Providing Quality Family Planning Services in the United States: Recommendations of the U.S. Office of Population Affairs (Revised 2024)

Abstract

This update, titled Providing Quality Family Planning Services^a in the United States: Recommendations of the U.S. Office of Population Affairs (Revised 2024), provides recommendations developed by the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). These recommendations represent an update to Providing Quality Family Planning (QFP) Services: Recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Office of Population Affairs (OPA), originally published in 2014. The updated recommendations outline how to provide quality sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for people of reproductive age but can also be used to guide the care of people of any age when the content is relevant to their needs, including family-building services, contraception, pregnancy testing and counseling, early pregnancy management, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and testing services, and other preventive health services. The recommendations aim to enable health care providers with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to ensure that all people, regardless of individual characteristics such as sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, age, disability, or race, can have their SRH needs met. The primary audience for these recommendations is providers and potential providers of SRH services to people of reproductive age, such as providers working in clinical settings dedicated to SRH service delivery, including those funded by the Title X family planning program^b as well as primary care providers and other subspecialty providers who may identify SRH needs and make referrals. During the past decade, several changes have taken place in the United States that have affected SRH care delivery, including technological advances, recognition of long-standing inequities, and other legal and regulatory changes. This broader context has been considered in designing the updated recommendations. This update of the QFP aims to provide guidance on the provision of person-centered SRH care focused on individuals' needs, values, and preferences. The update offers specific recommendations for how to provide high-quality SRH care and connects users to relevant guidelines, primary research, and other resources to inform best practices. In addition to incorporating new evidence, this update incorporates newer approaches to care, including adopting a health equity lens that recognizes the impact of structural and interpersonal racism, classism, ableism, and bias based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity on health and the provision of quality SRH care. OPA will update these QFP recommendations periodically to reflect new findings in the scientific literature and revisions to the clinical guidelines referenced in this update.