Elite Clinic acts according to ESHRE’s good practice guide for cross-border reproductive care for centers and practitioners
This ESHRE guide aims to ensure high-quality and safe assisted reproduction treatment, taking into account the patients, their future child and the interests of third-party collaborators such as gametes donors.
Elite Clinic`s aim is to ensure high-quality assisted reproduction treatment, as defined by the European Union criteria for good quality medical treatment (European Union Council, 2006), and the ESHRE position paper on Good Clinical Treatment in Assisted Reproduction (ESHRE, 2008, www.eshre.eu).
Equity implies that in Elite Clinic similar protocols and fees are applied and that the same information, counseling and psychological support is provided for foreign as for national patients.
Donors receive similar care to patients.
Patients receive clear information about necessary investigations and their cost, about waiting list times and the expected time they will have to spend outside their country.
Communication and collaboration between the clinical team in the home country and the team abroad should minimize the need for repeat tests. Elite Clinic accepts valid tests taken in European Union and licensed laboratories in USA.
The provision of the accurate success rate of the center is important to enable patients to decide on a treatment plan.
Equity demands that foreign patients are given the same benefits and submitted to the same rules as local patients.
It is essential to propose a stimulation cycle that minimizes the health risk for the oocyte donors. Donors may present themselves several times at the same center or at different centers. Treatment abides by the rules of “good clinical treatment in ART” (ESHRE, 2008, www.eshre.eu).
The decline in the number of multiple births can be regulated only with a reduction of the number of embryos transferred. Foreign patients should have the same stimulation protocol as local patients, taking into account age and previous stimulations. When donor oocytes are used, embryo transfer must be limited to two embryos. If a home practitioner refers the patient to a specific clinic, the practitioner shares a responsibility for the general standards used in that center. The specific treatment of the individual patient abroad remains the responsibility of the local professional team. Good communication in both directions includes details of previous investigations and treatment. Patients should be given copies of their medical files both by the home practitioners when they go abroad and by the practitioners abroad when they return home.
Counseling and psychological support should be available in a language understood by the patients. If a reasonable understanding cannot be guaranteed, it is recommended not to treat the patient. Elite Clinic provides the name of their ombudsman or the person to whom complaints should be addressed.