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ForwardPerformance Improvement: Raising Patient Awareness of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services
Have you ever had a patient who didn’t realize that you offer contraceptive counseling and STI testing? Who didn’t know that telehealth can expand their access to care? Have you been meaning to locate providers in your area for services you aren’t able to offer?
If you’ve been looking for practical ways to connect patients with sexual and reproductive health services - both in your practice and within your community - this performance improvement module is for you.
This hands-on module helps you:
- Identify gaps in patient awareness
- Strengthen how your practice communicates available services
- Implement small, meaningful changes with your team
- Close the patient knowledge gap to increase access to needed care
In this performance improvement (PI) project, participants will measure patient knowledge of locally available, appropriate sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services at baseline and again after implementing at least one Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycle. At the conclusion, participants will reflect on resulting practice improvement.
Examples of educational interventions that could be included in a PDSA:
- Create a PDF that lists all of your clinic’s sexual and reproductive health service offerings and hang a copy in every exam room.
- Develop an online resource guide with information on California abortion access, including how to avoid fake abortion clinics and where to get an abortion online. Share with all patients of reproductive age via QR code during visits. Include providers who serve patients with a high BMI, third trimester pregnancies or physical disabilities.
- Establish an automated email sent to all adolescent patients before their visit encouraging discussion of sexual and reproductive health needs and listing your practice’s relevant services.
- Identify local SRH providers with Vietnamese-speaking staff and create a handout translated into Vietnamese for patients with limited English proficiency.
- Locate PrEP providers in your area and provide at-risk patients with a list of clinics and patient education materials about PrEP.
Patient possession of knowledge is measured by calculating the following metric:
- % of patients in the identified patient population who report knowing where to access sexual and reproductive health services
Learning Objectives
Participants will implement and evaluate a practice-based change to improve how patients receive tailored information about available sexual and reproductive health services (in-practice, local, and/or telehealth).
Upon completion of this project, participants will be better able to:
- provide tailored information on sexual and reproductive health services offered in their own practice, locally and/or through telehealth;
- increase their patients’ knowledge of locally available, appropriate SRH services
Target Audience
This activity is designed for family medicine physicians, residents and other members of the primary care team working in a variety of settings.
Notice of Compliance with Local Laws
This educational activity is provided free of charge to all learners. It is the responsibility of each learner to ensure their participation complies with any applicable local, state, or federal laws and regulations. We do not monitor or enforce state-specific legal restrictions regarding abortion-related education, and it is not our intention to violate any laws. By engaging in this educational activity, learners acknowledge and accept responsibility for ensuring their participation is in compliance with the laws governing their jurisdiction.
Participation and Credit
Learners must complete the project by March 21, 2028 to receive credit. Requirements are to:
- read the course information thoroughly, including target audience, learning objectives, and author disclosures
- study the educational content online
- submit baseline data
- complete the PDSA project
- submit follow-up data and attestation
- complete the activity evaluation
Your certificate will be available to you as a downloadable link. You may print the certificate, but you cannot alter it. For information on applicability and acceptance of continuing education credit for this activity, please consult your professional licensing board.
Participating with a Practice Team/Partnering with Another Clinic
Multiple learners may participate from the same practice, analyzing a single set of data, or clinicians in small practices can choose to join together with another practice to complete this module. Each learner must be enrolled in the PI project separately and complete each step of the project in this portal, although the data collection and PDSA steps may be performed collectively by the team/partners. The Attestation must be completed individually by each learner.
Unlabeled Use Disclosure
This activity will not include discussions of products or devices that are not currently approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the curriculum clearly indicates this fact.
Support
This activity is sponsored by the California Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, supported by the California Department of Public Health. The contents may not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the State of California.
Fee
There is no charge for this activity.
Cultural/Linguistic Competency
CAFP policy and California state law requires that each learning activity have elements of cultural and linguistic proficiency included in the content. The definition of cultural and linguistic competency is the ability and readiness of health care providers and health organizations to humbly and respectfully demonstrate, effectively communicate, and tailor delivery of care to patients with diverse values, beliefs, identities, and behaviors, in order to meet patients’ social, cultural, and linguistic needs as it relates to patient health. This activity meets these requirements.
Implicit Bias
CAFP policy and California state law requires that all CME activities comprising a patient care element include either (1) examples of how implicit bias affects perceptions and treatment decisions of physicians and surgeons, leading to disparities in health outcomes and/or (2) strategies to address how unintended biases in decision-making may contribute to health care disparities by shaping behavior and producing differences in medical treatment along lines of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics. This activity meets these requirements.
Privacy Policy
The California Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP) is committed to protecting the privacy of its members and customers. CAFP maintains safeguards to store and secure information it has about members and customers. The safeguards may be physical, electronic or procedural. For more information, see our website or contact [email protected].
Questions
For questions regarding the content of this activity or for technical assistance, contact [email protected].
The CAFP has made all reasonable efforts to ensure that information contained herein is accurate in accordance with the latest available scientific knowledge at the time of accreditation of this continuing education program. Information regarding drugs (e.g., their administration, dosages, contraindications, adverse reactions, interactions, special warnings, and precautions) and drug delivery systems is subject to change, however, and the learner is advised to check the manufacturer's package insert for information concerning recommended dosage and potential problems or cautions prior to dispensing or administering the drug or using the drug delivery systems.
