched network level ideas directly to the CEO (And got prototype approval within 24 hours)

• How she took the team she inherited and made it her own

Here’s your pre-ASRM deep dive into what's happening with dozens of companies across the fertility field, from networks and EMRs to pharma, supplements, and staffing.

Some of this information came from our fertility business intelligence hub, including our IVF Heroes Universe sponsors, but the speculation is my own.

This is my read on who's pulling ahead, falling behind, and where each segment could be headed.We cover:

• Where fertility networks are growing, from Europe, Canada, and the US

• Clinic tech, AI, and why some legacy EMRs will go away

• Third-party reproduction, egg banks, and cryo safety

• What's moving in genetics, PGT, carrier screening, and semen analysis

• Fertility meds, Pergoveris, and which pharmacies will be left (Or left behind)

• Embryology training, staffing, and professional services

Dr. Joseph Chervenak and Dr. Srini Reddy, practicing REIs at Spring Fertility in the Bay Area, discuss the near and long-term future of fertility care and how AI could change the way patients are treated.

We dive into:

• What the future holds for fertility patients

• Where AI will replace fertility doctors

• Whether AI could one day provide better judgement than a human REI

• The most impressive AI research in the fertility space

• How the right dashboard could help an REI oversee 5-10x more cases

Dr. Rachel Mandelbaum and Dr. Sahar Wertheimer, both REIs at HRC Fertility, try to solve the problems holding the fertility field back.

They agree on a lot, disagree on some and hold very little back.

They dive into:

• Why every clinic defines RN, MA, coordinator, and sonographer roles differently

• Whether a CRNA or anesthesiologist should handle IVF emergencies

• The PGT-P versus PGT-G debate (and who they refer out to)

• How clunky EMRs quietly create real patient safety errors

• Why insurance prior authorizations are killing time-sensitive IVF cycles

It’s hard enough to run one fertility center, let alone several of them. It’s even harder to change the way they operate.

We dive into this challenge with Dr. Amanda Hurliman, Medical Director of Pinnacle Washington. She shares what it took to implement the Pinnacle Operational Model, first in Oregon and then in Washington, where the process proved even more difficult when the entire surgery center team left.

We dive into:

• Why Washington's operational model rollout was harder than Oregon's

• Rebuilding a surgery center after the entire team left

• How care navigators take cycle coordination off the nurses' plates

• Inside Pinnacle's hands-on care navigator training program

• Why independent testing matters when patients choose supplements

What happens when carrier screening shifts from an opt-in choice to an opt-out default?

At Northwestern Medicine, opt-out carrier screening has become the standard. 

But how does it affect the clinic? The practice workflow? The patient experience? Should other fertility practices be doing the same? 

In this episode, Dr. Eve Feinberg, REI at Northwestern Medicine Center for Fertility and Reproductive Medicine and consulting medical director at Natera, explains why her clinic moved to an opt-out model and how it operates in practice.  She is joined by Jennifer Saucier, MS, CGC, VP of Women’s Health Product Management at Natera, who offers insight into how lab partners can support clinics through the operational demands of carrier screening.

They dive into: 

• Why Northwestern adopted opt-out carrier screening 

• Managing results as screening volume grows 

• Preparing patients for expanded panel findings 

• Standardizing and customizing donor screening panels 

• What genetic screening reveals beyond reproductive risk 

It’s working for Northwestern, and it might just work for you too. Have a listen and find out.

What does a fertility practice manager do when there is no formal training for the job they were just promoted into?

Peter Fuzesi, Jessica Medvedich, and Jennifer Straub, explain how the Association of Reproductive Managers (ARM) gave them the business education this field never built. They also preview the new Business of Medicine certificate and the ARISE conference.

They dive into:

• Why an MBA does not prepare you for IVF leadership

• The staffing ratio math that convinces physicians and investors

• The malpractice coverage gap most IVF programs miss

• What the Business of Medicine certificate will actually teach

• Why ARM is the go-to network for fertility managers

Patients are coming into fertility appointments more informed than ever.

They’ve talked to ChatGPT, researched their treatment options, and sometimes even come in with an idea of what they think their doctor should recommend.

So what does that mean for the REI?

That’s the question Dr. Maria Costantini explores. She’s a Partner REI and Medical Director at RMA, and she believes self-awareness may be one of the most important tools physicians have as the patient-physician relationship changes.

We dive into:

• Why patient self-education is reshaping fertility care

• How technology is changing physician decision making

• Dr. Costantini’s belief that self-awareness may prevent provider burnout

• The balance between authoritative and collaborative consultations

• RMA’s new AI and how it supports the patient journey

AI may be changing what patients bring into the exam room, but Dr. Costantini argues that how physicians respond may come down to something much more human.