Learning Collaborative for Birth Center Sustainability

More and more stakeholders across the country are starting to recognize birth centers and the midwifery model of care as a key component in resolving the U.S.’s maternal health crisis. Yet, we have much work to do to start receiving equitable and sufficient payment.

The AABC Industry Relations Committee (IRC) has developed this learning collaborative to teach birth center members how to confidently negotiate equitable contracts for birth center sustainability with payers utilizing regional price data. Described as a game-changer, this course provides the tools and resources to help you succeed. 

Building on the successes and lessons learned of member birth centers in Oregon and using the collective experience and expertise of the IRC, this 2-day online class will give members a blueprint on how to use the data to negotiate contracts in line with the birth center’s value. Participants will:

  • Review best practices for anti-trust compliance
  • Create relationships and unity with other birth centers to educate and garner support from stakeholders
  • Define sustainability as it pertains to YOUR birth center
  • Understand your value and the law
  • Receive tools for effective negotiations which can be customized for your birth center
  • Apply negotiating tactics and identify realistic time frames
  • Learn to argue and win
  • Receive a data report with reimbursement in your state by key codes, insurances and comparatives. The data report fee is additional and you will be invoiced for this fee.

All participants will be required to sign a Licensing Agreement for the data report.

Birth centers may find it beneficial to have two or more staff attend the learning collaborative. Group discounts available.

Achieving equity for birth centers would not be possible without the tenacious advocacy of our AABC members. Due to your efforts and your utilization of what you’ve learned in the Learning Collaborative course, here is some incredible forward momentum happening in Pennsylvania!

  • Pennsylvania first utilized what they learned from the course, including the power of a unified voice for all birth centers in the state, to establish a chapter and aim for Medicaid reimbursement.

  • They then used the LCBCS course’s PowerPoint and tailored it to Medicaid for a press conference and round table discussion with the Secretary of DHS and Secretary of the Department of Health. Members share that “jaws dropped,” and that crucial conversations have been started about barriers for birth centers that the officials were completely unaware of prior to seeing this presentation.

  • As a result of the conversations started at this round table, a new meeting has been set with state Medicaid to aim for reimbursement! Information shared by members at the most recent LCBCS office hours has even inspired the strategies our Pennsylvania members are planning to use in this upcoming meeting.

Workshop Registration Fee - $800 AABC Birth Center Members / $1855 Non-Members (includes Birth Center membership).

Save $50 for each attendee when you register 2+ people to attend.

Data Report Fee - $1200/member birth center. You are eligible to purchase your customized data report once you have attended the class.

Rebeckah Orton, BS, RN
Rebeckah is the owner and director of Astoria Birth Center & Family Medicine, which opened three years ago. She has spent the last seven years in advocacy for birthing people and birth professionals in the state of Oregon has been involved in birth work for fourteen years in a variety of roles. Rebeckah gained a strong background in research through her degree in Biology and during her time working with world infectious disease leaders while managing a parasitology lab at Harvard School of Public Health. She has used this background to present compelling, data-driven arguments in favor of the sustainability of midwifery and birth centers to insurers, legislators, and policymakers on the state and national level.

Laura Wiegand, MBA
Laura is the COO/Co-Founder of Birth Partners, INC. She has successfully managed the openings and operations of several Birth Centers across the country. At the national level, she currently co-chairs the AABC’s Industry Relations Committee, and on a state level she serves on the Illinois Birth Center Task Force Committee, the Oregon Association of Birth Centers, and the Florida Birth Center Owners. She works at the state and local level to educate medical communities and health insurance providers about the benefits of the midwifery and birth center model of care including better outcomes, reduced costs for families and payors. Laura was awarded the 2022 AABC Professional Award, in recognition of her passion, advocacy and dedication to the birth center model of care. With over 25 years of healthcare management experience, Laura has made her passion of maximizing care, while securing financial results and building a team that focuses on family and the entire the experience, serving as a resource for many aspects of healthcare and birth center operations.

Desiree LeFave, CPM, LDM
Desiree became a midwife in 2001 and has been co-owner of Bella Vie Gentle Birth Center in Salem, Oregon since 2007. She has had the privilege of attending many hundreds of women in their births, the vast majority of which have been in birth centers.  She has served as a board member for the Oregon Association of Birth Centers since it’s inception in 2014, and focuses her work for them on sustainability. Desiree also supports her sister birth centers in knowing their value, advocating for in-network relationships, and demystifying insurance contracts.  At the national level, Desiree co-chairs the AABC Industry Relations Committee, and internationally she is a co-founder of MamaBaby Haiti.