# ART Provider and Patient Resource to Improve Communication about Outcomes and Treatment (APRICOT)

> **NIH ALLCDC R43** · CHARLES RIVER ANALYTICS, INC. · 2021 · $243,459

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 Infertility affects an estimated 8-12% of reproductive-aged couples, leading many to seek assisted
reproductive technologies (ART) treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), gamete intrafallopian transfer
(GIFT), and zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT). Approximately 1.9% of infants born in the United States each
year are conceived using ART. The Fertility Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act (FCSRCA) of 1992
mandates that clinics performing ART treatment annually report success rate data to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC); however, clinics face challenges in collecting accurate pregnancy outcome
information from these patients or the patients' new healthcare providers. To collect pregnancy outcomes, ART
clinics rely on traditional outreach methods, including telephone, mail, and email, to obtain information from
patients, who may be out of state or even country, and their obstetric providers. This process requires significant
effort, often requiring multiple attempts. However, collecting this information is important because the CDC uses
ART surveillance data to monitor the success rates of treatments performed in the U.S. and to characterize the
short- and long-term health effects of ART on patients and infants conceived after ART treatments.
 To improve the response rates and data quality while reducing per patient costs, Charles River Analytics and
our collaborator, Dr. Shruthi Mahalingaiah from Massachusetts General Hospital, propose to design and evaluate
an ART Provider and Patient Resource to Improve Communication about Outcomes and Treatment (APRICOT).
APRICOT is a health information technology (HIT) application to alleviate the burden on assisted reproductive
technology (ART) clinics associated with collecting pregnancy outcomes from prior ART patients and the
patients' other healthcare providers. Under this Phase I effort, we will use human factors engineering methods,
including qualitative research methods, contextual design, and user acceptance testing, to elicit clinic and patient
user requirements, design candidate workflows and user interfaces, and demonstrate the feasibility of developing
APRICOT. Our effort will establish ART clinic and patient user requirements and produce conceptual designs for
a pregnancy outcome reporting platform that facilitates streamlined communication between ART clinics and
their patients. APRICOT will enable fertility clinics to collect pregnancy outcome information efficiently and
effectively from prior ART patients and the patients' other healthcare providers. APRICOT will assist clinics in
meeting federally mandated reporting requirements by reducing the effort required of clinic staff to collect
pregnancy outcome information from previous ART patients and their obstetric providers, helping clinics to
realize time and monetary cost savings in collecting pregnancy outcomes from prior patients.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10384472
- **Project number:** 1R43DP006690-01
- **Recipient organization:** CHARLES RIVER ANALYTICS, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Nicolette McGeorge
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $243,459
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-30 → 2022-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10384472

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10384472, ART Provider and Patient Resource to Improve Communication about Outcomes and Treatment (APRICOT) (1R43DP006690-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10384472. Licensed CC0.

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