As Ovation^® Fertility moves into the second quarter of 2023, our goal is to continue bringing the joy of parenthood through innovative science. To help make this possible, we’re implementing several new risk-mitigation initiatives and conducting important fertility research.

In terms of risk mitigation, I’m particularly excited about three new developments. The first is the network-wide adoption of the new Ovation lab referral form. A big thank you to Whitney Baker and Cassie Miller for their assistance in this initiative.

This form comes from the clinic and serves as the marching orders for our lab teams. You can think of it as an electronic prescription for Ovation lab services. It will leave our labs with no doubt about what services a referring doctor has ordered, which protects our patients as well as labs and clinics.

The second risk-mitigation initiative is Matcher, the electronic witnessing system that you’ve heard so much about. This system is now implemented in all Ovation embryology labs. Not only do its electronic witnessing capabilities help reduce the risk of misidentifying patient materials, but they also help us with lab staffing metrics and workflow efficiencies. Matcher helps us get a sense of how busy each lab is, and what types of procedures and cycle mix each lab is doing.

The final initiative is something I’ve been talking about for a long time, and it’s finally happening. Yes, I am referring to the laboratory key performance indicators (KPI) data dashboard in Artisan. We had built out some key data queries and KPI fields to better automate data collection. Currently, the Austin and Cincinnati labs are going through a data validation process to ensure accurate data mapping and verify that queries are pulling data correctly. Once this validation process is complete, and we are confident in our data, we will provide full access to these queries to all the labs currently using Artisan. This is our number one priority for 2023, as it will make everyone’s lives easier and improve best practices using validated and accurate data.”

As for research, there’s certainly no shortage of it occurring in our labs at Ovation. We currently have six projects in progress around the country that the team and I are very excited about.

• The first is the LOTUS study in the Austin lab. This randomized controlled study is evaluating the Alife Hera System as a tool to prioritize the transfer of suitable embryos.
• Next is the NiOS Study in San Antonio and Las Vegas. NiOS stands for non-invasive oocyte selection. The researchers are evaluating Future Fertility’s AI software image analysis tool, which allows personalized reproductive prediction for each egg analyzed non-invasively.
• Our labs in Indianapolis, Grand Rapids and Louisiana are heading up the Granulo Study. This prospective study is using immature eggs to review the effect of steroidogenic granulosa cells from human-induced pluripotent stem cells on human egg maturation in the lab.
• The SpermPik Study will take place in our Las Vegas, Austin, Newport Beach, Louisiana and San Antonio labs. The randomized controlled study is evaluating SiD (IVF2.0), an AI-trained sperm recognition program. This program identifies specific sperm characteristics that have been shown to be beneficial for fertilization and embryo development.
• In the Fort Worth lab, the team is taking on the SimpliWarm Study. The goal is to evaluate new embryo freezing and warming protocols to improve laboratory workflow and patient success.
• The final research project I’d like to discuss will be occurring in all lab locations soon as a collaboration with the University of Bath and the University of Cambridge. The GeneSwitch study is identifying novel imprinting genes that are switched on after fertilization. The goal is to better identify the cause of imprinting gene dysregulation that can lead to disease.

At the Physician Summit in Salt Lake City on February 4, we discussed more clinically related research projects. I hope to incorporate more such studies and collaboration throughout 2023.
Clearly, there are exciting research and risk-mitigation efforts on the horizon for the coming year. I look forward to seeing the results with you, and thank you for your help in making it all possible.

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