Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Oct 30:8:32.
doi: 10.21037/mhealth-22-12. eCollection 2022.

Patient and provider experiences using a site-to-site telehealth model for medication abortion

Samantha P Ruggiero  1 , Jane W Seymour  1 , Terri-Ann Thompson  1 , Julia E Kohn  2 , Jennifer L Snow  2 , Daniel Grossman  3 , Laura Fix  1
Affiliations

Patient and provider experiences using a site-to-site telehealth model for medication abortion

Samantha P Ruggiero et al. Mhealth. .

Abstract

Background: In the site-to-site telehealth for medication abortion model, patients visit a health center to meet with a remote clinician using telehealth technology. This model is safe, effective, and acceptable to patients and providers. The objective of this study was to document the experiences of patients and providers using telehealth for medication abortion in Planned Parenthood health centers across different geographical contexts in the United States.

Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews with Planned Parenthood medication abortion patients who either met with a clinician at the clinic via telehealth or in-person about their experiences receiving care. We also interviewed Planned Parenthood staff members about their experiences implementing telehealth for medication abortion at their health center.

Results: We interviewed 29 patients who received care at Planned Parenthood health centers in five states. Both telehealth and in-person patients described positive interactions with health center staff and clinicians. The vast majority of telehealth patients said that they felt comfortable speaking with the clinician over telehealth and had no trouble using the telehealth technology. We interviewed 12 providers, including clinicians and administrative staff, who worked in seven states. Providers largely thought that telehealth for medication abortion expanded access to medication abortion.

Conclusions: Across different locations, our findings indicate that patients found telehealth for medication abortion services to be highly acceptable and providers found that telehealth services may help improve medication abortion access. As the use of telehealth for medication abortion expands, future research should include additional measures of quality to ensure that services are acceptable across different identities and experiences, including age, race, gender, and income level.

Keywords: Telehealth; medication abortion; patient experiences; provider experiences.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://mhealth.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/mhealth-22-12/coif). After the completion of this study, JWS served as a consultant to an independent US-abortion provider. In this capacity she provided technical assistance with data analysis regarding the effects of implementation of a telemedicine for medication abortion care model on service delivery patterns. TAT, Principal Investigator of this study, reports that all payments from the anonymous grant that supported this research were made to the primary institution and used solely for research costs, including travel to meetings to present on work broadly related to telehealth for medication abortion but not specific to this manuscript. DG has received payment from Lawyering Project and Planned Parenthood Federation of America for his role as an expert witness in legal cases challenging laws that limit the use of telemedicine in abortion care. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

References

    1. Karasek D, Roberts SC, Weitz TA. Abortion Patients' Experience and Perceptions of Waiting Periods: Survey Evidence before Arizona's Two-visit 24-hour Mandatory Waiting Period Law. Womens Health Issues 2016;26:60-6. 10.1016/j.whi.2015.10.004 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Upadhyay UD, Weitz TA, Jones RK, et al. Denial of abortion because of provider gestational age limits in the United States. Am J Public Health 2014;104:1687-94. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ralph LJ, King E, Belusa E, et al. The Impact of a Parental Notification Requirement on Illinois Minors' Access to and Decision-Making Around Abortion. J Adolesc Health 2018;62:281-7. 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.09.031 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Grossman D, Baum S, Fuentes L, et al. Change in abortion services after implementation of a restrictive law in Texas. Contraception 2014;90:496-501. 10.1016/j.contraception.2014.07.006 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gerdts C, Fuentes L, Grossman D, et al. Impact of Clinic Closures on Women Obtaining Abortion Services After Implementation of a Restrictive Law in Texas. Am J Public Health 2016;106:857-64. - PMC - PubMed