Hip to Heart – Jodi Congdon
Jodi has been a great friend that I have had the privilege of associating with. Her passion, drive, and inspiration to birth workers in creating their own businesses. Hip to Heart is a full service concierge agency that provides comprehensive care for women before, during and after pregnancy. She provides new families all over Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Southern New Hampshire with professional, compassionate and highly personalized support in addition to birth worker consultation services all over the country. Hip to Heart will meet all of your needs from prenatal classes though postpartum care… and everything in between! We know how important this special time is and we will be right there with you through each stage. Whether you are looking for a childbirth education class, labor doula , postpartum doula or lactation specialist, you can count on Hip to Heart to provide the highest quality of care. Giving birth was a life changing experience for Jodi and was ultimately what made her decide to get involved in pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding as a career. Jodi’s feel compelled to educate women on the options and choices they have for their births to try and make each and every experience the very best it can be. Jodi knows how important the postpartum time is and my priority is to support new moms to the fullest capacity. i loves to learn and strive for expertise in her field. She is a trained Labor Doula and Childbirth Educator as well as a certified Lactation Educator and Postpartum Doula. She is also a member of the CAPPA Faculty as the Postpartum Doula and Lactation Educator Trainer for New England. Jodi Congdon recently took a New Parent Educator and an Advanced Multiples Training. In addition to that, she is also a Certified Health and Wellness Coach specializing in prenatal and postpartum women. Breastfeeding has been a huge part of her life for the past few years and one of the greatest gifts that she has given my three daughters. It is one of her favorite classes to teach and always trying to find new and innovative ways to educate expecting families about its benefits. Jodi recently started One Out Now, a campaign to normalize breastfeeding in public. If anyone is looking for a business expert with doulas, lactation consultant, and other birth workers, I would strongly recommend Jodi Congdon at Hip to Heart. Hip to Heart https://www.hiptoheart.com/
Highly Effective Business Success Tips for Midwives
Business Tips for Midwives Being a business owner means that you’ll often blaze your own trail: No career guides, counselors or maps will guide you from one step to the next: You’ll have to make it up as you go. Midwives are great are going into uncharted territory and business ownership is another one of those chapters to tackle. Here are some business tips for midwives: 1. Keep the big vision in sight A big vision will take you far. I put this tip first because when things go wrong on the path to your success, and they will, keeping the big vision in mind will enable you to steer your way back to a successful course. It may not always be the course you imagined, but your big vision of the midwife business becomes your north star, which in turn helps you navigate and orient yourself through the darkness. Your personal midwife vision is your foundation, compass and celestial beacon, lighting the way forward to help women and the community. 2. Fuel your vision with perseverance What should go hand-in-hand with a big vision is the perseverance you’ll need to keep moving forward. If you’re a Game of Thrones watcher, there was a great line in a recent episode when Stannis Baratheon was being advised about the lack of wisdom in starting a battle in the snow. He responded: “We march to victory or we march to defeat, but we go forward, only forward.” Sometimes, when things get challenging on your midwife path as a business ownership, you have to commit yourself to moving forward, regardless of the discomfort and fear surrounding the next steps. When you fuel your big midwife vision with perseverance and the spirit of “only forward,” you eventually meet your success. 3. Make a plan, but be flexible You need a few sets of plans, even if each is only a few pages. A business plan, with an accompanying marketing outline, are important blueprints for success. They help you map out the major landmarks of the road ahead, define your success and break the journey into important metrics you can track your progress against. I’m not one for a giant, robust plan nobody will access, but I do advocate a more modest go-to plan that can act as your basic instruction manual and hold you accountable to specific numbers. The reason I don’t support highly detailed plans is that I believe you need the flexibility to alter the course as necessary. Midwives are good at being flexible with birth, just need to apply it to our business course. Sometimes, large changes to the plan will be necessary. 4. Embrace your expertise If you’re already innately good at being a midwife, embrace it. Don’t try to be all things for all aspects of your midwife business. Hire out or sign contracts with agencies for the things you can’t do, and focus on your strengths as quickly and often as possible. Don’t be a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none. Be a business owner, not self employed. People that try to do many things waste too much time doing a poor job at each task within the business. Have a mastermind team for running the business (attorney, accountant, marketer, business consultant, office manager, biller, receptionists, medical assistant, birth assistant, midwife team, and payroll services). 