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Your Specialist Report — Low Ovarian Reserve and IVF (choosing a fertility clinic and doctor)

Prepared for: R.D. and partner (sample patient, woman, age 39, told she has low ovarian reserve / low AMH, considering IVF) · Location: Chicago, Illinois · Insurance: employer PPO · Report date: November 1, 2026

1. What this condition is

"Low ovarian reserve" (doctors also say diminished ovarian reserve) means the ovaries have fewer eggs left than is typical for your age. AMH (anti-Müllerian hormone) is a blood test that estimates that supply; an ultrasound count of small follicles (the "antral follicle count") is often used alongside it. In IVF, these numbers mostly help your team predict how many eggs a stimulation cycle is likely to produce. They do not, on their own, tell you whether you can have a baby. Fertility care is led by a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist (REI), an OB-GYN with three extra years of fertility training, working with nurses, embryologists (the lab team) and financial counselors. People with low reserve sometimes go through more than one egg retrieval, sometimes have a cycle stopped before retrieval, and at some point often hear about donor eggs as one of several options. Your doctors will decide what applies to you; this report helps you prepare for those conversations.

What this report gives you: three REI doctors at three different Chicago-area clinics, each checked on the clinic's own website today; how to read each clinic's published results for women aged 38–40; what the Illinois fertility insurance law can and cannot do for your plan; and the questions that matter when your reserve is low.

2. Specialists to consider

We checked each doctor on their clinic's own website on November 1, 2026. We chose three different clinics on purpose: two university hospital programs and one large private practice, each with a different insurance network and price structure. Each doctor's own page names ovarian reserve as a focus or interest. That is why they are on this list, rather than other good doctors at the same clinics.

Before you pick: check your network. Any one PPO may have none of these three clinics in network for IVF. Many employers route fertility care through a separate fertility benefit manager (for example Progyny, Carrot or WINFertility) with its own clinic list. Ask HR or your insurer for that list first, then choose among the doctors below who are on it. If none is, see "A different hospital system" below.

1. Lia A. Bernardi, MD — Reproductive Endocrinologist, Northwestern Medicine Center for Fertility and Reproductive Medicine

2. Sana Salih, MD, MS — Reproductive Endocrinologist, UChicago Medicine Center for Reproductive Medicine and Fertility

3. Elie Hobeika, MD — Reproductive Endocrinologist, Fertility Centers of Illinois (FCI)

A different hospital system (if none of the three is in your network)

Closer to home

In IVF you usually go in for blood tests and ultrasounds several times in the two weeks or so before a retrieval, often early in the morning, so a monitoring office near home or work can matter more than it sounds. Northwestern also has offices in Geneva and Highland Park; UChicago in Hyde Park; FCI in Glenview, Hinsdale, Hoffman Estates and Warrenville. Ask each clinic which visits can happen at the office nearest you. SART's free Find a Clinic tool lists every other SART-member clinic in the area with its published results.

Leads we checked and did not list

2B. How to read clinic success rates (SART) for your age group

Where the numbers come from. Almost every U.S. IVF clinic reports every cycle to SART (the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology), which posts each clinic's results for free (SART Find a Clinic; you must click "I agree" before the numbers show). The CDC used to publish a second, independently checked version, but its clinic data stops at the 2022 reporting year (the CDC ART Success Rates page is dated February 7, 2025), and NBC News reported on April 2, 2025 that the CDC team behind it was cut in federal layoffs (NBC News). So today SART is the main source, and its numbers are reported by the clinics themselves.

Which year to use. SART's 2023 report is "Final"; its 2024 report is still "Preliminary", because babies from those cycles were still being born when the data was pulled. Nationally, for women 38–40, SART shows 26.2% (2023 final) but 18.5% (2024 preliminary) live births per intended egg retrieval. That gap comes from the reporting stage, not from IVF getting worse, so comparing a preliminary year with a final year gives a misleading picture.

Women aged 38–40, own eggs, SART final 2023. All clinic figures are self-reported by the clinics, not audited, and not comparable between hospitals:

NorthwesternUChicagoFCI (River North IVF lab)All SART clinics (U.S.)
Cycles started3603946337,878
Live births per intended egg retrieval (includes frozen transfers from that retrieval)21.9% (range 17.7–26.2)17.9% (range 5.9–30.0)25.5% (range 21.5–29.5)26.2% (range 25.7–26.6)
Cycles stopped before egg retrieval8.4%15.4%10.6%8.5%

SART Final Clinic Summary Report 2023 for Northwestern, UChicago, FCI River North IVF and the national summary, read November 1, 2026. "Range" is SART's confidence range: the true figure could plausibly be anywhere inside it.

