How can I find out if Medicaid will remburse my hospital for lactation consultant?

[Smackdown]

I am trying to encourage my hospital to hire a lactation consultant (or better yet, pay for me to take the courses to become one.) I am trying to figure out if in Texas Medicaid reimburses hospitals for lactation consultation. I have looked everywhere and I found that only 15 states in the U.S. do, but how can I find out if specifically Texas Medicaid does?

[DebblesRN, ASN, BSN, RN]

It looks like WIC covers it in Texas, maybe the mothers at your hospital need to be made aware of the service. Here is a link.

Denton County, Texas - WIC Services

The IBCLC program is VERY expensive, and I am not sure how Texas does things, but I know the IBCLC's don't get any extra pay where I work in Florida. There is also a lactation counselor certification. I was going to go through that training, but my hospital does tuition reimbursement, and I can't come up with 4000 dollars, plus stay in a hotel for a week to do it. I'm broke. LOL

I would contact your local medicaid and/or WIC office and ask them.

Also, La Leche League is a good resource for outpatient nursing mothers. It is a free service. Here is a link for the Texas La Leche League.

LLLI | La Leche League of Texas

The nice thing about La Leche League is that they also provide continuing education for healthcare providers. So, if it is not possible to get your IBCLC or Lactation Counseler Certification, at least you can get some help from La Leche League.

Good Luck. :)

[Marymoomoo]

You could call around to other hospitals that have IBCLC lactation services to see what the reimbursement is like in your area. Another option would be to post your situation and the information you're looking for to Lactnet. I bet someone would love to help you find what you need to get a program started in your hospital. :)

It is expensive to take the courses/collect the CERPs that are required to sit the exam, but I've not heard of a program (except for the university programs, but that includes credit at the university level, too) that costs $4000! For example, you can take the entire Health e-Learning BreastEd series online for just over $1000. They run specials several times a year, so sometimes you can get the whole series for an even better price.

You can find a full list of the educational requirements as well as a full list of approved courses at the IBLCE Americas website.

Good luck!