It can be a difficult sell for hospitals who are often operating under a tight budget to convince them to purchase formula, but here are a couple things to keep in mind. 1. Taking free formula probably violates the hospital's corporate compliance policy. If you read your hospital's policy most likely it states that you can't take anything from vendors for free. Most hospitals have been violating their own policy, but it's just been standard practice for so many years that nobody pays any attention. 2. You are only paying a percentage of retail. We are in D3 too and not buying formula yet, but from what I've read in the documents this may be around 20% of retail. You can estimate for yourself if you find a couple products that you use on your unit in a retail store and then ask your supply department what they pay for those products per unit, and then figure out the percentage. It may be between 10 to 20% of retail. 3. BF hospitals use less formula so over time your formula costs should go down. Parents may use less formula over time as your practices improve and your hospital attracts women who want to breastfeed. Also, you will have less formula walk out the door since you won't be sending any formula home with patients anymore. If you put your formula in your pyxis that will also cut down on loss. Right now you probably have lots of formula going out the door. Nobody pays any attention because it's free for the hospital. And the formula companies want it that way. When our CFO first calculated the formula cost, they calculated it as if every single baby was formula-fed. Be sure they are calculating based on your current rate of formula feeding moms and supplementation. Let them know that over time you expect this rate to go down further.4. This all needs to be a decision above your CFO. Your CEO signed a letter of support. It's already been agreed to and the CEO needs to tell the CFO that this is just the way it is.5. It will help your MPINC score go up. You can show them the MPINC report and that this is a recommended practice by the CDC.6. It is a recommended practice from the CDC because taking free formula really one of the ways that the formula companies intentionally try to distribute as much of their product to parents as possible during a time in which they are really vulnerable to supplementation (breastfeeding in the hospital is often challenging) and they are purposely trying to undermine parent's efforts to breastfeed. They are also making our jobs financially meaningless. Really, if you think about it, what is the point of a hospital paying for an LC when they get formula for free? The formula companies know this and it's just another reason they want to hospitals to take the free formula. If someone has to pay for the formula, eventually the bean counters at the hospital will start looking at ways to reduce the formula costs. They don't want anyone looking into the cost or else they may begin looking at ways to purchase less formula by supporting parent's efforts to breastfeed. And then you would have an actual financial incentive to pay for a lactation consultant. Right now when there are budget cuts we are the first ones to go because our services don't make any money for the hospital, we just cost them money in the short-term. The only way we make money is by increasing patient satisfaction in the long-term. 
Don't forget also that they need to include in their budget also bottles, nipples, pacifiers and probably the free Pedialyte that they have been getting from the formula company, too. Maybe it would help you write it up in a report and submit it to your boss that she can use when talking to the finance department. 
Good luck with your efforts to become BF!Tricia Shamblin, RN, IBCLC


             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome