Dear Lactnetters:

As many of you know, I have been immersing myself in the universe of
cost-effectiveness of breastfeeding, as I am working on a research
study, and have been getting questions from others concerning this, as
they want to apply to hospitals, insurers, payors, etc to get programs
in place and covered.  This has led me to a tangent on looking at
Quality Improvement programs for breastfeeding in hospitals and HMOs.

I am looking for actual, working quality improvement programs pertaining
to breastfeeding in hospitals being implemented primarily in the U.S.,
although international information would be very welcome too!  Has
anyone seen anything in the published literature which discusses the
actual costs involved in implementing BFHI or other QI programs?  Does
JCAHO do anything like a compilation of such QI programs on various QI
programs, including breastfeeding?  JCAHO seems like the logical source
for such info.

Also, I would like information about QI process for HMO's and if
anything has been examined re: breastfeeding support programs (other
than the recent Kaiser study and the 1985 Samuels study).  What about
breastfeeding standards/allowable charges as dictated/recommended by the
U.S. Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA)?

In Kentucky, we are implementing a Medicaid Managed Care program, and I
lobbying hard to keep and/or upgrade breastfeeding services for these
clients.  The more information I have that supports bf from an
insurance/payor industry perspective, the more powerful these arguments
will be.

I truly appreciate any and all assistance (including other people to
contact with these questions) that you can provide.  Please e-mail your
information to me -- hopefully we can get a compilation of methods
published on Lactnet and/or JHL.

Thank you!  Thank you!

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com