Support for you
Our financial counselors provide one-on-one guidance for a variety of circumstances and can:
- Provide a cost estimate for mother's hospital delivery charges
- Answer questions about your bills
- Assist with financial assistance applications
- Complete Health Exchange and Medicaid application
- Provide billing estimates for future services
- Set up zero interest or low-interest payment plans
If you believe you may need assistance meeting your financial obligations for the care provided at Lakeland, now is the time to meet with a financial counselor. Our support is available as a free resource. Call 844.408.4103, option 1 to schedule an appointment to speak with a financial counselor prior to your delivery.
Understanding global OB charges
Broadly speaking, the global OB package covers routine maternity services, dividing the pregnancy into three stages: antepartum (also known as prenatal) care, delivery services, and postpartum care.
Antepartum care refers to the serious routine, regular obstetrical visits that are spread out during the 40 weeks of a typical pregnancy. These visits include performing a prenatal history and physical exam of the mother, identifying all medical factors that could affect the health of the baby and the difficulty of delivery. This phase of care also includes all the routine, regularly performed tests to monitor the development of the baby.
Delivery services include the mother’s admission to the hospital for birthing, the admission history and physical exam, management of labor, and either vaginal or cesarean delivery of the baby. The global package covers an uncomplicated delivery, so any significant complications of labor and delivery are separately billable if supported by appropriate documentation.
Postpartum care covers outpatient visits for a period of six weeks following delivery, during which the provider manages the acute effects of labor and delivery in the mother while also monitoring her general postpartum health
What’s covered and what’s not
The global OB package is designed to include the evaluation and management of common complications of pregnancy, including any of the mother’s chronic conditions that would affect the pregnancy. Here’s a list of what is typically inclusive:
- Routine prenatal visits (13 total for uncomplicated pregnancies), which include initial and subsequent history, physical exams, and recording of weight, blood pressure, and fetal heart tones
- Routine urinalysis
- Hospital admission, including H&P, prior to delivery
- Management of uncomplicated labor
- Delivery, either vaginal or via cesarean section
- Delivery of placenta
- Routine outpatient office visits within 6 weeks of delivery
What is not inclusive and can be separately billed:
- The initial office visit to diagnose or confirm pregnancy is not considered part of the global package
- Complications of pregnancy resulting in more than the usual number (13) of prenatal visits are billed separately
- Any visit for an OB/GYN purpose that is unrelated to the pregnancy
- Laboratory tests beyond the routine urinalysis
- Fetal contraction stress tests and fetal non-stress tests
- Obstetrical ultrasounds
- Management of surgical complications during pregnancy