Friday, April 4, 2025
4/4/2025
Nebraska Family Planning Title X Telehealth Expansion Project - The Family Planning Council of Nebraska dba Nebraska Family Planning (NEFP), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, was formed in 1991 as a coalition of Title X Agency representatives including development professionals, clinicians, and clinic administrators aiming to expand and advance Title X services in Nebraska. In 2019, NEFP assumed the role as Nebraska’s Title X grantee for a three-year project cycle. In January 2022, NEFP reapplied to serve as the state’s grantee for the 2022-2027 grant cycle and aligned with 12 Subrecipient Agencies (SAs) and 33 clinics to advance health equity and expand access to family planning and related preventive health services across the state. Looking to the future, NEFP seeks $550,000 to build on this success by enhancing and expanding telehealth infrastructure statewide alongside seven of its SAs to serve a projected 2,300 clients through telehealth from 2022-2023. NEFP proposes a statewide telehealth project that will expand access to family planning services and enhance quality telehealth provision across the Nebraska Title X network. NEFP has selected seven of its twelve SAs to coordinate telehealth efforts through this one-year project cycle, with a goal to build a sustainable telehealth infrastructure as a long-term strategy to address barriers to access, mitigate health disparities, and complement the existing continuum of care. As a largely rural state, Nebraska clients often encounter specific barriers related to lack of reliable/affordable transportation; availability of medical professionals and clinics; lack of broadband access; high poverty levels; linguistic/cultural barriers; educational disparities; and more. To address these statewide barriers, NEFP and the participating SAs collaborated to determine which of the four approaches outlined by OPA (technical advancement; training; hiring of new staff; education and outreach) would best serve the needs of low-income clients in the state while also leveraging existing capacities and resources. The network determined it would use all four approaches, with each SA focusing on the approaches best suited to their current capabilities and client populations. NEFP’s skilled management team has developed comprehensive systems and processes to ensure compliance and the highest quality of care at all Title X sites in its time as a grantee. NEFP will oversee funding support in expanding SA’s technical capabilities, assessment of current telehealth capacities, technical assistance in best practice implementation, coordination of statewide outreach efforts regarding telehealth availability, as well as host meetings for the NEFP Telehealth Affinity group. The NEFP Telehealth Affinity group will bring together professionals from the seven participating SAs to collaborate on telehealth solutions that enhance the practice of care in the Title X clinic and ensure ongoing access to services for clients. The group will meet three times, with the third as a conference in the central part of the state to bring together SAs to discuss successes, challenges, barriers, and long-term sustainable solutions to ensure ongoing utilization of telehealth as an access point to family planning care. Additionally, NEFP's newly developed Reproductive & Sexual Health Equity Clinical Training Center will afford clinicians, administrators, and clinic staff the opportunity to receive hands-on training in a broad scope of topics that advance the rights of clients, including telehealth. NEFP is developing two telehealth modules that will cover routine clinical telehealth best practices, appointment types, reimbursement processes within the scope of Title X, documentation of consent, and client outreach strategies. Embracing a reproductive justice and health equity framework established by leading academics and clinicians, NEFP and the CTC are positioned to enhance equitable telehealth care and access for all Nebraskans.
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).