Dear Assemblywoman Rosenthal:

We are New York State IBCLCs and friends who are advocating for the proposed bill in the NY State Assembly to provide for licensure of lactation consultants. The bill bases its educational requirements on those set forth by our credentialing office, IBLCE.

Passage of this bill is very important to the health and safety of all nursing women and babies.

(As stated by USLCA: “Licensure protects consumers, encourages quality, assigns responsibility, raises professional standards of practice, and prevents unqualified individuals from practicing. It provides consumers with the tools needed to evaluate the practitioners. Licensure is permission granted by a competent authority to engage in an occupation. It is the most restrictive form of professional and occupational regulation. Licensure therefore could be used to protect the title of lactation consultant, provide a single set of standards for the profession, enable autonomy of practice and increase access to care, culminating in support for billing and reimbursement.” …. Also, “Continuing to operate with only certification does a disservice to the breastfeeding families that deserve and require specialized lactation care and services, but are deprived of these services because of denied insurance coverage. Licensure is generally viewed by legislative bodies as a regulatory effort to protect the public from potential harm. In the healthcare delivery system, an individual who is licensed is known to have a determined minimum level of education and experience in order to practice. Conversely, the licensed individual must satisfy ongoing requirements which assure certain knowledge and skills.”)

As you know, IBCLCs are the most educated, tested and prepared healthcare professional to help new mothers breastfeed. By passing this bill we protect mothers and their babies