5. Don’t reinvent the wheel What is already working in other people’s midwifery business models, in software applications and other business operations that you can emulate instead of re-create? Don’t waste your time trying to set up systems when you can simply purchase and install one, saving precious time and spending little money. I always keep my burn rate in mind and run as lean as possible. But sometimes the best decision is to take on the expense of some good systems so you don’t have to waste time and make mistakes building your own. Using Birth Tracks for statistics, Midwives Advantage for outsourcing billing services, Athena Health for EMR charting and administration support, and attending Midwifery Works Conferences for keeping up with business changes are just a few examples. 6. Don’t burn out This isn’t just a stale piece of advice: Your health is literally the most important thing in your life. When your body gives out, you’re done. Midwives are so good at taking care of other people, but do a terribly job of caring for ourselves. Your heart doesn’t care how good a business you have; your circulatory system isn’t all that impressed with your money or accomplishments. . . you get the point. Personally, I try to eat really good food, get good sleep and take as much time as I can manage day by day to laugh with my kids and see my husband. You will burn out if you sacrifice your physical and mental health on the altar of your business. So, take care of yourself. 7. Leverage everything Life hacks may seem like just viral fodder on the internet, but they can teach an important mini-lesson in leverage. When you use leverage to your advantage in every aspect of your life, you go further, faster. Leverage outsourced midwife business help to streamline tasks and gain traffic time for important phone calls. Leverage down time waiting anywhere (the doctor’s office, your kid’s school, your mechanic’s waiting room, your airline flight) to get stuff done. Your smart phone is a great resource to keep working in your downtime. Listen to audio books versus radio while traveling to home visits. 8. Keep your sense of humor If you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re missing out. Laughing is a good cure to diffuse stress, infuse some lightheartedness into life and get some perspective on the fact that, hey, this is only life after all — you don’t have to take it so seriously. So, try to laugh more and stress a little less. It strengthens your emotional and mental well-being, keeps other people from getting under your skin and keeps you
Health Savings Account (HSA)
Health Saving Accounts (HSAs) Part of my mission for Midwifery Business Consultation isn’t just how to run a midwife business but teach financial awareness so midwives can focus on high quality care while having a high function income stream. The income stream doesn’t have to be directly from giving care. There are laws and financial strategies very powerful to use in business and personal setting. Health Saving Accounts (HSAs) are one of my favorite! A type of savings account that lets you set aside money on a pre-tax basis to pay for qualified medical expenses. By using untaxed dollars in a Health Savings Account (HSA) to pay for deductibles, co-payments, coinsurance, and some other expenses, you can lower your overall health care costs. An HSA can be used only if you have a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) — generally any health plan (including a Marketplace plan) with a deductible of at least $1,350 for an individual or $2,700 for a family. When you view plans in the Marketplace, you can see if they’re “HSA-eligible.” For 2018, you can contribute up to $3,450 for self-only HDHP coverage and up to $6,900 for family HDHP coverage. HSA funds roll over year to year if you don’t spend them. An HSA may earn interest, which is not taxable. Some health insurance companies offer HSAs for their high deductible plans. Check with your company. You can also open an HSA through some banks and other financial institutions. Having Tax Free Money In and Out for Medical Expense Having tax free money in and out for medical expense is the main perk of having a HSA. The one few people know about is using your HSA funds to invest in real estate, businesses, or almost anything while it continues to grow. Most people have their funds sit in a savings account for easy access to use for medical expenses. When we are young and healthy, those accounts typically continue to grow each year. Instead of sitting in savings account at 0.01% interest, put that money into a self directed investment plan for potential high returns. You can buy buildings, (HINT, HINT…birth center), businesses like already established midwifery practice, and so much more. There are a few custodian of self directed accounts manage HSA funds that you can directly invest in. Mark Kohler, amazing accountant and lawyer talks about his “meth lab rental home” that grows his HSA on top of yearly maximum personal contributions. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a savings account tax free with millions to use for the most expensive care costs as you get older: medical bills! Mark Kohler’s talk about HSA investing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLmUb8Di5Is HSA medical eligible options https://www.hsalist.org
Health Insurance Coverage for Yourself and Employees
Health Insurance Coverage Some midwives will not have to worry about this. Their partner has the family insurance coverage at their job or small business where insurance coverage won’t be offered. For many midwives, they are the health insurance coverage for the family and need to have the midwife business cover that expense versus buying at the government market place. Have your business pay for the health insurance prior to taxes versus your hard earned income already being taxed cover that cost. Even if your health insurance is covered by a husband, looking into a health saving account, health reimbursement, or flex spending account isn’t a bad idea. Health care is very expensive and will only continue to go up in costs. Use your money wisely to pay for these services. Health Insurance Coverage for Employees With the Affordable Care Act, midwives need to know as business owners what we have to cover for employees like taxes, workman’s comp, and health insurance. Small businesses, under 50 full time employees, are exempt from having to provide health insurance to staff. I only know a few midwives that actually offer health insurance to their team. You can always offer health insurance if you need coverage, but be aware that if business pays 100% for your insurance premiums, that has to be done for all full time employees at same level. There is a loop hole to this rule by making yourself the only employee of the practice and everyone else independent contractors (always speak with an accountant and lawyer to make sure your state allow strategies I have used in the past). There are a few perks that midwife business can offer even if it isn’t health insurance directly. Each staff member can be awarded a flex spending account. I am not the biggest fan of them for myself but work great for business budgets since each year funds contributed are lost if not used by staff (business just keeps funds). My favorite are Health Savings Accounts. Insurance Plans If you have a high deductible insurance plan (individual deductible minimum $1500 and family deductible $3,000), this option is available for you. In 2019, government allows up to $3500 individual and $7000 family tax free money to be used for medical related expenses. That include any alternative therapy that your health insurance won’t cover like chiropractors, home births, and over the counter medicines. If your family is healthy and contributed funds aren’t used, it will roll over each year and never lost. Many banks have a health saving account that can be opened. Some will give you a debit card or check book to pay for medical bills. US Bank gave us a nice online access system that I could mail checks directly from their website to my providers or myself if I bought something at the store. I had an electronic transaction of all funds used. Keep all receipts for 7 years if ever audited. I personally believe best way to save up money for health related expenses tax free in and tax free out for medical expenses (whether you own a business or not). Health Reimbursement Account If you have a year with many large medical expenses, like over $5,000, speak with an attorney about steps to set up legally a health reimbursement account with your business. It is an amazing tool to have business pay directly for your health expenses. I was hospitalized three times this past year with a $13,000 family deductible plan, the health reimbursement account saved me thousands in taxes from having business directly pay for medical bills versus my taxed income paying. There are many ways to pay for health insurance, medical expenses, and health related preventative care like massage, spas, and chiropractic adjustments as a business expense versus personal expense. Spending a few hours with an attorney to create these health expense protocols in your business legally will save you thousands in the long run on taxes. Taxes are your most expensive business and life expense, learn the rules and use them to your advantage. I have used KKOS Lawyers for legal services for years. They are experts in small business legal advice and very affordable. tHighly recommend their team ~ https://kkoslawyers.com/
Healing from Traumatic Births
Midwifery can be an all-consuming profession, and we have previously discussed how midwives need to learn to “turn it off” and engage in self-care. An aspect worthy of a deeper dive is healing from secondary trauma acquired as a result of attending traumatic births. These may be related to unexpected outcome, birth emergencies, or even loss of control over the actions of other practitioners, especially during a transport or referral to higher level care. One study of secondary traumatic stress in midwives found symptoms such as intrusive thoughts, avoidance and numbness, sleep disturbance, loss of interest, and other symptoms shared by people with PTSD. It also found that traumatizing events could lead to the loss of belief in birth as a normal process, with a significant percentage of midwives who had experienced secondary trauma leaving clinical practice all together. The First Step to Healing is Acknowledging that Secondary Trauma Occurs that not all outcomes are going to result in a healthy mother and baby, and this can be devastating for the provider as well as for the family. The second step is recognizing where you as a midwife has control or agency over a situation and where you do not. This can often be difficult, especially given how midwifery practice encourages intimate support and collaboration with our clients. Whereas other professionals are encouraged to set clear emotional boundaries with their clients, this is much more difficult in midwifery care. Set out by establishing what you truly have control over – your actions based on education and experience – and what you do not. Perform