Massachusetts birth hospitals have the opportunity to take advantage of an innovative clinical and public health program designed to promote contraceptive choice and effective contraceptive counseling.
Partners in Contraceptive Choice and Knowledge (PICCK) is a five-year grant program funded by the state and housed at Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine.
It is based on the belief that: “Every person has a right to comprehensive family planning services, including deciding when and if to parent, a right to complete and accurate information about all contraceptive methods, and access to high-quality maternity and birth services that honor individual, religious, and cultural preferences.”
The program offers training and technical assistance in contraceptive counseling and care to hospitals and their affiliated community health centers providing OB-GYN, primary care, and adolescent care.
The specific PICCK training and technical assistance activities provided at each hospital will be tailored to meet the hospital’s needs. The PICCK program seeks to help achieve equity in contraception access and pregnancy outcomes in Massachusetts through 1) a reduction in the approximately 50,000 annual unplanned pregnancies in the state and 2) improvement in the outcomes for both mothers and infants by reducing the increased risks associated with unplanned pregnancies.
MHA was an early supporter of the PICCK concept, writing a letter in March 2018 in support of the Boston Medical Center/Boston University grant application.
Any hospital wishing to participate in PICCK, through which staff will receive contraceptive training and technical assistance to improve reproductive healthcare, may contact Boston Medical Center’s Katharine White, M.D., MPH, PICCK’s Principal Investigator, at (617) 414-3745 or
Katharine.White@bmc.org.