Syracuse-based fertility clinic has facilitated the birth of more than 20,000 babies
By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
Board-certified reproductive endocrinologist Rob Kiltz could little imagine in 1997 that his concept of a low-cost fertility clinic would birth eight fertility clinics and four wellness-oriented spas.
One of the reasons that his practice has been so successful is that it provides fertility treatments at affordable rates.
CNY Fertility’s treatments start at $4,900. The national average is $12,000 and at some clinics, the costs can soar to $30,000.
CNY Fertility also provides in-house financing—virtually unheard of in the industry—without a credit check. More than 20,000 babies have been born through the work of CNY Fertility.
Currently, Kiltz operates fertility centers and spas in Syracuse, Rochester, Atlanta and Albany and fertility centers sans spas in Buffalo, Montreal, Colorado Springs, and Philadelphia.
In addition to breaking the financial barriers to care, Kiltz accepts more challenging cases, such as age, body mass index, and low hormone levels. Any of these issues can make achieving pregnancy harder and some fertility clinics decline working with these patients.
CNY Fertility provides invitro fertilization, genetic testing, reproductive immunology, frozen embryo transfer and elective single embryo transfer. CNY Fertility works with providers local to patients’ homes for preliminary testing and monitoring. This helps reduce travel expenses as another benefit to patients.
The offices with spas provide wellness care, including acupuncture, skincare, massage therapy and yoga for fertility.
“We’re also getting our Healing Arts to partner with other practitioners in the area,” Kiltz said. “We’re connecting with acupuncture, yoga and massage therapist around New York and even beyond that to help build their businesses when it comes to those seeking fertility.”
The Healing Arts locations support patients seeking help for other issues, including pain, anxiety and depression.
The pandemic proved a busy time for both CNY Healing Arts and CNY Fertility.
“People want more natural ways to care for their health and there’s maybe more focus on families, and building families,” Kiltz said. “They may have anxiety, depression and they’re seeking a combination of Western treatments and integrating Eastern modalities like yoga, meditation, prayer, acupuncture and massage.”
Kiltz said that his colleagues in the fertility world have also expressed that their businesses have been busy.
“When we see the tremendous loss of life, maybe it gets us to realize our families are so important,” Kiltz said. “When it’s not happening naturally, we’re seeking it out.”
Currently, Kiltz is working on expanding CNY Fertility in Syracuse and developing Fertile Spirit, an online emotional support and online fertile yoga. As an unexpected outcome of the pandemic, much of Kiltz’s time these days is spent in phone or video conferences with clients around the globe.
He has launched a line of private label supplements to support fertility for men and women.
As for his current goals for CNY Fertility and CNY Healing arts, “it’s about supporting our practitioners to better provide care to their clients,” Kiltz said.
“We want people to know who we are, what we are and what we do. It’s focusing how our practitioners can better share their knowledge through live webinars, supplements and other services that maybe don’t require clients to come see them personally.”
This strategy can help increase the reach of CNY Fertility and CNY Healing Arts, regardless of where clients live.
“We’re hoping to build that even more,” he added. “It’s not one way or the other. We need both ways so we want to integrate the personal touch face to face. That’s required for acupuncture and massage, but self-care and acupressure points, meditation, prayer, yoga and tai chi they can learn remotely. Or, taking a walk in nature to listen to an inspiring podcast by one of our practitioners.”
He plans to open a fertility clinic in Sarasota, Florida, in a few months and is eying California, Texas and the Midwest.
“I may consider someday franchising this out but it’s the personal touch that really matters to people,” Kiltz said. “I started this 25 years ago and never dreamed it would grow this much in this amount of time. We see the need for more affordable care for fertility and healing arts. If we keep the dream there, it will unfold.”
