HHS to Distribute $35M to Support Telehealth Expansion for Title X Program

The Department of Health and Human Services is providing $35 million in funding to improve and expand the telehealth infrastructure of Title X family planning providers.

HHS plans to use the funds, drawn from American Rescue Plan funding, to award an estimated 60 one-time Title X grants.

Title X is a federal grant program for those providing comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services in communities across the U.S. Established in 1970, the program currently funds 71 family planning service grantees who support thousands of service sites.

As demand for telehealth grew across the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, so did provider adoption.

Publicly funded family planning providers, including those supported by Medicaid and the Title X program, joined the accelerating shift to virtual care.

For instance, Planned Parenthood began offering telehealth services in all states, including contraceptive counseling and prescriptions, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV care, a Kaiser Family Foundation report states.

Further, some clinics began offering curbside services that included distribution of condoms, at-home STI testing kits or drive-up injectable contraception administration.

"During the global COVID-19 pandemic, family planning programs have accelerated the use of telehealth," said Admiral Rachel Levine, MD, assistant secretary for health, in a news release. "These ARP funds will facilitate the delivery of quality family planning services and reduce access barriers for people living in America who rely on the healthcare safety net for services."

Specifically, the funds will be used to help Title X providers expand their ability to offer telehealth services as well as support national efforts to achieve health equity.

"I've seen first-hand the critical role that telehealth plays in serving communities, particularly to protect so many families from COVID-19," said Xavier Becerra, HHS secretary, in a news release. "As providers transitioned from providing in-person primary care to offering telehealth services, we were able to test, vaccinate, and act as lifelines to communities disproportionately hit by the pandemic. Increasing our investment and access to telehealth services remains critical. This investment is another step towards making telehealth available to all Americans."

The newly available funds are part of the Biden administration's efforts to rebuild the Title X program.

In 2019, the Trump administration made several changes to Title X regulations, significantly weakening the program. These changes included disqualifying family planning clinics that share locations with abortion services and banning clinics from providing abortion referrals, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report.

The federal Office of Population Affairs estimated that from 2018 to 2020, the number of clients served by family planning clinics fell from 3.9 million to 1.5 million.

In October, the Biden administration released new regulations restoring aspects of the program that had been eliminated and adding new provisions, such as allowing telehealth as an option for care delivery and requiring family planning centers to provide services in a culturally and linguistically appropriate, inclusive, and trauma-informed manner.

The new regulations went into effect Nov. 8.