Performance Measures for Contraceptive Care: A New Tool to Enhance Access to Contraception

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Health
• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Public Health

Background:

• Contraception is crucial for public health, yet access to comprehensive services and patient-centered care is inconsistent.
• Improving contraceptive care quality can enhance contraceptive use, health outcomes, and patient experiences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe three National Quality Forum-endorsed performance measures for contraceptive care.
• To highlight the importance of these measures in ensuring access to a full method mix and patient-centered care.
• To emphasize the role of these measures in monitoring quality and driving improvements in family planning services.

Main Methods:

• Description of three National Quality Forum (NQF)-endorsed performance measures for contraceptive care.
• Focus on measures monitoring provision of effective methods and access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARC).
• Inclusion of a measure assessing postpartum contraceptive care.

Main Results:

• The described performance measures aim to ensure accessible contraceptive care with a full spectrum of methods.
• These measures can be monitored by payers, health systems, public agencies, and researchers.
• Clinicians play a key role in disseminating and utilizing these measures for quality improvement.

Conclusions:

• The development and implementation of standardized performance measures are critical for improving contraceptive care quality.
• Ongoing efforts focus on expanding quality monitoring to include safety and patient-centeredness.
• Improving family planning care quality is essential for empowering women to make informed reproductive choices.