Oral

This session will discuss approaches to improve the quality of reproductive health programs serving the needs of diverse groups of women and men in the United States. The first paper will present a quality improvement tool kit and technical assistance strategy implemented in New York City by the Healthy Teens Initiative. An in-depth understanding of client perceptions of quality of care is a first step to improving services. The second paper will present the dimensions of quality of care emerging from qualitative research conducted in publicly-funded family planning clinics in Northern California. The third paper features the results of an innovative quality improvement strategy using claims and client enrollment data to offer feedback to providers, conducted by the Office of Family Planning in California. Finally, the panel will shift to discussion of the poor quality of sexual and reproductive health services provided to sexually diverse populations throughout Latin America. IPPF will describe the process of using a staff survey to assess readiness to provide services to sexually diverse populations and share common results from across the region.

Session Objectives: 1) Describe the main components of the Healthy Teen Initiative 2) Understand nine criteria women consider when evaluating the quality of the family planning care they receive 3) Describe the impact of provider feedback on performance measures 4) Articulate the key elements of a Knowledge Attitudes and Practices survey to assess staff readiness to provide services to sexually diverse populations

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing