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• Surrogacy and legal parenthood – changes from 1 October 2013

22 September 2011

Dear Colleague

Notification of changes to treatment fees

The HFEA is pleased to announce formally a reduction in treatment fees from 1 October 2011. Following approval from HM Treasury and the Department of Health to proposals agreed by the Authority on 13 July, the fees will be:

• £75 for each chargeable IVF treatment (down from £104.50)
• £37.50 for each chargeable DI treatment (down from £52)

This is a significant reduction of 28% in treatment fees and is expected to lower the amount that centres pay to the HFEA by about £1.6m in a full year. A similar percentage reduction is being made to the support grant from the Department of Health. We have been able to reduce the fees because we have successfully reduced our costs, both through cutting expenditure and improving efficiency.

The HFEA expects that this will be good news for patients as, for fee-paying patients, charges ought to be reduced. For NHS patients, lower HFEA fees should free up resources for more treatments.

What you need to do

Following information published in our July and August editions of Clinic Focus, you should already be preparing to implement the reduction by making changes to your information for patients and billing processes. Please make sure that this is ready for 1 October.

Chargeable cycles completed before 1 October 2011 will be charged at the current, higher rates. The completion date is the date of embryo transfer or insemination. Refunds or credits arising from corrections or later submission of forms will be determined at the rate applying on the date of embryo transfer or insemination.

The HFEA is now working to deliver the discount fee for treatments following elective Single Embryo Transfer (eSET) as previously announced. We expect to implement this discount in April 2012. We will continue to keep fee levels under regular review but have agreed with HM Treasury and the Department to postpone a full review of HFEA fees until the outcome of any future organisation changes becomes clear.

If you have any queries about the new fee structure, please contact either your Inspector or the HFEA Head of Finance, Rachael Henry, on 0207 291 8296 / 8200 or Rachael.Henry@hfea.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

 

Lisa Jardine CBE
Chair

Page last updated: 17 August 2012

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