Maria:
There are many ways to derive what IBCLCs in private practice deserve to be paid without violating any rules about asking about their fees.  What we should be examining is the EXPENSES of doing business including:

a) major capital expenditures (e.g. computers or scaless) which can be parsed out over time
b) space rental (for offices) or travel expenses (for home visits)
c) supplies -- be it office supplies to create and print forms or handouts purchased from others
d) communications costs (which may include electronic creation and transmission of forms)
e) administrative costs (including time spent on paper work and the creation of handouts)
f) advertising
g) other

This then should be compared with the average incomes of IBCLCs in private practice and what proportion of their total household income is derived from private practice revenue.

This can be broken down into proportion of revenue from services (home, office, group, etc) versus proportion of income from sales of products.

Then various assorted models of billing (WITHOUT spelled out in dollar amounts):
a) fee for service
b) fee for visit
c) hourly rates
d) other (e.g package deals for x number of group visits)

This can be then linked up with the cost of living in various states. If it is found that it is impossible to move above poverty level -- then we need to really seriously put on our creative thinking caps to come up with successful models.

Best, 

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