Offering NFP in A Physician’s Office

As a Creighton Model Certified FertilityCare Practitioner (CFCP), I can work in various service settings. A multiplicity of practice designs is very important for reaching women/couples with differing needs and preferences. The natural family planning consultant (aka teacher) serves families best when services can be obtained in the home setting, in parishes or dioceses, in hospitals, and in medical offices. This article describes my experience of working with a medical office.Many of my clients are receiving treatments for infertility or other reproductive conditions. The client/couple situation is complex and may be changing as treatment progresses. For these clients, working within the MD office setting enables better integration of CFCP services with the medical provider services of NaProTECHNOLOGY. When the degree of difficulty in the client situation is more straightforward, other non-medical appointment settings may be more inviting for client/couples. The CFCP service is foundational to the application of NaProTECHNOLOGY by the Medical Consultant in a Creighton Model System. Thus it is extremely important that the CFCP provides sound instruction in the fundamentals of NaProTRACKING the Creighton Model System. Regardless of the setting, it may be the CFCP who first identifies a problematic reproductive situation. The CFCP has been instructed in the meaning of various biomarkers revealed in the Creighton Model chart. For example: “If limited mucus cycles imply that a hormonal dysfunction exists that may also be the cause of an ovulation related defect.” She has a responsibility to educate the client/couple regarding that possibility, and to refer the woman to a Medical Consultant, who knows NaProTECHNOLOGY. Some healthcare insurance plans will cover the cost of natural family planning to avoid or to achieve pregnancy. In some plans, coverage for costs requires that appointments be held in medical agency offices. Each health care plan is different. Thus clients are encouraged to check with their health insurance plan rather than assume costs will or will not be covered. The decision to offer a sliding scale for costs of services to private pay client/couples is a decision mutually made by involved professionals and administrators. Working in a medical office requires some logistics planning up front. It is necessary that there is agreement about the type of services offered, communication processes, appointment scheduling processes, billing processes, arrangement of days/times of CFCP services, availability of a private consultation space, public notification of service. If a physician’s office is part of a hospital or a corporate setting, administrator input would be also necessary. I enjoy working closely with a Medical Consultant, who refers to many NFP providers. In this service, I am very grateful for my background as an RN. I know that the client/couples, who need medical interventions, are better served with close collaboration between the NaProTECHNOLOGY Medical Consultant and my CFCP services.