Wednesday, April 30, 2025
4/30/2025
Title X telehealth project to expand asynchronous family planning services to clients in need throughout Maine - Maine in general, and the Family Planning Association of Maine (FPA) in particular, are notable for their wholehearted and early embrace of telehealth as a means of delivering sexual and reproductive health care. In 2014, using private funds, the Family Planning Association of Maine became one of the nation’s first sexual and reproductive health providers to offer medication abortion via a telehealth model. In doing so, the FPA created an infrastructure including adequate connectivity at all clinics, staff training in various telehealth platforms, and expertise in best practices in providing telehealth care. In addition to medication abortion, in the following years, a pilot program in telehealth services including direct-to-patient contraception, STI testing, pregnancy testing, and gender-affirming health care was established. When Covid-19 reached Maine in March of 2020, the FPA was uniquely well-positioned to rapidly transition to providing care via telehealth for the majority of our services, never closing our clinics or decreasing our service offerings, and served as a thought leader and resource for others in the field. To truly provide equitable options to accessing care for all Mainers, especially those living in remote rural communities, who have low incomes, and/or have limited English proficiency, the FPA seeks to broaden our already robust telehealth capacity to include a simple-to-use asynchronous telehealth service in combination with the development of an entirely multi-lingual website and multi-lingual instructional videos. Introducing an asynchronous telehealth SRH service with the features described above harmonizes completely with the goals and objectives to reduce health disparities among the underserved populations described in this application, as well the application submitted by the FPA to the Office of Population Affairs for funds to support Maine’s statewide sexual and reproductive health network.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).