Choosing a Clinic
Fertility Basics
Why Physician Ownership Matters in Fertility Care
Who owns your fertility clinic? It affects more than you might think.
Physician owned. Patient focused. Comprehensive care.
Who owns your fertility practice?
It may not be the first question patients think to ask when choosing a fertility center. But as fertility practices across the country increasingly consolidate under outside investment, we think it is a question worth asking.
Atlantic Fertility is independently owned by the physicians who care for our patients. The people making decisions about how we practice medicine are the same people who sit across from our patients in the exam room.
What does physician ownership mean for patients?
We have no private equity owners or outside investors directing our clinical or operational decisions.
When we decide which treatments to offer, which technologies to adopt, where to invest, how to staff our practice, or how to improve the patient experience, those decisions are made here by fertility professionals.
Being physician-owned does not mean finances don't matter. A financially strong practice can invest in exceptional people, technology and patient care for the long term. The difference is that financial return to outside investors is not another voice in the room when we make those decisions.
Independent doesn't mean small
There can be a perception that choosing an independent medical practice means choosing fewer resources. We have intentionally built Atlantic differently.
Our goal has been to bring the expertise patients may need throughout their fertility journey together in one comprehensive fertility center.
Our team includes:
Four reproductive endocrinologists
A reproductive urologist specializing in male infertility and microsurgery
A high complexity IVF laboratory led by our on-site Laboratory Director
An on-site reproductive psychologist
An on-site metabolic/GLP-1 program
A comprehensive third-party reproduction program
Fresh and frozen donor egg options
Why build all of this within one practice?
Because fertility care rarely exists in isolation. Male and female fertility interact. Metabolic health can affect reproductive health. Fertility treatment has psychological as well as medical consequences. Third-party reproduction requires specialized clinical, laboratory and psychosocial expertise.
When these resources are part of the same organization, our providers can collaborate around the patient rather than simply sending patients elsewhere to navigate those services themselves.
Bigger isn't necessarily better. More resources devoted to your care can be.
National fertility networks can be very large organizations. But organizational size and the resources available to an individual patient are not necessarily the same thing.
We believe a better question is: What expertise and resources will actually be available to me and my family?
At Atlantic, our independence allows us to decide where our resources go. We can invest in the clinicians, laboratory, technology and support services that we believe improve fertility care because the physicians caring for our patients also help determine the priorities of the practice.
That combination matters to us: the resources of a comprehensive fertility center with the accountability of physician ownership.
Why ownership in fertility care deserves attention
Private investment has become increasingly common in reproductive medicine. A 2026 JAMA analysis found that private equity-affiliated fertility clinics were estimated to perform more than half of IVF cycles in the United States.
Private equity ownership does not mean that the physicians working in those practices are anything less than dedicated to their patients. Nor does physician ownership automatically make a medical practice better.
Ownership does, however, affect governance.
Different ownership structures create different responsibilities and incentives around growth, investment, staffing and financial returns. We believe patients deserve to understand those structures when deciding where to entrust their care.
Ask who owns your fertility practice
When evaluating a fertility center, patients understandably ask about physicians, success rates, treatment options, cost and insurance coverage.
We think there is another reasonable question to add:
Who owns the practice, and who ultimately makes decisions about how patient-care resources are used?
At Atlantic Fertility, the answer is simple.
Our physicians own our practice.
We work here. We make decisions here. We invest here.
And, most importantly, we care for our patients here.
Further Reading
Ke et al. Trends in Private Equity Affiliations With Fertility Clinics in the US. JAMA. 2026.
Inspiration
This article was inspired in part by Brendan Ballou's Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America and by the growing literature examining changes in healthcare ownership.
Reach out. Learn more.
A consultation at Atlantic Fertility gives you full-spectrum expertise for both female and male fertility—so you can understand your options and move forward with confidence.
