Since 2016, Alto has supported over 20,000 patients through their fertility journey. In this post we'll provide guidance on how to select the right fertility pharmacy. In addition, we'll share the benefits of selecting Alto as your fertility pharmacy. 

What to Consider When Selecting a Fertility Pharmacy

Your Choice of Fertility Pharmacy Matters

Chances are if you’re reading this you’ve made a decision to undergo fertility treatment or know someone who might be soon. To begin with, know that you are not alone. Approximately 1 in 8 women in the US are affected by infertility, and more than 20,000 women have now decided to have their eggs frozen. 

Since 2016, Alto has supported over 20,000 patients through their fertility journey, and several team members have gone through the journey themselves. We know this can be an emotionally, financially, and physically challenging experience. That’s why we believe choosing the right pharmacy can help you avoid additional stress caused by waiting for hours on hold, tracking down your medication delivery, and navigating insurance benefits.

Think of your pharmacy as an extension of the care you receive from your physician. You wouldn’t choose just any fertility clinic, right? The same goes for where you choose to receive your fertility medications. Fertility treatment is stressful enough. Your pharmacy partner should provide the reassurance and reliability you deserve.  

In this post we'll share guidance on how to select the right fertility pharmacy. First, we’ll explain why it's important to use a pharmacy with a strong fertility focus (versus any neighborhood or mail-order pharmacy). And since not all fertility pharmacies are the same, we’ll also offer five considerations to make sure you have the smoothest experience possible. Finally, we’ll share the benefits of selecting Alto as your fertility pharmacy. 

At a minimum, credible and experienced fertility pharmacies will employ:

An expert clinical team: This includes pharmacists who are knowledgeable on and experienced with the medications and dosing unique to fertility treatments.

Temperature controlled packaging: Medications can go bad if they are not shipped or stored at the proper temperature. Fertility pharmacies will provide the appropriate packaging to ensure your medications arrive in good condition. This is especially important in warm climates. 

Proper supplies: Fertility pharmacies will be familiar with the variety of needles/syringes that you may need for your injection. This is crucial because it can be stressful if incorrect supplies are included which may lead to a missed dose. In addition, supplies such as alcohol swabs and disposal containers should always be included.

Learn more: [The View From Both Sides of the Fertility Pharmacy Experience]

Here are five additional things you should consider when selecting a pharmacy partner: 

1) Easy, proactive communication - After your clinic sends your prescription to the pharmacy you’ll likely have questions related to insurance, what to expect when receiving your medications, and most importantly, when they will be ready. For that reason it’s important to take into account what types of communication are offered - phone, text, email, mobile app - and typical response times and operating hours. Pharmacies with weekend/evening support hours are most beneficial in ensuring you’ll get live support when you actually need help.

2) Affordability assistance - Fertility benefits are confusing and it can be hard to understand just how much you’ll need to spend on medications. Most fertility pharmacies will work with leading financing and loan providers and can administer manufacturer discount programs if asked. A great fertility pharmacy will go above and beyond to connect you with financial assistance programs for qualifying prescriptions.

3) Local, timely delivery - Your medication protocol can change even after you start your injections - perhaps your physician wants to add a different trigger shot to prevent over-stimulation or decides to add days to your schedule because of the rate at which your follicles are growing. You can avoid these stressful situations if you select a pharmacy that is local and can promise fast same-day delivery. The last thing you need to worry about is mail-order delays or waiting in line at a pharmacy for hours. 

4) Pharmacist support - You’ll most likely have questions about your fertility medications (i.e. How do I know I’m injecting correctly? My clinic just changed my medications, what do I do?) so think of your fertility pharmacist like an extension of your #TTC community in that they should be an advocate on your side. Make sure the pharmacy you choose offers support and expert resources like guidance on injections, tools for managing your protocol and help understanding medication options - including late at night and on the weekends!

5) Community reviews - Just like you researched clinic and physician reviews, you should do the same with your pharmacy choice. Head to Yelp, Facebook, and any other feedback platform that showcases patient testimonials. Pharmacy experience matters but so does the experience of others. See if any reviews or blogs exist that mention specific fertility pharmacies. You’ll thank yourself (and those before you) for taking the time to do your due diligence. 

The fertility team at Alto will reach out as soon as we get your prescription so you don’t have to worry about waiting on hold or standing in line at a pharmacy. We’ll proactively investigate your insurance coverage, provide options to maximize your benefits and offer qualifying rebate programs. 

And because we know you’re busy with life, we offer a mobile app that allows you to securely schedule your delivery or message a pharmacist if you aren’t able to call us. You can take care of your pharmacy needs wherever you are and on your schedule. Alto pharmacists are always available until 9 pm each night (including weekends) to answer questions. 

When it comes to the time sensitive nature of your treatment, being locally-based makes a critical difference. Medications may be increased, decreased, or stopped altogether. At Alto, patients always receive free, same-day delivery by our own Alto courier team, even on weekends. 

We also offer the ability to select the 2 to 3-hour delivery window that works best for you either at home or work. Once your delivery is scheduled you’ll receive text updates along the way so you know exactly when your courier will arrive.

Your medications are packaged to give you the necessary information to avoid common mistakes (e.g.which meds go into the fridge). And Alto’s dedicated fertility pharmacists are always just a phone call or text away to answer your questions about injections, supplies, and more. So if you're about to inject and suddenly forget something, you don't need to wake up your physician - you can give us a call.

We’ll also follow up with you to remind you about qualifying rebates and provide instructions on how to apply. Our patients find this especially helpful given they have enough to remember. 

Sam shares why serving fertility patients is so rewarding

The team at Alto is ready to be your partner through it all, from your first cycle to your last. Questions about using Alto? Visit alto.com/fertility or give us a call at 1-800-874-5881. Our team is available 9 am - 9 pm PT Monday - Friday and 10 am - 6 pm PT on weekends. 

What to Consider When Selecting a Fertility Pharmacy 

How Alto Pharmacy provided support and peace of mind during my embryo freezing process

I’m 33 years old and have been married for three years. I don’t have any children yet, but have always known I wanted a family. I have spent much of my career working in healthcare and have most recently worked at an education startup. I’m passionate about doing work that empowers women.

Many of my friends have gone through the egg freezing process, and my husband and I visited a clinic last year to learn more about our own fertility health and to explore the option of egg freezing as a future backup plan. The clinic we chose uses Alto for their fertility pharmacy services and referred me once we decided to go through a round of embryo freezing.

I had a great experience with Alto. The entire journey of learning about fertility preservation, deciding whether or not to go through with a procedure, and then starting the process is really stressful and often left me feeling like I needed a lot more information and guidance than was readily available. With Alto, everything about getting my prescriptions filled and finding answers to my questions was straightforward and dependable.

At my very first appointment, the clinical team decided to start me on medications that same night. I signed up with Alto, and they delivered my medications same-day within the span of a few hours. The customer service reps at Alto were really helpful and worked with an urgency that I appreciated given how out of control I felt in that initial phase of the treatment plan.

What I liked most about Alto was how dependable they were. When you’re going through a fertility preservation process, your prescription and medication needs change every few days for the duration of the treatment. There were several times where I got a prescription in the morning from my physician and needed to get the delivery that same day. Each time, Alto did a great job of making sure the medication was processed, scheduled for delivery and delivered on time. I didn’t have to stress that something would go wrong and the whole process would be messed up.

I also found that I could rely on Alto to help fill knowledge gaps about what was happening with my care. Each delivery included documents to explain exactly what the medications were for, something that wasn’t always clear when I got a prescription from the doctor. I appreciated Alto’s focus on customer service. They proactively reached out to give me updates about what to expect next, ensure my questions were answered, and even did small gestures like including a few caramels in each delivery that, while small, were appreciated.

I used to have a chronic disease, chronic idiopathic urticaria (hives), that required a specialty medication, and I had a really difficult time dealing with pharmacies and ensuring I got my medication correctly. I had to see one doctor to prescribe the medication, go in person to pick up the medication at a specialty pharmacy and then drive it in a cooler to a second, different doctor to administer it. With Alto, it was so much easier and straightforward to make sure I received my medications when I needed them, without having to leave home.

Alto was easy to work with and dependable which is so important and helpful. While the outcomes of my procedure were not what I had hoped for, I have no complaints at all with my experience with Alto. I would definitely recommend Alto to a friend considering egg freezing or IVF treatments.

Alto is the West Coast’s leading fertility pharmacy with more than 15,000 patients served. We’re open evenings and weekends, offer free delivery seven days a week, and will always work to help you find the best price. Interested in using Alto’s services for your fertility medications? Ask your doctor to send your prescriptions to Alto or give us a call at 1 (800) 874–5881.

This post was written by Rebecca G., a San Francisco Bay area operations and community builder, and Alto fertility patient.

How My Experience as an IVF Coordinator Showed Me the Importance of Alto’s Care Model

I knew from a very young age that I wanted to work with moms and babies. My mother ran a daycare from our home throughout my childhood, and for my sixth grade report on “what I want to be when I grow up,” I interviewed a well baby RN at a local hospital. After completing my Bachelor’s degree, I started working as front desk staff at a fertility clinic and I knew immediately that I had found my spot. I could work with soon-to-be moms and new moms every day.

I quickly shifted from the front desk to being a Medical Assistant for a physician where I was able to participate in ultrasounds, retrievals and transfers. The first time I was in a pregnancy ultrasound and heard a baby’s heartbeat, I was in tears and overcome with emotion. Eventually I transitioned into the role of IVF Coordinator where I was a key part of a patient’s — and their partner’s — journey to building a family.

I really got to know my patients — in fertility, you become a trusted confidant. Their loss is your loss, and their win is your win. While you might not bring your work home physically, emotionally the job never really leaves you — IVF coordinator was the most emotionally taxing job I’ll ever have. But each time we received a positive pregnancy test, it made up for all the ups and downs.

Alto’s model shouldn’t be so revolutionary, but it is. Clinics and patients don’t have to be okay with today’s standard pharmacy experience — Alto offers a fundamentally better model.

Fertility pharmacy plays a key role in a patient’s fertility journey. Medications need to arrive on time, in the correct assortment, with all necessary ancillary supplies. Often, the decision to change a dose or initiate a trigger shot means that medications are needed that same day or on the weekend. As an IVF coordinator, helping my patients make a decision about pharmacy was tricky — each pharmacy option offered some of the service qualities I was looking for, but no pharmacy offered all of the things I wanted for my patients. Remembering which pharmacy checked which boxes was really challenging.

It was so important to me that my patients were taken care of and receiving the highest quality of care. When they had questions, I was always available and responsive, even in the evenings and on weekends. What was most frustrating about working with fertility pharmacies was that when I’d send a prescription out, I’d have no control over the quality of the patient’s experience with the pharmacy.

For my patients, I wanted a pharmacy option that was accessible, responsive, cost conscious, and accountable for making sure nothing was getting lost or off track. For my clinic team, I wanted a pharmacy partner that didn’t require me to micromanage everything about a patient’s medications. I hated being the middle person between the patient and the pharmacy. The first time a pharmacy [Alto] came in and told me I could send any patient with any insurance to them and they would triage it, I thought, “We’ll send everything to them.”

Alto Pharmacy’s patient care model checked all those boxes. When I first heard about their same day delivery, evening and weekend hours and benefits coordination, it sounded too good to be true. Having access to a local fertility pharmacy with same day delivery was simply unheard of.

But if this was all true, it was clearly something that I wanted to be a part of. I knew from my experience as an IVF coordinator that this model served a crucial need for both patients and their care teams. I wanted to bring my knowledge and experience to help make the Alto care model even better than it already was.

What I quickly learned after joining Alto Pharmacy to help build partnerships with fertility clinics was that while same day delivery is extremely practical and necessary in fertility, it’s our patient care team that is the most standout quality. Our patient care staff have the same drive and commitment to helping build families that initially drew me to work in fertility. They genuinely care about the success of the treatment and making sure that the patients are being taken care of. This focus on the patient is unmatched in the pharmacy space — fertility pharmacy is not a truly personalized experience anywhere else but Alto.

The patient care team consistently goes above and beyond to make sure that patients have what they need, when they need it, so that cycles aren’t interrupted. Those same-day medication changes and trigger shot decisions mean that our team is processing late notice prescriptions and frequently staying late to get deliveries out the door. Many members of our patient care team have even driven medications direct to patient’s homes so that cycles stay on track. They know how much going the extra mile is going to relieve the patient’s stress.

