Objective: (1) Determine national prevalence and predictors of donor milk programs among levels 2-4 advanced neonatal care facilities; (2) describe characteristics of donor milk programs.
Study design: We randomly selected 120 U.S. hospitals with levels 2-4 advanced neonatal care facilities among each of four U.S. regions and surveyed the medical directors from July 2017 to November 2017 regarding donor milk use. We weighted responses according to the number of birthing hospitals in each region.
Results: Response rate was 213/480 (44%). Twenty-eight percent of level 2 and 88% of levels 3 and 4 neonatal care facilities had donor milk programs. Donor milk programs occurred more often in the South vs. Northeast (aOR 3.7 [1.1, 12.5] and less often in safety-net hospitals (≥75% Medicaid patients) vs. nonsafety-net hospitals (aOR 0.3 [0.1, 0.8]).
Conclusion: In 2017, the vast majority of levels 3 and 4 neonatal care facilities had donor milk programs but disparities existed according to the safety-net hospital status and region.