Planned Parenthood Federation of America Annual Report Demonstrates Urgent Need For Access To Essential Health Care Services

Majority of Planned Parenthood Health Care Services Continue to be Preventive in Nature — Birth Control and STD Testing and Treatment Are Most Utilized Services

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) has released its 2009–2010 Annual Report, which reflects a continued need for access to affordable health care services and information for families nationwide.  As the nation’s leading women’s health care provider and advocate, Planned Parenthood continues to provide essential health care services to millions of Americans. 

In the midst of a struggling economy, Planned Parenthood health centers provided care for nearly three million patients, who collectively received 11 million services during nearly five million clinical visits, including providing affordable birth control for more than two million patients, 770,000 Pap tests, nearly 750,000 breast exams, and more than four million tests for STDs, including HIV tests.  STD testing and treatment was the most common service, followed by contraception.  As in previous years, more than 90 percent of the care provided was preventive in nature; pregnancy termination services remain approximately three percent of Planned Parenthood services. 

PPFA also provided grants to partner organizations who delivered reproductive health care to more than 655,000 women and adolescents in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Planned Parenthood’s website, Plannedparenthood.org, received more than 22 million visits from people in the U.S. and around the world in search of reliable health information.  And, as the largest provider of sex education in the country, Planned Parenthood reached more than 1.1 million young people and parents during the year with information and education to help them make informed decisions and stay safe.

Each year Planned Parenthood service delivery statistics shift slightly, but no new trends are evident in this annual report.  A small decrease in preventive services such as contraception, cancer screenings, and HPV vaccinations are the result of changes in the services patients are seeking as well as reduced funding from private grants that provide subsidies for cancer prevention for patients in need.  Unfortunately, as a result, fewer young people had access to the HPV vaccine, which prevents the most common types of HPV that cause cervical cancer.

Approximately $487.4 million of Planned Parenthood affiliates’ FY 2010 budget came from government reimbursements and competitive grants for health care services such as family planning, lifesaving cancer screenings, testing and treatment for STDs, and HIV prevention.  In 2010, Planned Parenthood affiliates saw an increase in Medicaid reimbursements — reflecting an increase in Medicaid expenditures nationwide.  Like other health care organizations providing services to patients who are eligible for government-funded programs, we have seen an increase in patients relying on government sources — a manifestation of the continuing national economic and health care crisis.  As a result, government reimbursements have increased in recent years.  In fact, 76 percent of the 2010 Planned Parenthood patient base was at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

Additionally, the 2010 report, shifts reporting of government revenues to accommodate for reimbursements from third parties whose ultimate source of payment was government reimbursements for Medicaid — reflecting a state trend of encouraging Medicaid patients to join a private health care organization, such as an HMO, and for providers like Planned Parenthood affiliates  to receive reimbursement from these third parties.