About one in six people globally battle infertility, according to the World Health Organization. That’s why Ovia Health by Labcorp is launching a new fertility and family-building benefit for employers and health plans, the company announced last week.
Ovia Health — which was acquired by laboratory services company Labcorp in 2021 — is a digital family health benefits company that works with payers and employers. The Boston-based company’s services range from menstrual tracking to family-building support to menopause support. Through the Ovia Health app, users can access on-demand health coaching, a personalized care plan and one-on-one support from family health experts.
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The new fertility and family building benefit, which will become available in January, helps employers and health plans provide a customizable offering to their employees and members. This includes the Ovia Wallet, which is a financial tool that allows employers to provide funds for eligible services, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), egg freezing, adoption and surrogacy. Employees will have access to several different payment options, including a digital wallet, a debit card and reimbursement options. Ovia Health partnered with financial technology company First Dollar to provide the Ovia Wallet.
In addition to the financial support, Ovia Health’s new benefit offers care navigation services to help employees and members find fertility clinics, providers, surrogacy agencies and adoption agencies. They also have access to one-on-one concierge support from Ovia’s care team for their family-building needs.
“Ovia is there with our members throughout their healthcare and reproductive journeys to help them begin with a healthy start before conception,” said Jenny Carrillo, Ph.D., president of Ovia Health, in an email. “We help them conceive without assisted reproductive technology (ART), if desired and if possible, and if they need ART, we will direct them to a network of providers that follow Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) standards.” ART is the use of technology to achieve pregnancy. IVF is one example of ART.
The new offering comes at a time when people are starting families later in their lives. In addition, 63% of LGBTQ+ Millennials are thinking about expanding their families by becoming first-time parents or having more children, and many plan to use ART, foster care or adoption to become parents.
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“Many individuals and families pursuing fertility, adoption and/or surrogacy may feel isolated and unsupported to understand these complex processes, while many are excluded from these processes because of existing health inequities that hinder equitable access to care,” Carrillo said. “Ovia’s goal is to deliver equitable, more comprehensive support for all family building journeys — from preconception health through pregnancy, postpartum, and beyond.”
Several other companies are in the fertility and family planning space as well, including Progyny, Kindbody and Carrot Fertility.
Photo: Natali_Mis, Getty Images
