Optimizing Infertility Treatment

Activity description 

Effective and cost-efficient infertility treatment is dependent upon competent care that incorporates updated algorithms and recent advances in evaluation and treatment. This activity will provide participants with an overview of contemporary infertility treatment paradigms, including an examination of effective infertility options, their associated outcomes and the cost-effectiveness of these approaches. A review of the risks, issues and costs of in vitro fertilization (IVF), such as multiple gestation, will be provided, along with a discussion of the utilization of elective single embryo transfer, preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy and their benefits and limitations. 

Provided by
This activity is jointly provided by Optum Health Education and Optum Health Solutions.

Commercial support
There was no commercial support received for this activity.

Required hardware/software
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Target Audience

This activity is designed to meet the educational needs of nurse practitioners, PAs and physicians who have an interest in infertility.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this educational activity, participants should be able to:

  • Describe the diagnosis and etiologies of infertility and general approaches to its evaluation and associated outcomes. 
  • Identify important characteristics and outcomes of cost-effective treatments.
  • Examine the IVF process and approaches to minimize multiple gestations following infertility treatment.
  • Define the merits and limitations of elective single embryo transfer.
Activity summary
Available credit: 
  • 1.00 AMA - Physicians
  • 1.00 ANCC - Nurses
  • 1.00 Attendance - General Attendance
Activity opens: 
09/19/2022
Activity expires: 
09/19/2025
Rating: 
0

Presenter
Alexander M. Dlugi, MD
National Medical Director – Fertility Solutions, Women’s Health | Optum Health Solutions
 
As National Medical Director for Fertility Solutions at Optum, Dr. Dlugi oversees the overall medical direction of programs and services that offer education, guidance and access to high-quality providers though Optum’s Centers of Excellence network. These programs offer high-quality options for infertility diagnosis and treatment to improve outcomes and manage health care costs.

With three decades of clinical and administrative experience in women’s health, Dr. Dlugi has designed and launched numerous top-notch reproductive endocrinology and infertility programs throughout the U.S. In his role at Optum, he develops best care practice guidelines, and evaluates and promotes the Centers of Excellence. He actively supports sales, contracting and production in the development and promotion of benefit design relating to infertility treatment. He is also heavily involved in utilization review and management, ascertaining compliance with benefit language and best care practices.

Dr. Dlugi joined Optum in March 2011. Prior to that he spent 10 years as medical director of a private infertility practice. He has also served as the division head of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey, the Henry Ford Medical System in Michigan and Mount Auburn Hospital in Massachusetts. He has also been a faculty member at Tufts University, Harvard University, the University of Michigan and Columbia University. 

He received his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, at Yale University and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his internship and residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, as well as a fellowship at Yale University. He also earned an MBA from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Dr. Dlugi is a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the Society of Reproductive Endocrinologists and the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology. He is widely published and has served as an ad hoc editor of Fertility and Sterility. He continues to be an invited speaker and faculty member at numerous national and international specialty society meetings.

Activity planners
Elizabeth Albert, MD
Clinical Activity Manager
Optum Health Education

Disclosures of relevant financial relationships
In accordance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education's (ACCME) Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education, Optum Health Education (OHE) requires all those in control of educational content to disclose their financial relationships with ineligible companies within the prior 24 months. Ineligible companies are defined by the ACCME as companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing health care products used by or on patients. Individuals must disclose all financial relationships, regardless of the amount, with ineligible companies and regardless of their view of the relevance of the relationship to the education. OHE ensures that the content is independent of commercial bias.

The activity faculty or planners have no financial relationships to disclose.

Method for calculating CE credit
CE credit was calculated by the complexity of content.

Accreditation statement
Joint Accreditation LogoIn support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Optum Health Education and Optum Health Solutions. Optum Health Education is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Credit designation statements

Physicians
Optum Health Education designates this enduring activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

PAs
The American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME.

Nurses
The participant will be awarded up to 1.0 contact hour(s) of credit for attendance and completion of supplemental materials.

Nurse practitioners
The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Program (AANPCP) accepts credit from organizations accredited by the ACCME and ANCC.

Attendance
A certificate of attendance will be provided to learners upon completion of activity requirements, enabling participants to register with licensing boards or associations that have not been pre-approved for credits. To apply for credit types not listed above, participants should use the procedure established by the specific organization with which they wish to obtain credit.

Available Credit

  • 1.00 AMA - Physicians
  • 1.00 ANCC - Nurses
  • 1.00 Attendance - General Attendance
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