Home visits for pregnant or post partum moms......

[sunnyazgirl]

I was just curious if anyone had had any experiences with L&D nurses doing home visits (pre-delivery or post partum)? I absolutely LOVE my job as an L&D nurse but not getting my hours due to low patient census. I would love to be able to do open up a service for "home visit care and/or education". Maybe work under an OBGYN or a service that our hospital could start offering, but I would like to try and run it as my own "business" rather than "work under" a doctor or facility. I don't want to work my "booty" off so "others pockets" can get even fuller (as I do in my primary job). It would be nice to be able to keep that money in our own pockets - may be even hire other L&D nurses to work for me. Would health insurance companies cover it as a "home health care well visit" maybe? I am unsure of even the legalities of it all. Any advice on this subject would be greatly appreciated.....

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Yes, but home nursing agencies do not operate "under" a doctor. My agency is entirely nurse run- we have a plan of care that has to be signed by the MD but other than that, everything is nurse-driven and nurse-run, we employ no MDs. Starting a licensed home care agency is a big process- health insurance companies will pay for MCH (maternal-child health) visits but you need to first become a licensed agency and then secure contracts with every health insurance company you intend to do business with.

The post-partum floor that you send patients to must have a Case Manager or someone who knows the local agencies that do MCH visits and makes the referrals- reach out to them. Maybe you can get a per diem job doing MCH visits.