November 13, 2019

Lanham contributes to IVF Insurance Coverage Study In HealthLab Article

The study detailed in the M Health Lab found that once UM's insurance coverage changed to include IVF treatments, there was a an increase in the rate of IVF, nine times higher, for lower-salaried women. Michael Lanham commented further on his role in the study.

“Because infertility treatment and specifically in vitro fertilization is often not covered by insurance, using billing data to identify patients who had done IVF in the past was a challenge.  This study presented a unique opportunity to look at services that would have been billed to insurance (certain medications and ultrasounds) and determine what might be able to be used as a proxy for an in vitro fertilization cycle.  I was happy to be able to provide information about the patterns that you might see in these billing codes among patients pursuing this treatment, while not accidentally including patients doing other types of fertility treatment.  Having been the medical director at the clinic during the implementation of the insurance changes, it was exciting to be a part of this study to document how that coverage changed our patient population and improved equity among UM employees for accessing fertility care.”

Michael Lanham, MD

Associate Chief Medical Information Officer
Associate Professor of Learning Health Sciences
Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Michigan Medicine