Welcome Guest

Introduction

Purpose and Origins

The purpose of the Oregon Guidance for the Provision of High-Quality Contraception Services: A Clinic Self-Assessment Tool is to define and encourage the adoption of standards for the provision of high-quality contraception services in both primary care and family planning clinical settings throughout Oregon.

The Tool is intended for clinics to assess the current state of their contraception services and identify areas for improvement. Clinics that score high enough to be rated as a quality contraception provider or expert contraception provider are encouraged to communicate that message to their patients, colleagues and communities.

The Tool was based primarily on the CDC MMWR, Providing Quality Family Planning Services: Recommendations of CDC and the U.S. Office of Population Affairs. It was developed by the Oregon Preventive Reproductive Health Advisory Council, which is a collaborative effort of state, local, private and public health sectors. Special recognition goes to the significant support provided by the Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Foundation for Reproductive Health and Health Share of Oregon.

Key Assumptions

The Tool makes some key assumptions about the provision of contraception care, which are described on the next page. These three areas are not explicitly scored on the Tool because they are considered essential to the provision of high-quality contraception care. If these key assumptions are not true for your clinic, support and resources are available to address these areas before you begin the assessment process.

  1. EQUITY AND INCLUSION – Achieving health equity requires valuing every person equally and contributing to ongoing societal efforts to address avoidable inequalities, historical and contemporary injustices, and intentional efforts to eliminate health disparities. A health-equity perspective on health care delivery allows those providing care to consider how race, ethnicity, economic status and sexual orientation inform a patient’s need for and access to preventive reproductive health services. In turn, greater sensitivity to the challenges and concerns of a diverse patient population can be developed, with greater opportunity to strengthen therapeutic relationships and improve outcomes.
  2. COST AND BILLING TRANSPARENCY – Clinic staff are transparent about all costs and billing policies related to contraception services before services are delivered. These include policies not in the clinic’s control, such as the generation of explanation of benefits (EOB) statements by insurance companies. Clinics will make alternate arrangements for any patient who wants to avoid such notifications.
  3. CONFIDENTIALITY – Patients have a right to privacy and confidentiality during delivery of services. Information obtained by clinic staff about a patient receiving services may not be disclosed without the patient’s documented consent, except as required by law or as may be necessary to provide services to the patient, with appropriate safeguards for confidentiality. Clinics have policies and rocedures in place to protect patient confidentiality and clearly communicate those policies to patients.

On this Site

    The Clinic Self-Assessment Tool is organized into four quality domains:

    • Access
    • Service Provision
    • Community Collaboration with other Providers
    • Evaluation of the Patient Experience with Contraception Services

    Each domain contains components. Each component contains a set of measures that define the component.

    Clinics should complete the Tool as a team. Clinics are encouraged to use the Tool to assess how their clinic is performing in relation to specific components of effective contraception services and as a basis for ongoing quality improvement efforts.

    A Strategy and Resource Guide is available to help clinic staff understand and meet the measures scored on the Tool. The Guide is organized by the same numbering system as the Tool and offers definitions, strategies, resources and additional citations for understanding and meeting the measures. It also serves as an educational and reference resource for clinicians and clinic staff.

Contributors

Helen Bellanca, MD, MPH, Health Share of Oregon

Helene Rimberg, PsyD, Oregon Health Authority, Adolescent, Genetics & Reproductive Health Programs

Emily Elman, MPH, Oregon Health Authority, Reproductive Health Program

Michele Stranger Hunter, (Former) Executive Director, Oregon Foundation for Reproductive Health

Elizabeth Gharst, MScPHDC , Oregon Health Authority, Reproductive Health Program

Lesli Leone Uebel, MPH, CHES, Oregon Health Authority, Reproductive Health Program

Jillian T. Henderson, PhD, MPH, Kaiser Permanente, Center for Health Research

Michael Policar, MD, MPH, Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, University of California, San Francisco

Karol Almroth, Oregon Health Authority, Reproductive Health Program

Lesa A. Dixon-Gray, MSW, MPH, Oregon Health Authority, Maternal and Child Health Program

Connie Clark, NP, Hood River County Public Health

Dana Smothers, MS, RN, CNL (Formerly) Yamhill County Public Health

Shelagh Johnson, Oregon Health Authority, Adolescent and School Health Program

Rachael Linz, MPH, Oregon Health Authority, Reproductive Health Program

Maria Rodriguez, MD, MPH, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oregon Health & Science University

Merry-K. Moos, RN, FNP, MPH, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Anna Stiefvater, RN, MPH, Oregon Health Authority, Maternal and Child Health Program

Laurie Francis, RN, MPH, Oregon Primary Care Association

Julie McFarlane, MPH, Oregon Health Authority, Maternal and Child Health Program