ICAN!’s new digital platform, www.ican4all.org, is live! While still a work-in-progress, our website makes it easy for patients to find inclusive, accessible, objective information about all birth control options and to connect with a Quality Hub providing patient-centered contraceptive care.

Features include:

• Our Find a Health Provider tool that allows users to search for Quality Hubs based on location, ages served, and insurance coverage status.
• A quiz that helps users identify the birth control methods that will best meet their personal goals and preferences. Add this quiz to your website! Click here for instructions!
• Our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and a Before Your Visit Checklist provide answers to some of the most common questions about birth control and prepare users to make the most of their Quality Hub visit.
• A User Experience Survey that collects patient-reported experiences o enable continuous quality improvement.
• ICAN! Phone A Friend—a feature that allows users to schedule a time to chat with someone who can help answer any questions.

As part of our website launch, ICAN! introduced its TRUER Care Resource Center where health and social service providers can find:

• ICAN!’s Foundational webinars which ground providers in key concepts related to Quality Family Planning and Reproductive Justice.
• Curated trainings from leading reproductive health organizations, practitioners, and researchers to strengthen clinical knowledge and skills.
• Training modules on how to optimize your health center’s billing and coding practices for contraceptive services.

As we celebrate Pride this month and consider how we can provide the best experience to LGBTQIA+ patients, it’s important to remember the value of establishing rapport and trust and using patients’ preferred name and pronouns when providing contraceptive counseling. These concepts and more are covered in ICAN!’s new TRUER Patient-Centered Care video. Please watch, share, and help TRUER Care become THE standard for contraceptive care delivery!

ICAN! is committed to developing and sharing meaningful metrics to evaluate our collective success in improving access to TRUER contraceptive care. In the past weeks, we’ve begun testing some creative approaches to data entry and collection!

• Patient-Reported Experience Metrics (PREM) are essential for quality improvement. To help collect patient experience feedback, each Quality Hub health center received white paper bags (pictured) that they’ll fill with condoms and other useful products and distribute to patients post-appointment. The QR code printed on the bag links to ICAN!’s patient experience survey, based on the NQF-endorsed Patient-Centered Contraceptive Counseling survey (PCCC).
• Contraceptive encounters: ICAN! distributed candies with the Z30.09 ICD code printed on them to all Quality Hubs. Our goal is to provide fun ways to encourage staff to document this code for any patient visit where they provide general counseling and advice on contraception, which falls under “Encounter for contraceptive management”. Consistent coding will not only ensure we can accurately measure progress in improving access to care, but also will enable health centers to maximize reimbursement for services.

Family planning coverage

A win for Illinoisans! Senator Castro’s omnibus bill (SB 967) to address disparities in maternal mortality and support new mothers passed the Illinois General Assembly with full support (116 yes votes and 0 no votes)! Of particular importance to ICAN!, the bill directs HFS to seek federal approval of a State Plan Amendment (SPA) to expand coverage for family planning services that includes presumptive eligibility to individuals whose income is at or below 208% of the federal poverty level.

This is a critical step toward implementing a model Family Planning SPA in Illinois! To learn more about this policy and the inclusions that will enable expanded access to high quality contraceptive care for thousands of Illinoisans, please read ICAN!’s white paper, Advancing a Model Family Planning State Plan Amendment.

Pharmacy prescribing

HB 135 allows qualified pharmacists to prescribe and dispense a 12-month supply of hormonal birth control beginning in January 2022. This measure passed the Illinois General Assembly and is awaiting Governor Pritzker’s signature.

We are proud to spotlight 2 of our partner organizations! These exemplary community-based social service providers are committed to connecting their program participants to care at ICAN! Quality Hubs and to educating them about all forms of birth control and reproductive rights in Illinois.

New Moms supports young moms, 24 and under, experiencing poverty in Chicagoland to take powerful first steps toward mobility and family well-being.

Apna Ghar provides critical, comprehensive, culturally competent services and conducts outreach and advocacy across communities to end gender violence.

Learn about what it means to be an official ICAN! Community Partner. Join ICAN!’s Director of Community Engagement, Dr. Toni M. Bond, and Community Engagement Manager, Angela Townsend on Tuesday, July 6th at 12 pm CT for an informational webinar.

This spring, ICAN! delivered our educational workshop, “Birth Control: the History, the Facts, and How to Get the Care You Deserve” to nearly 1,000 Chicago Public School students at Clemente, Prosser, and Lindblom high schools. This youth-friendly, informative, and engaging presentation shares evidenced-based information on all birth control methods and explains how to access patient-centered contraceptive care at low to no cost.

If you’re interested in bringing this workshop to your school or organization, please contact atownsend@alliancechicago.org to schedule!

• ICAN! launches 5-year initiative to address unmet contraceptive need in Illinois, May 12, 2021 (press release)
• Closing the contraceptive coverage gap: a multi-pronged approach to advancing reproductive equity in Illinois, Contraception, May 26, 2021. ICAN! staff members Meg Lassar, Dr. Toni M. Bond, Kai Tao, and Sameen Qadir—along with evaluation partner, Dr. Debra Stulberg—authored this special article that provides an overview of the context in which ICAN! evolved as well as our initial goals and key strategies.
• Chance to Choose: Expanding Contraceptive Access, Deep Dive with Laura Arnold, June 3, 2021 (podcast). This episode examines contraceptive equity, explores the barriers to giving women true birth control choice, and discusses potential policy solutions that could help close the gaps in access.
• Why American Women Everywhere are Delaying Motherhood, New York Times, June 16, 2021. Over the past decade, as more women of all social classes have prioritized education and career, delaying childbearing has become a broad pattern among American women almost everywhere.

 

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