Frequently Asked Questions
Instead of traveling to a doctor’s office for postpartum care, Fourth Trimester Doc brings the care to you. With in-home visits, you receive personalized medical attention in the comfort of your own space, allowing you to focus on recovery and bonding with your baby without the stress of leaving home. Additionally, our services are tailored to the unique needs of the postpartum period, providing more comprehensive, specialized care than a typical doctor’s visit. We offer not only medical care, but also lactation and mental health support, all in one package, designed to make your transition as smooth and supported as possible.
The Lactation Network (TLN) is a service that helps make lactation care more affordable by working directly with insurance providers. Through our partnership with TLN, we’re able to bill insurance for about half of our services, and this portion is fully covered with no cost-sharing, meaning it won’t count toward your deductible. If your insurance is approved by TLN, the lactation consultant portion of your visit is fully covered. Please note that TLN doesn’t cover physician or travel fees. You can check your coverage with TLN HERE.
Fourth Trimester Doc serves families in the Twin Cities and Rochester, Minnesota, with in-home visits available within a 20-mile radius of each of our physicians’ locations. To see the service radius for each physician, please visit ‘Service Radius For Each Physician’. If you’re outside the radius, we can still provide services for an additional travel fee. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about coverage in your area.
Each service offered by Fourth Trimester Doc is listed under the ‘Explore Services‘ tab and on its own dedicated page. Simply select the button that matches your circumstances (With TLN Coverage or Without TLN Coverage). Then, register for an appointment.
4th Trimester Package
The 4th Trimester Package is designed to provide you with ALL the lactation/bodyfeeding support, mental health support, postpartum checks for the mother/birthing person, and well-child checks for the baby in the comfort of your own home. These are services that you would otherwise go into a clinic for; however, with Fourth Trimester Doc, medical care and support is delivered to you. The package specifically includes:
- Five in-home visits for mother/birther and newborn
- Unlimited support between visits
- One postpartum planning session
- One (optional) phone call with partner/support person for partner postpartum planning
- Option to have the last visit be the two-month well-child check and include vaccinations administered in the home
Feel free to read more about the 4th Trimester Package HERE.
Vaccines are not covered by the package fee. There are various ways to arrange insurance coverage for the cost associated with immunizations and we work with families to create a customized solution.
Using coverage with TLN, the 4th Trimester Package is $985, plus tax (Additional travel fees will apply for travel outside the 20-minute radius). TLN only pays for the lactation consultant-level portion of the package, not the physician portion. In addition to lactation/bodyfeeding support, our physicians provide all postpartum medical checks for the mother/birthing person and the baby that you would otherwise go into a clinic for. Since our physicians are licensed and provide a higher level of medical care, their services are billed separately from lactation care and are not covered by TLN.
Lactation Services
Fourth Trimester Doc provides ALL lactation and breast/bodyfeeding services. Our physicians are Breastfeeding and Lactation Medicine Specialists with advanced training to address everything from routine feeding challenges to complex medical conditions related to lactation. We go beyond the scope of traditional lactation consultants to provide thorough, individualized care. No matter your need, we’re here to help with all things lactation!
Feel free to read more about our breast/bodyfeeding and lactation medicine consultations HERE.
TLN pays for the lactation consultant-level portion of the visit. As physicians, we also charge the physician fee for each of our visits to cover our medical expertise, diagnosis, prescription and lab recommendations, more complex decision-making, expenses for physician-level malpractice coverage, e-prescribing, and physician licensing fees. Using this approach, you will get the most advanced level of care at a fraction of the cost. With coverage from TLN, the cost is $197 plus tax per visit for the physician fee (Additional travel fees will apply for travel outside the 20-minute radius).
The first step is scheduling an initial lactation assessment to evaluate feeding concerns and confirm the need for the procedure. If a frenotomy is recommended, a separate appointment will be scheduled for the release.
The frenotomy is a quick procedure performed by our physicians using sterile scissors. For more information on the technique our physicians use to perform frenotomy, feel free to review these resources:
Insurance & Billing
Fourth Trimester Doc accepts patients whether they have insurance or not and regardless of their insurance plan. We are considered out-of-network, so we do not participate in any insurance plans. We cut out the middleman to provide the care we feel you deserve. We’ll give you a superbill to submit your claim directly, or use Reimbursify for assistance. Most people are able to get a significant portion reimbursed, especially after meeting their deductible with the birth of their child. Additionally, since our postpartum, lactation, and newborn services are considered preventative care, many insurance carriers cover most costs once your out-of-network deductible is met. We recommend contacting your insurance to verify your coverage.
We’re also contracted with The Lactation Network (TLN), which bills insurance for about half of our costs. This portion is fully covered with no cost-sharing and does not count toward your deductible.To see whether your insurance covers a portion of the cost through TLN, you can put in your info HERE.
Yes, Fourth Trimester Doc is not a substitute for health insurance. Please consult with a financial advisor or a representative from your insurance company to guide your plan choice.
We offer discounts for cash-pay out-of-office labs, radiology, supplements/herbs, and medications if you don’t want to use your insurance or don’t have insurance.
You can pay via ACH transaction, HSA/FSA (see below) or credit card.
You may want to check with your human resources department regarding the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) as possible payment options. If you are unable to use these funds to pay for the fee directly, there is a good chance that you can still use your HSA/FSA as reimbursement for certain services.
