After public outcry against last month's decision to close the University of Wisconsin fertility clinic, two UW officials said Sunday the clinic would remain open.
UW Hospital initially made the decision March 22 to close the clinic — the only clinic in Madison providing in vitro fertilization, along with a variety of high-end fertility treatments — by the end of June.
According to Carl Getto, senior vice president for medical affairs at UW Hospital, the decision was made after an internal review of the clinic's services determined it was too small to serve the three physicians operating it, and lacked privacy and a "continuity of care" for its patients because it did not offer labor and delivery services. As a result of the internal review, Getto said UW Hospital ultimately decided that the clinic did not fit into UW Hospital's "strategic plan."
However, after receiving criticism from the Madison community about the decision, Jeffrey Grossman, president of the UW Medical Foundation, said UW Hospital decided to continue the fertility clinic's services.
"We heard from the community and the community said loud and clear it was imperative to continue the services," Grossman said. "It was clear that was the will of the community."
Grossman added that plans to transition the fertility clinic's services to a new location in Middleton have "been in the works since late summer, early fall 2005." However, Getto said those plans were put on hold after the UW Medical Foundation discovered growing tensions between the clinic's three physicians.
"As the foundation got right up to leasing the property, the three physicians in the clinic told [Grossman] and other people in the foundation that they wouldn't work with each other," Getto said. "We don't really know what those reasons are yet."
Though neither Getto nor Grossman would comment on whether the personal issues were resolved or if the physicians would continue to work together, they said the plan to eventually move the clinic to Middleton will move forward.
"We will deal with the personnel issues as we move towards fulfilling the plans," Grossman said.
Both Grossman and Getto said there was no specific timeline for when the fertility clinic's move to Middleton would be completed, but Grossman said all of the fertility clinic's services — including in vitro fertilization — would continue to be offered at its current location at UW Hospital until that time.
According to Getto, the UW Medical Foundation plans to take over running the fertility clinic — which is currently operated by UW Hospital — when it makes the move to its new Middleton location.
Getto said the foundation now has to go back to the developers to re-plan the space the fertility clinic would take over, and that it would take nine months for a new in vitro fertilization laboratory to get "up and running."
In the meantime, both Getto and Grossman said the decision to continue to offer the fertility clinic's services was the right one.
"We're fairly confident that people will be supportive, given the comments we've heard over the last two weeks," Getto said. "And the lack of continuity is much less important than the fact that there would be no fertility clinic in Madison."
