A satellite system for assisted reproductive technologies: an evaluation.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Satellite System for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) was initiated in 1984, and now serves most of North Carolina and parts of two adjoining states. The system was established to enhance the care of infertile couples at the community level, to assure a sufficiently large volume of patients at UNC Hospitals to support appropriate quality control measures, and to allow couples undergoing ART to have most of their care in their own community. This paper reports an assessment of the outcome of this program. Neither pregnancy rates, nor any other measurable result of the program differed between patients managed in the satellites and those cared for at UNC Hospitals.