The U.S. has seen a massive expansion in private equity-linked fertility clinics since 2013, new research shows.

The peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in December 2025 found that more than half of IVF cycles in the U.S. in 2023 were done at clinics affiliated with private equity firms, or investment funds that raise capital to acquire and manage companies. 

Researchers examined the relationship between private equity firms and fertility clinics in the U.S. between 2013 and 2023. They found that in 2013, less than 4 percent of fertility clinics were affiliated with private equity firms, but in the decade that followed, private equity-linked clinics soared. By the end of 2023, 32 percent of the roughly 500 clinics that shared data with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2022 were affiliated with private equity firms. In 14 states and Washington, D.C., 50 percent of fertility clinics studied had ties to private equity by the end of 2023. 

This uptick in private equity involvement comes amid an increased focus on U.S. fertility rates.

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Fertility rates have been on the decline in the U.S. since the early 2000s. In 2024, the U.S. reached its lowest-ever fertility rate, with about 1.6 kids per woman. And on the 2024 campaign trail, now-President Donald Trump said he would expand IVF (in vitro fertilization) access—a promise that remains unfulfilled. 

Research on private equity affiliations in other medical specialities has shown mixed impacts on quality of care, including poorer nurse staffing and the hiring of less experienced providers. Private equity has also been linked to increased costs for patients and insurance companies.

Rewire News Group spoke with one of the paper’s authors, University of Michigan infertility specialist Dr. James Dupree, about........

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