Answering Your Questions, Part III: Milk & Money
Monday, 10/31/2016
Last week’s blog, “Why We Pasteurize”, was the second article in a reposted three-part series that addresses frequently-asked questions in milk banking. Today’s post explains the who, what and why related to donor milk, costs and processing fees.
Who We Are
Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas is a nonprofit milk bank located in Fort Worth’s medical district. There are no owners or investors profiting from our donated milk. Because milk is donated, we do not charge for the milk itself, only for the processing fees incurred to ensure donor milk is safe for critically ill infants. We are very proud of our ability to keep costs low and charge only what is needed to continue to provide life-saving donor human milk for the babies who need it to survive.
What We Charge
Most nonprofit milk banks charge $4.00 to $5.50 per ounce. At MMBNT, we assess a processing fee of $4.40 per ounce, which does not cover all operating expenses. We rely on the generosity of individual donations and charitable funders to supplement our costs.
Why We Charge
Processing safe milk for sick babies is expensive. Our fees pay for the operating costs and expenses of providing safe donor milk for sick babies, which includes:
- Donor screening
- Blood testing of potential donors for multiple diseases, including HIV
- Lab testing of milk
- Pasteurization
- Packaging
- Storage
Who We Charge
For hospitalized babies, the NICU orders the milk and the hospital pays the processing fees just like they pay for blood, medication and nutritional supplements. Donor milk is only a small part of the treatment for preemies in the NICU.
For sick babies at home with a medical need for donor milk, costs are paid by Medicaid or private insurance. Our charitable care program ensures that a baby is never turned away based on the family’s ability to pay processing fees. In 2015, MMBNT provided $526,390 of charitable care. Most of these families had no insurance, had reached their policy’s lifetime maximum or had other situations preventing insurance reimbursement. Those we served included babies with HIV issues, feeding tubes, heart defects, severe bowel malformations and those awaiting organ transplants. Babies are prioritized based on their medical condition, not their ability to pay.
A Little Milk Goes a Long Way
Eighty percent of the babies we serve are tiny preemies in the NICU who require a very small, but important, volume of milk. The total cost to feed these babies is as little as $7.00 per day.
While every baby can benefit from human milk, it is important to appropriate donor milk where it can do the most good for the most babies. At Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas, we are so very grateful to the donor mothers willing to share their milk with these precious babies that have so much to lose without it.
For more information about Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas, click here.