Approval of credit for this continuing education program does not imply endorsement by CAFP of any product or manufacturer identified.
Any medications or treatment methods suggested in this CME activity should not be used by the practitioner without evaluation of their patient's condition(s) and possible contraindication(s) or danger(s) of use of any specific medication.
Copyright
© 2026 California Academy of Family Physicians. No part of this activity may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embedded in articles or reviews.
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Sheila Attaie, DO
Dr. Sheila Attaie (she/her) is an Iranian-American family physician from the Sacramento area. She is an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at University of California, Davis. She is also a contract provider with Lilith Clinic and Planned Parenthood Great Plains, as well as a volunteer for the M+A hotline. Her interests in medicine include abortion liberation, refugee and immigrant health, and mental health. Outside of medicine, she fills her cup with hiking, snowboarding, dancing, DJing, and international travel!
Disclosure: Dr. Attaie has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.
Shannon Connolly, MD, FAAFP
Dr Shannon Connolly (she/her) completed medical school at the University of Southern California and residency in family medicine at UCLA. She is a former Associate Medical Director at Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, and founder of Open Arms Primary Care, a Direct Primary Care practice focused on providing inclusive care to populations who have been overlooked by the traditional healthcare system. She has served as president of the California Academy of Family Physicians and is currently Chair of the Committee on Justice through Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for the CAFP. Additionally, she sits on the Commission for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Family Medicine for the American Academy of Family Physicians. Her clinical interests include abortion and family planning, gender affirming care, and health equity.
Disclosure: Dr. Connolly has no relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
C. Peony Khoo, MD, FAAFP
Dr. Khoo (she/her) is a family physician in downtown Los Angeles. She serves as the Associate Program Director at the California Hospital Medical Center Family Medicine Residency Program where she provides full-spectrum family medicine care, including surgical obstetrics. She is also a Supervising Physician at Planned Parenthood Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley. She serves in leadership positions in family medicine in local, state, and national committees. Her clinical interests include reproductive health, obstetrics, addiction medicine, and lactation/breastfeeding medicine.
Disclosure: Dr. Khoo has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.
Amy Tressan, MD
Dr. Tressan (she/her) completed medical school at Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and residency in family medicine at UCLA. She then completed her medical training with a family planning fellowship with the Reproductive Health Access Project in Boston and a subsequent fellowship (LTA) with Physicians for Reproductive Health. She is currently the Director of gynecology and reproductive health services at the LA LGBT Center, where she practices comprehensive primary care. Her areas of clinical interest include diversity and equity within healthcare delivery, trauma informed care, abortion access, and gender affirming care. Outside of work, Dr. Tressan is involved in several professional organizations which focus on advocacy for access to family planning services.
Disclosure: Dr. Tressan has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.
Aisha Wagner, MD
Dr. Wagner completed medical school at the Keck School of Medicine and residency at University of California, San Francisco. She then went on to do a fellowship in Reproductive Health and Advocacy in New York through the Reproductive Health Access Project, as well as a fellowship with Physicians for Reproductive Health. Dr. Wagner currently works providing primary care at an FQHC, as a contract provider for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, fellowship director for TEACH (Training in Early Abortion for Comprehensive Healthcare), and recently as the co-Chief Medical Officer for Choix Health, a telehealth platform offering MAB.
She has created and collaborated on reproductive health, reproductive rights, and reproductive justice advocacy projects, taught women’s health procedures (including abortion) to medical students, residents, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals. She has also spoken as an expert on contraception and abortion care with media, state representatives, on panels, and as an invited Grand Rounds speaker. In her free time (which is very limited these days) she enjoys buying ridiculous numbers of plants.
Disclosure: Dr. Wagner has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose.
Conflict of Interest Statements
The Committee on Continuing Professional Development and CME will be responsible for mitigating any relevant financial relationships disclosed by an individual who may have influence on content, who have served as faculty, or who may produce CME/CPD content for the CAFP. Mitigation may include learner notification, peer review of content before presentation, requirement of EB-CME, changing topics, or even dismissing a potential faculty member.
It is the policy of the CAFP to ensure independence, balance, objectivity, scientific rigor, and integrity in all continuing education activities. All individuals with potential to influence the content of this program have submitted Disclosure of Interest declarations that have been reviewed according to policy. Learner notification of declarations is below. All individuals with relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies have been contacted by CAFP staff or CCPD members, and issues of conflict have been discussed and mitigated.
CME Planners
The following planners have no financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose: Laurie Isenberg, MA, MILS, CHCP, and Brittany Perrotte, MPH.
This activity has been approved by the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) for Family Medicine Certification credit. Term of approval is for 03/23/2026 to 03/22/2028.
The AAFP has reviewed Performance Improvement: Raising Patient Awareness of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services and deemed it acceptable for up to 20.00 Performance Improvement AAFP Prescribed credit(s). Term of Approval is from 03/23/2026 to 03/22/2028. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The California Academy of Family Physicians is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The California Academy of Family Physicians designates this educational activity for a maximum of 20 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s). TM
Available Credit
- 20.00 AAFP Prescribed
- 20.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™