Assessment of United States fertility clinic websites according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM)/Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) guidelines

Objective To evaluate SART-member fertility clinic websites for their compliance with the 2004 ASRM/SART guidelines for advertising (which is deemed mandatory for clinic membership), to survey the general characteristics of the websites, and to assess differences between academic and private clinic websites. Design Cross-sectional evaluation. Setting The Internet. Patients None. Interventions None. Main Outcome Measures Eleven objective criteria based on 2004 ASRM/SART guidelines for advertising and eight objective criteria for general characteristics of fertility clinic websites. Results All 384 SART-registered clinics were evaluated; 289 (75.3%) had functional websites (211 private, 78 academic). Success rates were published on 51% of websites (117 private, 31 academic), the majority of which were private clinics (p=.025). The percentage of fertility clinic websites adhering to ASRM/SART guidelines was low in all categories (ranging from 2.8%-54.5% in private centers and 1.3%–37.2% in academic centers). No statistically significant difference was found in the services offered at private versus academic clinics. Conclusion A significant proportion of SART-member fertility clinics, both private and academic, that have websites are not following the ASRM/SART guidelines for advertising. Increased dissemination and awareness of the guidelines is warranted.