This study will investigate how providing integrated family planning with  sexually transmitted disease (STD )  clinical services in  the Denver STD clinic affects quality of care, cost of services, staff duties, clinic flow, clients’ family planning needs, satisfaction with services, and incidence rates of STDs and pregnancies.   In addition, the findings will address the feasibility of replicating such integration approaches more broadly in STD clinics. The project will address the following specific aims:

1. Assess the feasibility and replicability of the clinical processes used by clinicians to provide family planning services in an STD clinic setting.
2. Assess and compare the costs associated with providing family planning and STD services in separate clinical settings and through separate programs versus the costs associated with providing both clinical services through an integrated program.
3. Establish computerized procedures which will be used to identify clients eligible for family planning services in our STD clinic and remind clinicians to offer  family planning services.
4. Assess the need/desire for and acceptance of family planning services among all clients seen for STD clinical services identified as eligible for family planning services.
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of implementing a reminder system incorporated into the electronic medical record that notifies staff of a person’s eligibility to receive family planning services.
6. Use clinic surveillance data to compare incidence rates of STDs and unintended pregnancies among clients seen in the clinic that did or did not receive family planning services over the course of the project and pre- and post-implementation of the computerized reminder system.

Funding Source:
Office of Population Affairs

Awarded To:
Denver Health

Principal Investigator (DH):
Judith Shlay, MD

Period:  TBD