Setting up a Milk Bank
The value of donor human milk has increased with the growing body of evidence to supports its use for a variety of patients. Once only used for sick neonates, human milk is now routinely used for sick children and, in some cases, adults. CHS understands the importance of breast milk for infant development and is actively working on behalf of Prolacta Bioscience to set-up certified milk banks throughout the United States.
Prolacta has developed a large-scale facility to process raw donor milk in a pharmaceutical-grade setting and create formulations to a consistent, safe standard, which will include defined levels of caloric and nutritional content for optimal neonatal development. During the processing of human milk, Prolacta uses state-of-the-art pasteurization, formulation and filling processes that are based on the highest standards employed in the manufacture of prescription pharmaceuticals.
There are many benefits to establishing a hospital-based milk bank:
- Milk banking offers the opportunity for hospitals to provide valuable services to the community, subsidize the cost of their lactation services program and be assured of an ample supply of processed donor milk for use in their NICU, PICU and for other critically ill patients
- Hospital-based milk bank set-up is simple and requires no cash outlay from the hospital
- There are no start-up or ongoing costs to the hospital other than the nurses who already provide lactation services. All of the necessary supplies and capital equipment are provided free of charge.
- A turn-key press relations program is also available to promote the milk bank at no cost to the hospital
- Hospital milk banks have the opportunity to sell the raw milk they collect and subsidize hospital costs
- Participating hospitals have priority access to processed donor milk products. According to an economic cost benefit analysis, hospitals can save a minimum of $10,000 per patient if they provide donor milk to very low birth-weight babies in the NICU.
The process of establishing a hospital-based milk bank is simple:
- Contact an account manager at CHS to discuss the benefits and details of setting-up a milk bank
- Your CHS account manager will assist you in scheduling a Prolacta presentation to your hospital NICU and lactation management
- Your hospital will be presented with a milk bank contract
- Upon receipt of the signed contract, Prolacta will perform an equipment installation at your hospital and donation can begin
Contact a CHS account manager today to establish a milk bank at your facility.
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