Carol, Right on about the early discharge! With all the money they save they could have plenty of LC home visits and still come out ahead. At the HMO where I work we used to have 48 hour discharge, but if you went home in 24 hours you got a nurse's visit and 16 hours of postpartum home help from a doula. The moms all loved it. When the HMO (harvard community health plan) went to universal 24 hour discharge they could have offered the doula service to every one and still been rich. Instead they cut it completely. Why don't they see the big picture??! Julie Brill [log in to unmask]