Question: One of the things that we have done this year to support our rural patients is to pick up breast milk, pack it in dry ice and transport it back to our children's hospital for the infant that has a long term stay with us. By doing this we allow the mother to be at home with the family when her baby must remain hospitalized for some time. Our courier service drivers transport the breast milk over 100 miles to the medical center.

There have been times when our drivers must go out of the way to pick up the milk but in some communities it is part of the normal stop. Would this service count as CB?

Recommendation: This is a wonderful program but it is really part of the excellent care you are giving your patients, not a service to be reported as community benefit.

(June 2012)