Working with State Health Departments on Emerging Issues in Maternal and Child Health: Immediate Postpartum Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives.

BACKGROUND

Immediate postpartum long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) are highly effective in preventing unintended pregnancy. State health departments are in the process of implementing a systems change approach to better apply policies supporting the use of immediate postpartum LARC.

METHODS

Beginning in 2014, a group of national organizations, federal agencies, and six states have convened a LARC Learning Community to share strategies and best practices in immediate postpartum LARC policy development and implementation. Community activities consist of in-person meetings and a webinar series as forums to discuss systems change.

RESULTS

The Learning Community identified eight domains for discussion and development of resources: training, pay streams, stocking and supply, consent, outreach, stakeholder partnerships, service location, and data and surveillance. The community is currently developing resource materials and guidance for use by other state health departments.

CONCLUSIONS

To effectively implement policies on immediate postpartum LARC, states must engage a number of stakeholders in the process, raise awareness of the challenges to implementation, and communicate strategies across agencies during policy development.