a self-assessment of your emotional baseline, including overall beliefs, coping mechanisms, and your support system before trauma occurs. Are you so consumed by midwifery that you avoid connecting with others? Or have you built a framework for resilience? Midwives who are emotionally stable prior to any traumatic event tend to be the ones who heal in the healthiest manner. Build social supports and relationships that are meaningful outside of your work. Examine your Own Past. Many midwives have their own traumatic histories, and while this can spur the passion they bring to their practice, it can also make them more at risk for having a severe reaction to a client’s traumatic childbirth event. If this resonates with you, find a path to your own healing via counseling and guidance. Doing it now will make you resilient in the face of whatever experiences come your way. And having the connection to a counselor will help should a bad outcome lead to feelings of inadequacy, or cause you any negative psychological (or physical) effects. Most of all, take care of yourself. Midwives existing on coffee and sleep deprivation are at risk of both burnout and secondary trauma. Eat well, take vacation days, spend time with friends and family, enjoy outside pursuits. A career in midwifery is a marathon, not a sprint. Check and enroll to our amazing course Trauma Informed Care in the Perinantal Period https://midwiferybusinessconsultation.teachable.com/p/trauma-informed-care-in-birth Cited: Beck, C. T., LoGiudice, J., & Gable, R. K. (2015). A mixed‐methods study of secondary traumatic stress in certified nurse‐midwives: shaken belief in the birth process. Journal of midwifery & women’s health, 60(1), 16-23.
Happy Babies Have Happy New Mommas
I know as being a midwife it is so important to have mothers getting good rest after having a baby. We can give suggestions about family support, taking naps with the child, and supporting the newborns needs like nursing, skin to skin, and routines. I found out about the role of sleep consultant and how I feel ANY midwife should have this referral part of their routine list of services. Jayne Havens, Certified Sleep Consultant with Snooze Fest, has taught me so much about ways to help mothers with short- and long-term transition needs of babies. Midwives scope of practice is only first month of life, so having a Sleep Consultant to recommend to families at the six-week postpartum visit is truly a blessing. Each sleep consultant determines what services they would like to offer, but really loved the focus and philosophy of Jayne’s practice. She serves the entire US and does most of her services by phone and online meetings. Babies struggle with sleep for lots of reasons: over-tiredness, overstimulation, inability to self-soothe, physical discomfort, uncomfortable sleeping conditions, hunger, or even a growth spurt. When a baby isn’t sleeping, their parents aren’t sleeping either. Luckily, help is available and it is absolutely possible to get your child to sleep better! Jayne really focuses on a holistic approach to why your kiddo isn’t sleeping well. She can help with newborn after a couple months of nursing and few years old adjusting to weaning naturally and stopping co-sleeping. I have really enjoy learning from Jayne and all the great resources she has created for families and people considering becoming a Certified Sleep Consultant. Jayne works one-on-one with parents to help them create a plan to achieve consistent, restorative sleep for their baby, and for themselves. With unique expertise in infants’ and children’s sleep habits, and a variety of tools to help coach and support parents, Jayne is an invaluable resource for tired families. Another great service that Jayne offers is training Certified Sleep Consultant. Her training is national recognized. She has great support groups to help with training and start their own private practices. Jayne’s gifts to teach the clinical and business side of Sleep Consultant really stands out from other consultants in the country. I would highly recommend getting a birth assistant and doula trained on your team to help families postpartum with newborn transition. Midwives can really benefit from collaborating or training a Certified Sleep Consultation to be on your staff to increase services and profit opportunities with your business. Our goal is to help families connect with the experts that support the family unit in our community. With the world wide web, our community opportunities to send families to has really expanded. I would highly would recommend connecting with Jayne Havens and learning more about how a Certified Sleep Consultant can benefit your clients and practice. The Snooze Fest https://thesnoozefest.com/ CPSM (Certified Sleep Consultant training) https://thecpsm.com/ The Snooze Fest interview with Midwifery Business Consultation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHaJezZtYWo
Tips for Adding Gynecological Services to Your Midwifery Practice
