Financial Counseling
Thank you for choosing Fertility Centers of Illinois to help you on your family-building journey. We are honored to be a part of the first step in your journey toward parenthood. Your experience is very important to us, and we are here to help you every step of the way.
Your Personalized Plan, Explained
We want to make understanding your cost of treatment and insurance benefits as easy to navigate as possible. We also encourage you to take an active role in understanding your insurance coverage for treatment and medication before beginning any cycle.
Creating Your Estimate
You and your physician will design a customized treatment plan during your initial consultation. Your financial counselor will provide you with our best estimate of costs based on your treatment plan.
How to Read Your Estimate
A. INSURANCE INFORMATION SECTION: This section shows how much of your deductible and out-of-pocket expenses you have paid and how much is remaining as well as your non-covered services.
- Your deductible will need to be met before your insurance will start paying for your services and your out-of-pocket maximum will need to be met before your insurance will pay covered services at 100%.
- Plans update and change routinely. Please contact Fertility Centers of Illinois to verify coverage prior to your scheduled appointment. Some insurance plans will require a referral from your primary care provider (for example an OB/GYN) before receiving treatment for infertility services. It is your responsibility as the patient to provide Fertility Centers of Illinois with a copy of the referral prior to your scheduled appointment.
- Contact your insurance and pharmacy to understand your medication coverage. The estimate provides the total cost of medications, however, your out-of-pocket costs will be lower if you have coverage
B. AMOUNT DUE TO PRACTICE: This section describes the services you are having, if the service is covered by insurance or self-pay, and the charge if the service is self-pay. The amount due to practice is due in full to Fertility Centers of Illinois 48 hours prior to your baseline appointment before treatment can begin. If you have concerns about paying for treatment, your financial counselor can help you understand your options and offer solutions that can make your treatment more affordable.
- This is the estimated amount that you will owe FCI after all claims have been processed by insurance. You will receive a statement from FCI if there is any balance due after your insurance processes the claims. This amount includes any remaining deductible and out-of-pocket expenses.
- These amounts are estimated at a self-pay rate and include any remaining deductible and out-of-pocket expenses. Insurance coverage is included in the final estimate.
C. NOT INCLUDED BUT NECESSARY: This section describes items that are necessary but are either handled outside of FCI or services that are subsequent (future) to the completion of this cycle but required to result in pregnancy.
- Please contact your insurance and pharmacy to understand your medication coverage. The estimate provides the total cost of medications, however, your out-of-pocket costs will be lower if you have coverage. If your insurance has a monetary Lifetime Maximum and medications contribute to this amount, I recommend paying for the medications out of pocket to preserve your allowed maximum towards procedures. If your insurance does not cover medications, you will pay the pharmacy directly for medications. Click here to find out more about medication discount options. Also, your nurses or financial counselor can provide you with a list of discounted self-pay pharmacies.
- Services in this section are estimated at a self-pay rate—even in cases where a patient may have insurance coverage. Insurance coverage would be part of the next estimate when the services are actually rendered.
TOTAL ESTIMATED COST: This section includes the amount that is due to practice and the not included but necessary.
NOT INCLUDED BUT MAY BECOME NECESSARY: This section includes optional services you may elect associated with the treatment plan you selected.
- Please note all estimates are a courtesy and not a guarantee of benefits or payment by your insurance plan. FCI is not responsible for any incorrect information that your insurance provides us.
- Plans requiring authorization may take 3 to 4 weeks to process. Insurance authorizations must be in place prior to moving forward with treatment. Patients who choose to move forward without proper authorization will be required to sign an insurance waiver and pay out of pocket. The clinical recommendation does not constitute the insurance company’s authorization of treatment.
- If applicable, financial contracts and payment agreement forms must be signed and returned prior to cycle start.
- Prior to moving forward with treatment, patients must be financially cleared to start. Financial clearance will confirm that payment is received, insurance authorization is on file, and contracts/agreements are received.
Additional Payment Information
- Payment of any patient balance is due in full within 30 days of invoicing. All past-due balances are required to be satisfied prior to the approval of any treatment cycle.
- If you need to pay a deposit towards your cycle or if there are procedures that are not covered by your insurance company, please pay your Phreesia invoice 48 hours prior to your baseline appointment.
Outside Vendor Services
- Medication benefits and authorization is a separate process from your treatment cycle. Please contact your insurance company to confirm your medication coverage filled directly through the pharmacy. Authorizations and ordering of medications are handled by your clinical team.
- If your services are rendered at Highland Park IVF Lab, payment for some services will be made to CryoVault and
- If you have insurance and anesthesia is part of your services, Lake Anesthesia provides this service and will bill your insurance separately for anesthesia services rendered.
- If your estimate includes genetic testing to be performed on your embryos (PGT), please note the lab performing the actual genetic testing will charge you for testing, not FCI. If you are having this testing done due to advanced maternal age, gender selection, recurrent pregnancy loss, or to achieve better IVF success, this is not considered medically necessary and often is not covered by insurance. Gamete Resources, not FCI.
Additional Treatment Information
- All pre-screening/diagnostic testing must be completed before moving forward with treatment.
- Cycles start at your baseline appointment; any appointments prior to that are not included in this estimate.
- S4042 Cycle Management is the physician’s close monitoring of your hormonal levels and ultrasounds during your treatment. If not covered by insurance, the self-pay rate is $303. FCI will send you a bill for this amount once your cycle is completed.
Cancellation Policies
- If a cycle is canceled for any reason, you owe for services rendered up to the point of cancellation.
- If an IVF cycle is canceled for any reason while on the Attain program, you will have the option to self-pay for any monitoring services performed at FCI in order to preserve your cycle attempt with Attain.
