Modern San Francisco Fertility Clinic Aims To Reinvent Women's Health Care
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- From the street, Kindbody looks more like a retail store than a doctor's office, and once inside, it doesn't exactly feel like a traditional medical office, either.
Kindbody is a modern, full-service women's health and fertility clinic on Sutter Street in San Francisco that wants to reinvent the experience.
"I heard about Kindbody through an Instagram ad and I had been seeing it for months, and I was actually looking for some kind of women's care place that would feel comfortable," said patient Fahria Omar. "All of the places that I've been to are kind of scary."
Omar is one of Kindbody's newest patients. On Tuesday, she was getting her blood drawn as part of a fertility hormone test. It's one of many services offered at Kindbody, which wants to make gynecological care and fertility treatments more affordable and accessible.
"We are the only fertility clinic in the country that lets patients just go online and just make the appointments, you can make the appointment at midnight, you don't actually have to talk to someone," said Dr. Lynn Westphal, Chief Medical Officer at Kindbody. "And we make the spaces just very comfortable."
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lynn Westphal joined from Stanford University School of Medicine. She hopes Kindbody will help normalize the conversation around fertility and service women of all ages.
"We really want to make it comprehensive, and we want to support women across their life, whether they're 25 and need a Pap, or they're 60 and need their hormone therapy," said Dr. Westphal.
The prices at Kindbody are lower than market averages, too. For example, egg freezing services start at $6,500 and IVF starts at $12,500.
Kindbody says it uses technology to increase efficiencies and works directly with employers to dramatically cut costs. It is also in network with most insurance plans. Kindbody is also venture-backed, and to date has raised $32 million, including an investment from Google Ventures.
CEO Gina Bartasi is a fertility industry veteran.
"Fertility, historically, has been the only vertical where it's very reactive, you have to be diagnosed as infertile before you take any proactive steps," said Bartasi. "And we want to change that dialogue and encourage women to be proactive about their reproductive health."
In addition to locations in New York and Los Angeles, Kindbody has big plans to expand in the Bay Area. Later this spring, it plan to open at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto.