Planned Parenthood’s app — Planned Parenthood Direct — kicked off in California in December of 2017 with 4 trained clinicians.
Now, in April of 2019, Planned Parenthood Direct is in 22 states plus Washington DC, with 55 trained clinicians participating!
The California app allows people to order birth control pills via their phone and have them delivered to their door.
Here are the latest exciting statistics: There have been 150,000 total installs of the app. Of those, 66,000 patients enrolled. And of those enrolled patients, there were 15,000 patient visits!
Patient numbers from Planned Parenthood Direct are growing tremendously. Social media advertising has been very effective with our patients, particularly Snapchat and Instagram.
Planned Parenthood Direct is developing a reputation among patients for its extreme ease of use. Patients trust our brand and are open to sharing their experiences with the app and giving feedback. One patient was quoted as saying: “This is how all health care should be.”
Patients are also responding to the live video chats they access from Planned Parenthood Direct. One clinician noted that she video-chatted with a mom who had two small children with her in the frame; she’d most likely have more difficulty getting everyone to the doctor than she did with a video chat.
Another recurring theme is that people who have anxiety and don’t like to meet with health care providers in person prefer to video chat from the safety and security of their own surroundings. With Planned Parenthood Direct, they can get their care from the comfort of home.
A trans man called using Planned Parenthood Direct to get his birth control “a miracle,” due to the barriers that trans people often face getting in getting their health care.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America eventually wants to add enhanced contraceptive options, counseling services for emergency contraception and STIs, and PrEP to Planned Parenthood Direct as well.
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