Gynecological Services to Midwifery Practice Gynecology is a medical discipline dedicated to female health care concerns, including developing, diagnosing, preventing, and treating disorders and diseases distinct to the female reproductive system. The medical care of a woman and her child before, during, and after birth is attributed to the field of obstetrics (Cunningham et al., 2010). Gynecology and Obstetrics Gynecology and obstetrics are related disciplines concerned with female reproductive health. In every single phase of a woman’s life, she experiences multiple events associated with reproductive development such as menarche, menstruation, pregnancy, maternity, and menopause. Birth practitioners can provide a wide range of services that meet her health needs from puberty through her child-bearing years, menopause and beyond. As an established midwife having your own practice, adding gynecological services is not a bad idea. Midwives are health care professional who provides a range of health care services for women including gynecological examinations, contraceptive counseling, prescriptions, and labor and delivery care. Having to include gynecological services in your practice is another way to provide women with expert and personalized care. A gynecology screening is recommended for annual screening for all age group of women and any time a woman has concerns about symptoms such as pelvic, vulvar, and vaginal pain, or abnormal bleeding from the uterus. Conditions commonly treated by gynecologists include: -Issues relating to pregnancy, fertility, menstruation, and menopause-Family planning, including contraception, sterilization, and pregnancy termination-Problems with tissues that support the pelvic organs, including ligaments and muscles-Sexually transmitted Infections(STIs)-Polycystic ovary syndrome-Urinary and fecal incontinence-Benign conditions of the reproductive tract, for example, ovarian cysts, fibroids, breast disorders, vulvar and vaginal ulcers, and other non-cancerous changes-Premalignant conditions, such as endometrial hyperplasia, and cervical dysplasia-Cancers of the reproductive tract and the breasts, and pregnancy-related tumors-Congenital abnormalities of the female reproductive tract-Emergency care relating to gynecology-Endometriosis, a chronic condition that affects the reproductive system-Pelvic inflammatory diseases, including abscesses-Sexuality, including health issues relating to same-sex and bisexual relationships-Sexual dysfunction Gynecologic tests include: -Transvaginal/transabdominal ultrasound-Vaginal swabs-Smear tests-Hormonal blood profile-Tumor markers-Routine blood tests-Urine test-Mammogram However, you cannot just jump into the decision to add gynecological services to your practice. Midwives are known for providing care to “pregnant women” and non-pregnant women may hesitate to come to you. Here are some tips you can use to successfully add gynecological services to your midwifery practice. 1. Work on Retaining Current Patients Remember this crucial piece of marketing advice – it’s always cheaper to retain a current patient than to acquire a new one. New patients are important, but you must focus your efforts on keeping the ones who already visit your practice. If you’re failing your current patients, it’s pointless to spend big bucks on a marketing plan for new patient acquisition. Steps to retaining your current patients include: -Get Your Patient’s Perspective – Learn what your patients think about your practice. What do they want? What don’t they want? What do they like about your practice? What don’t they like? An easy way to do this – give patients a short survey card to fill out after every visit.-Focus on a Memorable Patient Experience – While you’re an expert at diagnosing and treating women’s maternal problems, your practice may not be focusing enough on the patient experience. Simple changes that promote a positive patient experience suggested by MDEdge include:-Padding cold metal stirrups-Offer cloth gowns instead of paper-Keep the rooms warm enough-Warm speculums before use-Talk to patients face to face after your patient is dressed-Make patient calls yourself-Embrace Technology – Patients appreciate it when their medical offices embrace technology anduse it to improve the patient experience. A few suggestions include:-Use an online scheduling system so patients can easily schedule appointments on their own-Offer an online newsletter-Stay active on social media-Set up a patient portal (one practice was able to improve engagement and reducecollection times after implementing a new patient portal) Don’t forget, working to satisfy current patients isn’t just about patient retention – word of mouth continues to be one of the best ways to bring in new patients. When your patients have an excellent experience, they’ll help market your gynecological services in your midwifery practice for you. 2. Focus on Patient Acquisition Keeping current patients happy can do a lot to help you acquire more patients, but your Midwifery practice should be focusing some of your marketing dollars on new patient acquisition. It’s essential for growing your practice and boosting revenue. A few tips that can help:-Become a Thought Leader – It’s important to become a thought leader in the midwifery space. This may include writing guest articles or even speaking on Midwifery and gynecological-related topics at local events.-Focus on Educating Your Audience – It’s easy to simply advertise, but in today’s healthcare landscape, prospective patients want to be educated. Use blogs and social media posts to provide readers with useful information.-Get on Board with Social Media – Speaking of social media – if you’re not already using it, you need to get started. If you’re already running a blog on your practice website, blogs make great posts for social media.-Get Involved in Your Community as a Media Resource – Get to know the local press. Be the one they go to when they’re writing articles or when they need an expert for local news. 3. Motivate Practice Staff Your staff is critical to the success of your midwifery practice and any type of marketing program you have in place. Without knowledgeable, enthusiastic staff, patients will be disappointed, and your marketing plans will fail. But how can you motivate your team?Get started with a well-defined mission statement. It should not only include the purpose of your practice, but it also needs to include the methods of achieving success. In short – it’s a road map for everyone on staff. When you keep your staff motivated, you create a team environment where everyone works together effectively. And when you value your team of employees and include them in the processes of running the office, they become invested in ensuring
GREAT MIDWIFERY RESOURCES AVAILABLE
I wanted to create a blog post listing all the great midwifery resource companies out there I regularly refer to! So much of what we don’t know is who to reach out to for certain support levels with our business, professional needs, and personal goals. Here are some highly recommended midwifery business support resources available: Authentic Koaching You deserve the freedom you crave! It begins with a vision. Maybe you want to grow your impact. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Maybe the 9-5 (and those hours on call) aren’t really for you. I’m Ann Konkoly, MBA, MSN, APRN-CNM. I’m a speaker, writer & koach who supports women and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) as they kultivate change in their lives. https://www.annkonkolycnm.com/ Empowering Midwifery Education Online courses for midwives around clinical, business, and professional development Our mission is to embrace the pursuit of excellence both inside and outside the midwifery education process through emphasis of midwifery autonomy and continual development of our business and clinical skills. We encourage midwives to challenge their current professional directions with resources and knowledge to support more families in their communities. Our online courses are user friendly, packed with resources to utilize with your practice, and lifetime access to easily reference later. Empowering Midwifery Education Messmer Marketing National Marketing Expert in Supporting Midwives, Doulas, and Birth Centers I know that your business has the ability to create a brand that will change lives. I will listen to your story, build your messaging, and deliver that message to the world. Your brand will stand out from the crowded and noisy world of social media so you can engage, grow, and transition your clients into lifelong supporters of your business. I will grow your business and brand with gorgeous graphic design, top notch social media strategies, custom content marketing, email marketing, and more. Let’s build your brand together. HOME | MESSMER MARKETING Midwifery Wisdom Collective Amazing Midwife Consultant I work closely with to Serve the Community: Augustine Colebrook, Midwife Midwifery Wisdom Collective is a multifaceted resource for birth professionals. We have a team of highly qualified and compassionate birth professionals working together to serve and empower midwives around the globe. The Midwifery Wisdom Collective enhances the education and experience of the independent midwife in clinical practice through online and live courses, individual coaching, and group mentoring. Midwifery Wisdom Collective is the premier resource for Clinical Education, Business Consulting, Practice Management, Film Production, Contracts and Consents, Innovative Equipment, Legal Counseling and On-call Experts. Midwifery Wisdom Collective – HOME Ultrasound for Midwives Carolyn Gegor, CNM, MS, FACNH This amazing resource has online and in person ultrasound training for midwives. Carolyn has had extensive career in obstetrics and gynecologic ultrasound. For many years, she has lectured at ACNM meetings and taught hands-on courses for midwives. https://www.ultrasoundformidwives.com/ GynZone World Class Online Suturing Training Looking for the best in the world online suturing training? There is so much available for the price! The membership includes evidence based visual guides, conference lectures, live webinars, and over 1000+ videos!!! Don’t wait another second to test the platform with a no obligation, FREE 7-day trial period. https://gynzone.com/ Believe in Midwifery Amazing Online Course for Preventing and Managing Midwifery Burnout This course was designed by Madeline Murray, CPM with you in mind to help you not only create a long-lasting and fulfilling midwifery career but also to regain a happy and healthy personal life. Earning you 10 MEAC approved CEU’s, this comprehensive online program will cover what sustainable midwifery practice means, why sustainable midwifery practice is crucial to the health of women in America today, and how to create sustainability in your own practice and community. Self-paced and including exercises on self-awareness, goal setting, boundary setting, stress relief, business planning and so much more, Believe in Midwifery’s Guide to Sustainable Practice will help make #sustainablemidwifery a reality for you. Use code MBC15OFF to get 15% off this course! https://www.believeinmidwifery.com/e-courses Midwives Advantage They trust you to provide incredible care. Our job is to get you paid for it. As Midwives, your biggest priority is caring for your clients, and getting you compensated for your hard work is ours. Midwives need every advantage when navigating the complex world of insurance claims. Our role during this process is to connect your practice and insurance seamlessly. We act as the back office that manages administrative duties involved so that you can focus on your midwifery care. https://www.midwivesadvantage.com Journey to Midwifery podcast A PODCAST, A BLOG, A JOURNEY…FOR MIDWIVES, ABOUT MIDWIVES… Midwives listen to others, we experience and hear the birth stories, the glorious and the traumatic. We are always listening. Every now and then, someone will ask, how did you become a midwife, or WHY did you become a midwife? If you really want to hear their stories, they are all here! I’m just your every day, introverted, reasonable-hippie mom on a mission to tell some stories. When people ask me why or how I do it, my answer is this: “MY MISSION IS GREATER THAN MY FEAR” – Amber Wilson, CEO Journey to Midwifery https://www.journeytomidwifery.org/about Happy Homebirth Academy What is Happy Homebirth Academy? Happy Homebirth is a brand and podcast dedicated to inspiring and explaining how to have a homebirth. The goal? To provide a source of continuous support, encouragement and education for women considering giving birth in the comfort of their own homes. This is a safe space for our community to ban together, celebrate our successes, cherish our stories and find other like-minded women to lean on. Happy Homebirth Academy providing phenomenal nationwide online education for home birthing families! EXCELLENT MARKETING AFFILIATE PROGRAM FOR MIDWIVES: Refer your clients to this amazing online home birth education course and get a 40% commission from sales! Click below to learn more: https://www.happyhomebirthacademy.com/sales-page-8a4c40ba-bca8-4a28-8ca3-7f423d580977 The Snooze Fest The Benefits of Becoming a Sleep Consultant Have you considered becoming a sleep consultant to help out clients with your midwifery practice or just adding someone on the team as an amazing
Good First Impressions are a Must for a Midwife and her Business
First Impression When driving into the office, have you thought about what your hair, clothes, demeanor, and smile say about you? Are you dressed like you are going to a business meeting, hippy retreat, or slumber party at a friend’s house? Your business image comes from your marketing presence, personal presence, and office environment. There are many parts of your business that the first impression you have no control over. Is your receptionist cheerful on the phone? Has the lawn been moved and landscaping been kept up? Does your website and business cards show you as being a professional or have typos all over things? What is the image you want to set to the community? Is this midwifery practice sloppy or professional and courteous? Midwives needs to spend time thinking about how their make up looks, how their hair style and attire speak to customers about them. Everyone is judging, especially on the first impression. What are past customers and other practices saying about your midwife business? Importance of First Impressions Every business owner knows that first impressions are important, but you may not know just how little time you have to actually make one. Within the first seven seconds of meeting, people will have a solid impression of who you are — and some research suggests a tenth of a second is all it takes to start determining traits like trustworthiness. Especially with midwifery, trust is key. Families are bringing their precious baby into the world. They want to know that they can trust you. That isn’t enough time to talk about your history, charm your new contact, or make up for any initial blunders. And entrepreneurs who are making a pitch to potential investors or customers don’t have the luxury of banking on a second meeting to clear up any misconceptions. So what can you do to make a better first impression? There are different situations when making a first impression counts, but let’s start with the most traditional: meeting someone in person, whether it’s in a client meeting or at a networking event. Dress and Groom Appropriately. This should go without saying, but people will judge you on your looks long before they judge your words or actions. After all, it only takes a fraction of a second to start making snap judgments, and Dr. Marcia Sirota says we do it all the time: “It’s no problem for us to imagine that we understand why a person has taken a particular course of action. We don’t really know; we make a guess based on our imagination, past experiences or wishful thinking.” What does your office look like? When families are sitting in the waiting room for their consult with you, first impressions are being formed even before meeting you. What is the reading material like in your book shelf? Are their alternative, empowering books or standard medicalized childbirth education resources? How clean are floors? When was the last time office was dusted? Is the furniture stained and clean and comfortable? Is there background music and incense or complaining staff talking to each other at the front desk? Branding Image We want families to feel calm, comfortable, and excited about being in your office. Creating a branding image helps with your online presence, testimonials, Facebook postings, blogs, and website resources. First impression during consult are key to a successful midwifery business. Litigation lowers when patients trust you and have good first impression. Higher patient volumes and repeat scheduled visits after the consults happen when first impressions are positive. Next time you are feeling like you don’t want to take a shower this morning, put on a smiling face, or place some mascara on, think of what the client sees from you. Are you giving image of I don’t care about myself and this practice? Look your best at all times. Especially in small communities, you never know when someone will recognize you at the grocery store, church event, or soccer game for your kids. Have a consistent image of professionalism and it will pay off big in time.
