Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is Expanding Access to Mobile Reproductive Health Care Planned Parenthood Direct is now available to Medicaid Patients

Wisconsin—March 20—Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI) is expanding access to birth control services for Medicaid eligible patients through the Planned Parenthood Direct (PP Direct) mobile app. The PP Direct app allows patients to order birth control or receive treatment for a urinary tract infection (UTI) from the convenience of their phone. The PP Direct app can be downloaded for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

“At Planned Parenthood, we believe part of having a healthy community is making sure everybody has access to the health care they need – no matter what. We are excited to build on our history of reducing barriers to improve health care access, particularly with the need we see today,” said Tanya Atkinson, CEO and president of PPWI. “As politicians work to restrict access to critical reproductive health care, the Planned Parenthood Direct app is one more tool people can use to get the care they need from trusted health care experts, no matter where they live.”

There is an unmet need for reproductive health care in Wisconsin that was exacerbated by the pandemic. Recent studies from the Guttmacher Institute found that the COVID-19 pandemic prevented or delayed as many as half of family planning patients from getting birth control or related sexual and reproductive health care, especially for those who experienced financial hardship.

PP Direct is a quick and easy to use app launched in 2020 to improve access to birth control for people no matter where they live, and now for Medicaid eligible patients and those enrolled in the Wisconsin Family Planning Only Services (FPOS) program. To use, patients download the app, select a service to get started, answer basic questions, and press submit. A clinician will follow up within 24 hours to help with their request. If the patient has requested birth control, their method will be sent via mail through PPWI’s Quarterly Contraceptive Kit (QCK) program. The QCK program sends a three-month supply of a patient’s birth control method directly to their home, along with emergency contraception and condoms. If the patient has requested UTI treatment, the prescription will be sent to their local pharmacy.

As of October 2022, there are 1,363,624 Medicaid enrollees in Wisconsin. Currently, 55% of PPWI patients are on Medicaid. Now, those patients will have another way to access quality reproductive health care outside of visiting a PPWI health center. They can access it through their mobile devices—a quick, easy, and convenient way to get the services they need. To learn more about PP Direct, click here. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is a nonprofit health care provider serving nearly 60,000 patients annually at 22 health centers.

Planned Parenthood provides the full range of comprehensive reproductive health care, including well-woman exams, breast and cervical cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, birth control, vasectomy and abortion counseling, referrals and after care.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.