How one clinic can avoid Sunday retrievals and smooth daily volume

Challenge

A smaller US-based fertility clinic had two primary goals: cap daily retrievals at four and avoid scheduling on Sundays. But from July through September 2024, they exceeded their four-retrieval threshold on 14 days (15% of the time) and were forced to schedule retrievals on 7 Sundays.

Outcome

To address this, the clinic implemented Alife’s Schedule Predict™ tool. A retrospective analysis showed that the tool could have eliminated all but one overcapacity day, a reduction of 86%, and fully eliminated Sunday retrievals. And importantly, this would only have required safely adjusting the trigger timing by only one day for 7% of patients. Schedule Predict™ now enables this clinic to have more control over the schedule, fewer weekend disruptions, and a smoother, more sustainable operating rhythm, all without compromising care.