Mission
To promote excellence and equity in contraceptive care through provider education and practice transformation.
Core Values
PICCK is based on four core values:
1) Every person has a right to comprehensive family planning services, including deciding if and when to parent.
2) Every person has a right to complete and accurate information about all contraceptive methods.
3) Reproductive health services should honor individual, religious, and cultural preferences.
4) Advocates, educators and providers should partner in non-coercive, patient-centered care rooted in principles of autonomy, equity, and justice.
Details of the State Program
PICCK is an innovative clinical and public health program designed to promote contraceptive choice and effective contraceptive counseling across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Enacted in partnership with the state’s birth hospitals, the program provides education, training, and technical assistance to expand and sustain the capacity of hospitals statewide to provide contraceptive services.
PICCK seeks to help achieve equity in contraception access and pregnancy outcomes in Massachusetts through: 1) a reduction in the approximately 50,000 annual unplanned pregnancies in Massachusetts, 2) improvement in the outcomes for both mothers and infants by reducing the increased risks associated with unplanned pregnancies, and 3) improved quality of care tailored to the needs of vulnerable Massachusetts residents. Additionally, PICCK data on outcomes will be shared throughout the Commonwealth and the country to inform continued efforts to improve health equity for all women and infants.
PICCK is a five-year program funded by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and housed at Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine.
Overview of the PICCK Program
PICCK seeks to intervene in the areas of contraceptive services where we believe we can make the greatest impact. Our programming focuses on five areas of contraceptive provision:
- Immediate postpartum LARC (long-acting reversible contraception)
- Improved access to ulipristal acetate and IUD for emergency contraception
- Pregnancy intention and contraceptive needs interventions for clinics (PICNIC)
- Same-day LARC provision in the office setting
- Shared decision-making approaches to contraceptive counseling
How We Help Providers
The PICCK program provides: 1) education, training and technical assistance (TA) for clinicians and staff; 2) practice support for issues related to workflow and billing; and 3) materials to support patient outreach and education.
On-site training and TA provided may include: grand rounds, on-site trainings, educational sessions, and follow-up email and telephone consultations. The PICCK team will work with each interested hospital to design a specific intervention that meets the hospital’s needs.
State-wide activities, available to all interested providers and staff, include: monthly webinars, web-based resources, and an annual meeting held at the Massachusetts Medical Society campus. Providers can earn CME credits for participation in the webinars and annual conference.
All birth hospitals in Massachusetts are welcome to participate in the program. The program is open to engagement with all hospital services such as Labor and Delivery and postpartum units; ambulatory practices in OB/GYN, primary care, adolescent medicine, and the emergency department located within the hospitals; OB/GYN and primary care practices in the hospitals’ licensed and affiliated community health centers.
How To Get Involved
PICCK offers a variety of options for engagement for hospitals and hospital affiliated and licensed practices and health centers, as well as individual health care providers, administrators, and staff. If you would like to be involved with PICCK, you can click contact us and select “participate as a hospital/practice” as your reason for contact. We look forward to hearing from you!