Fee Survey -- News from the US Dept of Justice Antitrust Div

[Guest guest]

<<Cross posted in order to disseminate to as many LC email lists as

possible. Feel free to forward.>>

As many of you have seen over the years, there in an interest in the field

of lactation consultants to have knowledge of fees charged by our

colleagues in varying geographic areas. When the topic has come up, both

online and privately, some have wisely suggested that discussing it could

be collusion, which is violates US antitrust laws that protect fair

competition. However, I began to see the need for a formal survey of fees,

conducted in such a way that did not violate antitrust law, but which would

provide the information that our industry requires in order to set fees

competitively in given geographic areas. I observed that this was common

practice in other professional industries.

With this in mind, I took advantage of a free service offered by the

Department of Justice Antitrust Division to determine the legality of any

given business practice with regard to anti-trust law. I outlined a

proposal to create a fee survey of IBCLC's in private practice in the US

using an online survey service, designing this survey to meet all of their

very specific requirements. They responded once to ask for clarification

of certain points.

I received a call yesterday from Dulmage, the attorney at the

Department of Justice Antitrust Division who was handling my request. She

said that it has been approved and that the Department of Justice is

issuing a press release about it (they issue very few press releases each

year). She said this is a significant decision because it impacts all

health care industries and the media is likely to be interested in

it. The press released has not yet been posted on their website, but she

faxed me an advance copy and it should be there

soon. http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/whatsnew.htm

Aside from the value of fee data for the use of individual lactation

consultants, the ramifications to this survey are far reaching. It is a

formal recognition by a governmental entity of our profession. It will

also provide formal information to the insurance industry that may

encourage them to recognize the legitimacy and value of our services and

cover our fees, both within and outside of the US.

I will be working over the next few months to develop the survey and may

request help in doing so. When the survey has been prepared, it will be

advertised widely. Your help will be asked in reaching as many lactation

consultants as possible so that we collect a large amount of data. The

data in the survey must be three months old before it can be published, so

the results of this survey are likely to be available in early 2005. At

this time, the scope of the survey is US lactation consultants in private

practice.

I thank you in advance for your support of this project and the benefits it

is likely to bring to our industry.

West, IBCLC