How to read it, in plain words:

Why you cannot rank clinics from this table:

  1. Patient mix. These are averages for everyone aged 38–40 at each clinic, with normal and low reserve, first-timers and people who already tried elsewhere. A clinic that accepts more difficult cases can look worse while doing excellent work. SART's own report warns: "Clinics may have differences in patient selection, treatment approaches, and cycle reporting practices which may inflate or lower pregnancy rates relative to another clinic."
  2. Small numbers swing. UChicago's 17.9% comes from 39 cycles, and its range runs from 5.9% to 30.0%. A few births more or less would change it completely.
  3. The ranges overlap. For all three clinics, the ranges overlap with each other and with the national figure, so the data does not show a clear winner.
  4. Your own odds are not your age group's average. Your clinic can tell you what they see for women with your age and your AMH and follicle count. Ask for that number in writing.

Donor eggs, for reference only: in SART's final 2023 national report, cycles using frozen donor eggs ended in a live birth 37.9% of the time per recipient cycle started (range 36.0–39.7). Each clinic's own donor numbers are small and swing widely, so ask the clinic directly.

2C. Illinois fertility insurance law: what to ask your employer and insurer

Illinois has one of the broadest fertility insurance laws in the country: Section 356m of the Illinois Insurance Code (215 ILCS 5/356m; official text on the Illinois General Assembly site). What it means for your PPO depends on one question: is your plan "fully insured" and issued in Illinois, or "self-funded"?

What the law requires (for plans it covers):

Who is NOT covered by the law: self-funded (self-insured) employer plans are exempt, because federal law (ERISA) governs them, and so are policies issued in another state. Many large employers' PPOs are self-funded even when a big insurer's name is on the card. If yours is, fertility coverage is whatever your employer chose to include. The Chicago patient in Section 4 learned only after starting treatment that her policy was written in another state.

Call HR first, then the insurer. Ask these, and write down the answers:

  1. "Is our medical plan fully insured or self-funded? If fully insured, in which state was the policy issued?"
  2. "Does the plan cover IVF? Is there a limit on egg retrievals or a lifetime dollar maximum?"
  3. "Does a cycle cancelled before egg retrieval count against that limit?"
  4. "Are fertility medications covered under the medical benefit, the pharmacy benefit, or not at all?"
  5. "Is prior authorization needed for IVF, embryo freezing or genetic testing of embryos?"
  6. "Are donor egg costs covered?"
  7. "Do we use a fertility benefit manager (Progyny, Carrot, WINFertility or similar)? Which of these is in network: Northwestern Medicine, UChicago Medicine, Fertility Centers of Illinois, UI Health?"

On cost: none of the three main clinics posts IVF prices online; their financial counselors price your plan after the first visit. For a rough sense, NBC Chicago (August 25, 2026) cited an average of $23,474 per IVF cycle in 2026, a figure from the fertility benefits company Carrot. Medications are often extra. Ask each clinic for a written, itemized estimate of a full cycle and of a cancelled cycle.

3. Next steps

How to reach each specialist (from each clinic's own page, November 1, 2026):

Your first call — three questions
None of the doctors' public pages says whether the doctor is taking new patients, how long the wait is, or whether a referral is needed, so ask these on the first call:
1. Is Dr. [name] seeing new IVF patients right now?
2. What is the current wait for a first visit (in person or virtual)?
3. Do you need a referral from my OB-GYN, and can I send my AMH and ultrasound reports before the visit?

Your 3 steps this week:

  1. Gather your results in one place: your AMH value and the date it was drawn, any antral follicle count ultrasound report, day-3 FSH/estradiol if done, other bloodwork, any prior fertility treatment records, and your partner's semen analysis if he has had one.
  2. Call HR (then your insurer) with the seven questions in Section 2C before your first consultation: the answers decide which clinics are in network and how many cycles are covered.
  3. Call two in-network clinics with the three questions in the box above.

4. Stories from families who have been there

We looked for first-person accounts from people with low reserve. We found one from Chicago, told on local TV news and on a clinic podcast, and one from a patient forum. Neither is typical, and your path may be very different.