What I like to tell people is that we haven’t found some magical secret sauce at Alto — we didn’t create texting, or mobile apps — but pharmacy has been behind the times for so long compared to many other industries and especially within healthcare. Alto’s model shouldn’t be so revolutionary, but it is. Clinics and patients don’t have to be okay with today’s standard pharmacy experience — Alto offers a fundamentally better model.

Alto is the West Coast’s leading fertility pharmacy with more than 15,000 patients served. We’re open evenings and weekends, offer free delivery seven days a week, and will always work to help you find the best price. Interested in using Alto’s services for your fertility medications? Ask your care team to send your prescriptions to Alto or give us a call at 1 (800) 874–5881.

Tina Simon is a Fertility Partnerships Manager for Alto Pharmacy in the San Francisco Bay area.

The View from Both Sides of the Fertility Pharmacy Experience

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We’ll answer your questions and concerns via text, app, email, or phone. Anytime (even late at night!).

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We’ve supported more than 30,000 patients.

Opening your first box of medications can feel overwhelming. Whether it’s step-by-step help, injection instructions, or just a little reassurance, our pharmacy team is here to put your mind at ease.

Can you walk me through my first injection?

Katie was in the thick of a busy workday when her clinic called to add a day of injections.

She texted us mid-meeting and we coordinated delivery just as she was getting home.

Everything you need. Exactly when you need it.

“Our team is dedicated to providing fertility medications at a better cost, working tirelessly behind-the-scenes to handle insurance and help you enroll in financial assistance programs.”

"We can do consultation through email, through text message, through the app... or even through a phone call"

Yes. We can fill all of the medications necessary for your cycle. This is true whether you're undergoing IVF, egg freezing, third party reproduction, or an IUI.

Do you carry the fertility medications I need?

Our team of fertility specialists is happy to create a price quote specific to your medication protocol. Submit an online request for a price quote and a fertility specialist will reach out to you in 1-2 business days via email, text, or phone. You can also talk to a fertility specialist to receive your quote over the phone by contacting us at 1 (800) 874-5881 and following the fertility menu prompts.

How much will my fertility medications cost?

We work with many fertility benefits programs, including ProgynyRx. Our team will always research your coverage first -- if we find your medication needs to be filled elsewhere, we'll facilitate the transfer.

Does Alto work with my fertility benefits program?

Alto will connect you with all manufacturer-sponsored financial assistance programs for qualifying prescriptions. Alto also works with many leading financing and loan providers.

Does Alto offer any financial assistance?

We’ll be your partner through it all, from your first cycle to your last.

Fertility treatment is complicated. Understanding your medications, navigating insurance, and managing deliveries take time and energy. We’re here to lighten your load.

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Fertility treatments are complicated. From managing deliveries, navigating insurance, to understanding your medication plan — we’re here to lighten your load.

A partner on your fertility journey.

We’ve supported more than 30,000 patients.

On your schedule

On your side

Here for you, anytime

We’re here to guide you.

Everything you need. Exactly when you need it.

“Our team is dedicated to providing fertility medications at a better cost, working tirelessly behind-the-scenes to handle insurance and help you enroll in financial assistance programs.”

"We can do consultation through email, through text message, through the app... or even through a phone call"

FAQs

Do you carry the fertility medications I need?

How much will my fertility medications cost?

Does Alto work with my fertility benefits program?

Does Alto offer any financial assistance?

Tell your clinic you'd like to use Alto.

A partner on your fertility journey.

We’ve supported more than 30,000 patients.

On your schedule

On your side

Here for you, anytime

We’re here to guide you.

Everything you need. Exactly when you need it.

“Our team is dedicated to providing fertility medications at a better cost, working tirelessly behind-the-scenes to handle insurance and help you enroll in financial assistance programs.”

From Our Blog

What to Consider When Selecting a Fertility Pharmacy

My Fertility Preservation Story

The View from Both Sides of the Fertility Pharmacy Experience

"We can do consultation through email, through text message, through the app... or even through a phone call"

FAQs

Do you carry the fertility medications I need?

How much will my fertility medications cost?

Does Alto work with my fertility benefits program?

Does Alto offer any financial assistance?

Tell your clinic you'd like to use Alto.