Breastfeeding Consultations
What happens at a consultation?
We start a consultaiton by taking some time for us to get to know each other. Then, we will take a thorough history of your pregnancy, birth, health history and nursing experience, and we will explore what difficulties you are currently going through. We will be gently examining you and your baby. We would very much like you to feed your baby while we are together, so we can see what is happening. We will have a pediatric scale available for your baby's weight and/or weighted feeds.
Most initial visits last about 1.5-2 hours. We'll be together until all of your questions are answered. We will discuss a care plan with suggestions or referrals to other providers (if necessary). We will send a full report to the baby’s pediatrician and/or your health care provider. If your health insurance is one that we accept, you do not have to do anything except bring your card. If not,
Initial Consultation
An initial visit lasts approximately 1.5 hours. Most visits take place in the office, Virtual via zoom (or schedule permitting, in your home) and full communication with your child’s pediatrician and/or your Midwife/Ob/Gyn. Email follow-up through our secure portal is included at no extra cost and is encouraged. Twins or multiples would be an additional charge if you are paying out of pocket.
We are trying to help as many families as possible and book up extremely quickly. We try to save a few spots each week for Home visits, but are not always able to offer this because of the travel time. It is usually faster for us to accommodate you in the office. A home visit convenience fee will apply regardless of location. Please contact us to see if you are in our radius and what the fee will be.
***Client is responsible for a cancellation fee of $50
if appointment is canceled in less than 24 hours of visit time.
Follow-Up Consultation
Usually lasts 1+hour. We’ll review how your care plan is working for your family and reassess any breastfeeding concerns you may have. Phone/email follow-up included and encouraged.
Prenatal Consultation
You’ll have a personalized one-on-one visit and you’ll have an opportunity to get all your pressing questions answered and concerns addressed. We will do a breast exam and discuss prenatal hand expression, which can help you have more milk when your baby gets here. .
Phone Consultation
Sometimes I can answer a quick breastfeeding question but if the questions you have are more detailed and they can be discussed over the phone we can set up an official phone consult.
Weight Checks
This is a quick check on how your baby is doing. We will weigh the baby and do a quick update. This wouldn’t include a feeding though. If that is needed, we’d change it to a follow up consult.
INSURANCE INFORMATION
We are in network with
-
Aetna (including Duke)
-
BCBS (but not Blue Local, Blue Home, or Blue Value)
-
Cigna
-
UHC/UMR
-
Tricare (as a certified out of network provider)
Some BCBS plans are HMOs or "grandfathered" plans that don't cover lactation visits. We can check your benefits before scheduling.
If you'd like to check if we are in network with your plan,
the NPI number is 1063711133 and the EIN is 27-5401540
If you are paying out of pocket, *Payment is expected at the time of the visit, unless we let you know that your insurance will be covering it. We accept cash, check, credit card, paypal, or can invoice you through square.
If your insurance doesn't cover lactation visits, we can give you a superbill for you to file with your insurance company for some or full reimbursement (policy depending).
Feel free to ask us more about this and how to go about getting preauthorization for your visits. Also, please know that we do not refund visit fees.
At this time, if you are covered by a different company, you can call the number on the back of your card (*You may need to escalate this to a supervisor) and ask for a "gap authorization" stating that there is no one in network as a lactation consultant within 30 miles of your home, and that you want preathorization to have my services covered. Here is a toolkit, which may help you with the language you need to call your insurance company.
http://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/final_nwlcbreastfeedingtoolkit2014_edit.pdf
Unfortunately, some companies are just not compliant with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) which says that lactation support should be provided to moms without cost sharing to them. If you are fired up that your insurance company is not compliant with the ACA, you can send a complaint to the state insurance commissioner. Here's the link:
http://www.ncdoi.com/consumer/consumer_complaint_info.aspx
If you have a plan that we are not in network with, and you're upset about not getting the lactation care covered by your insurance company, the insurance company needs to hear from YOU. We try to complain, but YOU are their customer and what you have to say has a lot more weight than my comments to them.
Testimonials
“Leslie was so helpful to me as a new first-time mom. She came to my home and was able to help me work with "real life" breastfeeding positions (i.e. side lying in bed, tummy to tummy, etc). She was warm, kind, relatable, intelligent, proficient and very available. I was able to text with her when the day or two afterwards baby and I were backsliding into a bad latch. She sent me videos and was just so helpful! She even referred me to another fantastic backup when she was on vacation and I had an emergency follow up need. So happy to have met her and thankful! ”
Kate S - Apex, NC
“Leslie is truly great at what she does and you can tell she loves helping mothers who need extra guidance nursing. Even though she was out of town when we reached out for her assistance, she returned our call that night and we set up a meeting the next day. The holistic breastfeeding support Leslie covered included mind, body and spirit, as well as a natural approach to my nipple discomfort
and latching issues. Every new mother needs 'The Village' and I'm so glad Leslie is mine! ”
M. Asante