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pmid: 23962773
Background: Insurance coverage for lactation management is proposed by the United States Affordable Care Act. International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) are key providers of lactation services. In order to inform national discussion, this study examines the scope of insurance reimbursement of IBCLC services. Objectives: An email survey of US IBCLCs (N = 10 495) in March 2011 was used to explore frequencies of (1) submission—how often lactation consults were submitted to insurance providers for reimbursement and (2) recognition—the proportion of submitted charges recognized by insurance providers. Methods: Results (N = 2045) were analyzed to describe patterns of submission and recognition by IBCLC work setting, job classification, and reimbursement strategy. Results: Many survey respondents did not know their submission (41%) or recognition (57%) levels. Multiple strategies were used for reimbursement of IBCLC services with large variations in recognition between strategies. Overall, less than 15% reported high levels of submissions to insurance providers. Moreover, of submitted encounters, only 4% were consistently recognized by insurance providers. Inpatient hospital IBCLCs were least likely to have consults recognized (3%), and private community IBCLCs were most frequently recognized (32%). Compared with using IBCLC credentials for submitting an encounter, using another clinical license was the most successful strategy for achieving recognition of IBCLC consults (crude risk ratio, 1.44; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-2.01; P = .02). Conclusion: IBCLCs provide key care to a vulnerable population. However, we found that these services are not consistently reimbursed. IBCLCs poorly communicate their health care activities to insurance providers, but insurance providers also inconsistently recognize and reimburse IBCLC care.
Adult, Insurance, Health, Adolescent, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Racial Groups, Middle Aged, Insurance Coverage, Young Adult, Breast Feeding, Humans, Lactation, Female, Workplace, Health Education, Referral and Consultation, Aged
Adult, Insurance, Health, Adolescent, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Racial Groups, Middle Aged, Insurance Coverage, Young Adult, Breast Feeding, Humans, Lactation, Female, Workplace, Health Education, Referral and Consultation, Aged
citations This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 13 | |
popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Top 10% | |
impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |