photo by: Courtesy of Heartland Community Health Center

Heartland Community Health Center's facility at 1312 W. Sixth St.

Story updated at 5:52 p.m. Thursday, June 22:

Heartland Community Health Center will soon officially be the main community hub for folks in need of family planning services.

Heartland CEO Julie Branstrom confirmed to the Journal-World Wednesday that the clinic will be awarded the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Title X Family Planning grant sometime in July, taking over for Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health as the county’s grant-holding family planning service provider.

The move has been in the works for a while and seems to finally be close to completion. Branstrom didn’t offer a specific date when the grant will be awarded, but previous estimates from the health department anticipated Heartland taking over the grant starting July 1.

Leading up to the grant switch, Douglas County leaders and members of the public had expressed concerns about whether scheduling access might end up being a barrier for patients looking to get family planning care. However, Rachel Hartford, Heartland’s chief operating officer, told the Journal-World Thursday that folks seeking family planning care at Heartland will be able to book same-day appointments, and next-day and same-week slots will also be available.

However, Hartford said there may be limitations on same-day services involving contraceptives like intrauterine devices or Nexplanon, which require an insertion or implant. Walk-in patients who request an STI or STD test or appointment may also be asked to wait, but could be scheduled for the next available appointment.

Hartford said anyone seeking family planning care or STI and STD testing and treatment at Heartland won’t first have to establish care at the clinic, but it is currently accepting new patients for its other services. She added that the latest new information about family planning services at Heartland is being posted to the clinic’s website at heartlandhealth.org/familyplanning.

Broadly speaking, family planning services covered under the Title X grant include contraceptive services, pregnancy testing, screenings for breast and cervical cancer and sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment. These services aren’t going to be new at Heartland, though; Branstrom said the clinic has been and will continue offering them as the grant changes hands.

What will change is that the Lawrence-Douglas County health department will stop offering many of the family planning services at its clinic at 200 Maine St. The health department will continue to test and treat sexually transmitted infections at its clinic, but most other services that were provided under its Title X grant won’t continue at the health department.

Branstrom said folks seeking family planning services or STI testing at Heartland will utilize the clinic’s current sliding scale fee schedule, which provides discounts for patients with a household income up to 200% of the federal poverty level. For a household size of three people, for example, that figure for 2023 according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is $49,720.

Later in the year, though, Branstrom said Heartland plans to implement a new family planning-specific sliding fee schedule that will provide reduced fees for patients up to 250% of the federal poverty level instead. For a family of three as in the previous example, that figure for 2023 would be $62,150. She said the new sliding scale will likely be implemented in October.

But according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Title X services are supposed to be provided regardless of one’s ability to pay and, for many clients, Title X clinics are their only ongoing source of health care and health education. Branstrom has previously signaled that Heartland would serve patients regardless of their income and insurance status.

Branstrom added that Heartland plans to hire additional staff for the family planning program in the coming months.

All of Heartland’s family planning services will be provided from its clinic at 1312 W. Sixth St. That’s a reversal of course from a previous plan to have Heartland’s Title X care team be located within the health department’s clinic.

“After a great deal of evaluation, we recently made the decision that we will not occupy clinical space in the 200 Maine St. building at this time,” Branstrom said. “There are several reasons for this decision, including (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) waiver requirements, 340b requirements and vaccine/medication storage requirements.”

Branstrom added that the health department’s plans to continue offering STI testing and treatment at the Maine Street clinic are another reason Heartland opted against providing any family planning services there, in an effort to avoid duplicating services in the same space.