Family Planning Centers Meet Health Care Reform: Lessons from Massachusetts

Important lessons arising from Massachusetts' bold experiment with health care reform hold significant implications for community-based family planning health centers. Access problems presenting themselves in the state indicate that even after health care reform, these centers will continue to be needed as a critical source of high-quality, low-cost primary and preventive reproductive health care. At the same time, the Massachusetts example suggests that national health care reform opens the possibility for family planning providers to formalize and be compensated for another vital but under-recognized function they have long played--acting as an entry point to care for clients who may have had little or no other interaction with the health care system. The centers' ability to successfully play either of these important roles, however, likely will depend on the extent to which they are fully integrated into the emerging health care marketplace--a potentially daunting challenge. The Massachusetts Experiment