Getting Hospital Privileges for Your Midwife Business
Getting Hospital Privileges Midwives always talk about challenges of independent midwifery businesses getting hospital privileges. If you work for a doctor’s office or hospital directly, it is relatively easy getting privileges. There is lots of paperwork involved, but privileges happens in 1-2 months. For a midwife wanting to deliver in the hospital running her own practice, it is very challenging. Some hospitals don’t allow independent midwives to apply. Even if you can apply, many hospitals require a collaborating or supervisor physician (depends on your states regulations and hospital preferences). Remember, hospitals are private entities and can make their own rules about who can practice and bring their patients into for care. Supervisory Versus Collaboration with Physician When hospital privileges state wording “supervisory” versus “collaboration with physician,” it is very difficult to find a physician to sign the privilege application. Most of the malpractice insurance carriers on physician side will increase coverage costs when having a relationship with a midwife. Much caution is given by attorneys stressing liability risk involved for doctor if supervisory term versus collaboration is present. Vicarious liability is feared and largely misunderstood. Most physicians will want a financial kick back of some kind for a long term collaborative relationship. That could consists of profit sharing, consultation fee when services are required from physician, or guarantee that all patients that risk out or need surgery will be transferred to the physician directly. There are many ways to do it and goal is always to create a win-win scenario for everyone involved. Patient satisfaction greatly improves when transfers and transports go smoothly for midwifery practice and hospital staff. Hospital Based Midwifery Practice Being able to have hospital privileges for home birth transfers or creating a hospital based midwifery practice is vital for long term success. Knowing that care can be handled by the same midwife during transports gives patient’s comfort and improves the relationship with local hospital. Too many home birth practices have limited communication with local physicians. Being able to talk on the unit with colleagues and attend hospital provider meetings versus rare encountered admitting doctors for your patients is really helpful. Some hospitals aren’t used to midwives or had a bad experience in the past with midwifery care in community. Being able to create midwifery hospital privileges is much more difficult that apply for current options at your local hospital. Even amending privileges to updated verbiage with new regulations or allowing midwives to practice to their full scope is challenging. It is great to be able to care for newborns, but getting privileges to recognize that typically needs pediatricians within hospital to allow that and collaborate with midwifery practice. Midwife Privileges I have spent over 5yrs attempting to get midwife privileges back at a local hospital. There was a bad outcome over 10yrs ago and administration still has much fear about allowing midwives to practice again. It would be a great place for midwives with their mission to help under served populations and promote alternative healing, but Director of Nursing and OB Department have great misunderstandings of what midwifery is all about. I used to work there and have lots of great internal connections advocating. It helps to have internal staff within hospital meetings and talking with colleagues to support midwifery back at the hospital again. Be persistent and polite, change is not easy or everyone would be doing it. Think of your community and the population you serve. Having midwifery care be available in the hospital for transports and care for population that insurance only cover birth in hospital setting is so important. We can make change and get hospital privileges. Know your state laws. Create relationships with hospital administration and collaborating physicians in your area. Advocate for midwifery with objective, evidence based educational material like “Pearls of Midwifery” that ACNM has created.