Saint Paul - Ramsey County Public Health, Title X Clinic 555 Telehealth - For over 50 years, Saint Paul - Ramsey County Public Health (SPRCPH) Clinic 555 has been a Title X grantee offering quality family planning and sexual health services to populations most disfranchised and systemically oppressed throughout the east metropolitan area of the Twin Cities and surrounding communities. Clinic 555 is seeking additional funding to 1. Establish, enhance, and expand telehealth technical capabilities and systems to support sustainable access to high-quality, client-centered, and equitable Title X family planning services, and 2. Expand and improve outreach to people who are underserved by telehealth services and promotion of telehealth Title X family planning services to these populations to enhance access to high-quality, client-centered, and equitable care. The first approach to establish, enhance, and expand telehealth technical capabilities includes: 1. Procurement of a mobile health clinic, 2. Procurement of mobile phones, and 3. Implementation of patient portal. The second approach to expand and improve outreach includes: 1. Offering telehealth visits to all clients including those in correctional facilities. 2. Ensuring access to telehealth to low-income clients through a schedule of discounts, 3. Use of a mobile health clinic to provide telehealth services on-site in communities underserved by family planning services, 4. Conducting outreach/promotion of telehealth services through the mobile health clinic, 5. Distribution of mobile phones to clients in dire need, and 6. Providing referral to free and/or reduced cost mobile phones for those in need of mobile phones but not identified as in dire need. Clinic 555 has identified communities in need of telehealth services in the service region to be low-income communities, racial and ethnic minorities, incarcerated individuals, individuals experiencing homelessness, and people who use injection drugs. The service region encompasses Ramsey, Dakota and Washington counties in Minnesota. Clinic 555’s proposed project includes both synchronous and asynchronous telehealth modalities. Synchronous telehealth modalities include connecting clients with telehealth services through traditional telehealth technology (video/phone connecting clients remotely with providers at Clinic 555), telehealth technology in the mobile health clinic (video/phone connecting clients in mobile health clinic to providers at Clinic 555), outreach and promotion via the mobile health clinic, distribution of mobile phones to clients in dire need, and referral to free and/or reduced cost mobile phones for those in need of mobile phones but not identified as in dire need. Asynchronous telehealth modalities of the proposed project include implementation of a patient portal in the existing electronic health record system, NextGen, promotion of the patient portal, and in-person patient portal enrollment support. Clinic 555 is part of Saint Paul – Ramsey County Public Health (SPRCPH), one of the largest local public health agencies in Minnesota and currently the only Title X recipient in the state. Clinic 555 has no subrecipients. Since first receiving Title X funding, Clinic 555 has always provided services that are consistent with statutes, regulations, legislative mandates, program guidelines and policy notices as evidenced by the most recent program review in May 2021 in which Clinic 555 received “Good” or “Exceptional” responses in all sections. With Title X’s continued support of SPRCPH Clinic 555, residents of Ramsey County and the greater east metropolitan area will have access to client-centered, culturally and linguistically appropriate, inclusive, and trauma-informed telehealth services that are in compliance with all relevant federal statutes, regulations, and legislative mandates.
