Mueller Jennifer, VandeVusse Alicia, Sackietey Samira, Braccia Ava, Frost Jennifer J
Research Division, Guttmacher Institute, New York, NY, United States.
Contracept X. 2023 Jul 5;5:100096. doi: 10.1016/j.conx.2023.100096. eCollection 2023.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted contraceptive service provision in the United States (US). We aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 on the publicly supported family planning network at the provider level. This study adds to the literature documenting the challenges of the pandemic as well as how telehealth provision compares across timepoints.
We conducted a survey among sexual and reproductive health (SRH) providers at 96 publicly supported clinics in four US states asking about two timepoints-one early in the pandemic and one later in the pandemic. We used descriptive statistics to summarize the data.
We found that almost one-third of sites reduced contraceptive services because of the pandemic, with a few temporarily stopping contraceptive services altogether. More sites stopped provision of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), Pap tests, and Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations than other methods or services. We also found that sites expanded some practices to make them more accessible to patients, such as extending existing contraceptive prescriptions without consultations for established patients and expanding telehealth visits for contraceptive counseling. In addition, sites reported high utilization of telehealth to provide contraceptive services.
Understanding how service delivery changed due to the pandemic and how telehealth can be used to provide SRH services sheds light on how these networks can best support providers and patients in the face of unprecedented crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
This study demonstrates that providers increased provision of telehealth for sexual and reproductive health care during the COVID-19 pandemic; policymakers in the US should support continued reimbursement of telehealth care as well as resources to expand telehealth infrastructure. In addition, this study highlights the need for more research on telehealth quality.
2019冠状病毒病（COVID - 19）大流行扰乱了美国的避孕服务提供。我们旨在探讨COVID - 19对公共支持的计划生育网络在提供者层面的影响。这项研究补充了记录大流行挑战以及不同时间点远程医疗服务比较情况的文献。
我们对美国四个州96家公共支持诊所的性与生殖健康（SRH）提供者进行了一项调查，询问了两个时间点的情况——一个是大流行早期，另一个是大流行后期。我们使用描述性统计来汇总数据。
我们发现，近三分之一的机构因大流行减少了避孕服务，少数机构甚至暂时完全停止了避孕服务。与其他方法或服务相比，更多机构停止了长效可逆避孕（LARC）、巴氏试验和人乳头瘤病毒（HPV）疫苗接种的提供。我们还发现，一些机构扩大了某些业务，以使患者更易获得这些服务，例如为现有患者延长现有避孕处方而无需咨询，并扩大避孕咨询的远程医疗就诊。此外，各机构报告称远程医疗在提供避孕服务方面利用率很高。
了解由于大流行服务提供如何变化以及如何利用远程医疗提供性与生殖健康服务，有助于揭示这些网络在面对COVID - 19大流行等前所未有的危机时如何最好地支持提供者和患者。
本研究表明，在COVID - 19大流行期间，提供者增加了性与生殖健康护理的远程医疗服务提供；美国政策制定者应支持继续为远程医疗服务报销费用，并提供资源以扩大远程医疗基础设施。此外，本研究强调需要对远程医疗质量进行更多研究。
