Funding Area: Health
The Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP) is a national nonprofit organization that works directly with primary care providers, helping them integrate abortion, contraception, and miscarriage care into their practices so that everyone can receive this essential health care from their own primary care clinicians.
Because RHAP focuses its efforts on clinicians working primarily with underserved communities and populations, RHAP helps expand access to reproductive health care to those with the least access.
Our involvement: The Marty Tomberg Charitable Fund has financially supported this organization.
Projects We Support
Reproductive Health Virtual Knowledge Network
Mifepristone, a medication used primarily to safely provide medication abortion (MAB) care, has been shown to be very effective in managing early pregnancy loss but is rarely available outside stand-along abortion clinics. A variety of educational, structural, and organizational barriers inhibit the widespread provision of mifepristone for EP and MABl in primary care.
To address barriers and expand availability of mifepristone in primary care, we are developing a virtual knowledge network (VKN) that utilizes a community learning and practice model to fill the gaps in training and technical assistance. The VKN, modeled on Project ECHO®, links groups of multidisciplinary health care teams in various communities using video conferencing technology where they regularly meet to participate in short didactic lectures and present real case studies, worked through by the VKN community and experts. In this model, all participants are learners, collaborators, and educators – not just the experts – which allows for a robust educational and practice initiative that leverages the expertise of all VKN members. Our VKN will be informed by an advisory committee comprised of clinicians, clinical support staff, clinic administrators, and patients to ensure we address the learning objectives and needs of the primary care community.
The model utilizes frequent, highly-structured educational sessions that incorporate interactive, adult learning techniques that facilitate learning by doing to create deep knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy. Our VKN involves a series of bi-weekly, one-hour interactive video sessions offered over 6 months, with short didactic presentations and participant-led case-based presentations worked through by the VKN community and experts. The curriculum and cases will incorporate topics designed to support primary care sites to implement organizational changes that move along the pathway of organizational readiness to implement MAB, and informed by the VKN Advisory Committee.3, 4, Additionally, participants will be encouraged to communicate between sessions through secure online communication channels and to access shared tools and resources through a secure website.
Support Dates: March, 2021 – March, 2022