  1. Chicago, local TV news (ABC7 Chicago, "Chicago mother joins fight to further protect Illinois IVF law…", March 14, 2024). Stephanie Vojas Taylor married at 34 and started trying right away. "It just wasn't happening," she says; her egg count was low. Her first IUI led to a pregnancy that ended in miscarriage, and two more IUI cycles did not work. She moved on to IVF: "With that second cycle, we were able to get a viable egg that turned into a viable embryo." Her son was born on May 12, 2020; a second son followed in September 2021 without fertility treatment. In a podcast published by Fertility Centers of Illinois, where she was a patient (episode date not shown on the page), she says learning she had diminished ovarian reserve left her feeling "very ashamed and alone," and that she found out only after starting treatment that her insurance policy was not written in Illinois, so it had no mandated fertility coverage. She was younger than you when she started (about 35). Tone: candid, hopeful. Read the ABC7 story · podcast transcript (clinic-published)
  2. Patient forum post (HealthUnlocked, UK, June 24, 2022). A 37-year-old with low AMH writes during her third cycle: in cycle one, four eggs were collected and none fertilized; in cycle two, one slow-growing embryo was transferred and did not work; now her estrogen was rising slowly and the cycle might be cancelled. In the replies, another woman with low reserve says she once went ahead to retrieval with slow-rising estrogen and got no eggs, and in hindsight feels cancelling "would have been the kinder option." The outcome is not posted. Different country, same questions. Read the thread

What these have in common: cancelled cycles, insurance surprises and retrievals with few or no usable eggs. The cancellation and cost questions in Section 7 come from these stories.

5. Ready-to-send messages

Email to the clinic (copy, fill the brackets, send through the clinic's appointment form or portal):

Subject: New patient request — low ovarian reserve, considering IVF
Hello, I am 39 and live in Chicago. I was recently told I have low ovarian reserve (my AMH was [value] on [date]). My partner and I are considering IVF. Dr. [name]'s interest in low ovarian reserve is why we are contacting your clinic. Could you tell us:
(1) whether Dr. [name] is seeing new IVF patients, (2) the current wait for a first visit, and whether a virtual first visit is possible, (3) whether a referral is needed, and (4) how to send my AMH, ultrasound and bloodwork reports before the visit?
Our insurance is [insurer name] PPO through my employer [fertility benefit manager, if any]. Thank you, [name, phone]

Phone script (first 30 seconds): "Hi, I'm calling to schedule a new patient IVF consultation with Dr. [name]. I'm 39 and I've been told I have low ovarian reserve. Is Dr. [name] seeing new patients? What's the wait for a first visit, and is there a virtual option? Do you need a referral, and how do I send my AMH and ultrasound results before the visit? Can a financial counselor check my insurance before I come in?" Write down: the person's name, the date, the answer, the next step.

6. One-page summary to bring to the appointment

Name: ______________ Age: 39 Partner: ______________ What I've been told: low ovarian reserve (low AMH)

My results (fill in):

Current medications and supplements: ______

Insurance: ______ PPO · fully insured or self-funded: ______ · fertility benefit manager: ______ · IVF covered: yes / no · retrieval limit: ______ · medications covered under: ______

My 3 most important questions today:

  1. Given my AMH and age, what does your clinic see for women like me: chance of reaching retrieval, of getting an embryo, of a live birth per started cycle?
  2. When would you stop (cancel) a cycle, and what does that cost me?
  3. When and how do you discuss donor eggs?

What I want from this visit: a written plan for the next 3 months, an itemized cost estimate, and a clear contact person.

7. Questions to ask the specialist

  1. How many patients with low ovarian reserve do you personally treat each year?
  2. What results do you see for women my age with an AMH and follicle count like mine? Share of cycles that reach egg retrieval, share that produce at least one embryo to transfer or freeze, and live births per started cycle.
  3. What is your rule for cancelling a cycle before retrieval? How few growing follicles would make you stop? Who makes that call, and do I get a say?
  4. What do I pay if a cycle is cancelled? Is any of the fee refunded or credited to the next cycle?
  5. What is the all-in cost of one cycle (monitoring, medications, anesthesia, retrieval, lab work, embryo freezing, a year of storage, a frozen transfer)? Can I have that in writing? Would I qualify for a multi-cycle or refund program with my AMH?
  6. Some people with low reserve do more than one retrieval before any transfer ("embryo banking"). Is that something you would consider for me, and how is each retrieval billed?
  7. Would you suggest genetic testing of embryos (PGT-A) for me? How do you decide when there are only one or two embryos?
  8. When do you bring up donor eggs, and how does your program work? Own donors or egg banks, wait time, total cost, results.
  9. What testing does my partner need before we start?
  10. Will I see you at each step, or a rotating team? Who is my day-to-day contact?
  11. Are there lab closures or holiday pauses coming up that affect when I can start?
  12. What warning signs during or after a cycle should make me call you or go to the ER?

8. Your support after this report

This report is general information to help you find and talk to specialists. It is not medical advice, does not identify or confirm any condition, and does not recommend a treatment. Clinic success rates are shown as published by SART and reported by the clinics; they are averages, are not your personal odds, and cannot be used to rank clinics. Insurance rules are summarized for orientation only and are not legal advice; your plan documents and your insurer have the final word. Treatment decisions belong to you and your doctors. No doctor or hospital pays to be included in this report.

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