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| Author: | Schmittlein, D.C. Morrison, D.G. |
| Title: | A live baby or your money back: the marketing in vitro fertilization procedures |
| Journal: | Management Science
2003 : DEC, VOL. 49:12, p. 1617-1635 |
| Index terms: | Family planning Health Marketing |
| Language: | eng |
| Abstract: | Many clinics that offer in vitro fertilization (IVF) have begun to market the followin option: 1) an a la carte program where the couple pays 7500$ per attempt regardless of the outcome or 2) a money-back-guarantee program where the couple pays a 15000$ fee that covers up to three attempts, however, if after three cycles there is no live-birth delivery, then the full 15000$ is refunded. This study assesses the a la carte versus the money-back-guarantee programs, and finds that the money-back-guarantee program appears (for the patients) to be "too good to be true". This is, the money-back-guarantee yields a substantial negative expected profit per couple for the clinics. More importantly from the patients' perspective, the money-back-guarantee is the better option for all couples with less that 0.5 success probability per cycle. Virtually all traditional IVF patients have had per-cycle success probabilities below 0.5. |
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