For Immediate Release: September 19, 2022
Contact: Audrey Sandusky, asandusky@nfprha.org 

HHS Report Signals Beginning of Recovery in Title X Access, Need for More Investment

Washington, DC – New data released today in the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Population Affairs’ Family Planning Annual Report (FPAR) signals that the Title X family planning program is beginning to recover from the Trump-era program rule that led nearly 1,000 providers (or 25%) to withdraw from the program and resulted in a historically low 1.54 million patients served in 2020. In 2021, 1.66 million people received family planning and sexual health services from a Title X-funded health care setting, an increase of nearly 126,000 from the previous year. 

The time period of the report is significant to understand its findings. The program data were gathered from January – December 2021. The Trump-era program rule that had a devastating effect on the Title X program, its providers, and its patients, was lifted and replaced with a new rule that went into effect on November 8, 2021. While some service sites were able to return in 2021 (there were 253 more service sites than in 2020), withdrawn grantees were not able to return to the program until new grant funding was awarded in early 2022. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic also likely continued to impact the demand for services and Title X providers’ capacity to deliver care. 

“While the report shows a Title X network beginning to recover following the damaging impacts of the Trump-era rule and COVID, it still paints a worrying picture of the program that is in dire straits,” said Audrey Sandusky, Senior Director, Policy & Communications at the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA). “The Title X program is desperate for a significant infusion of federal resources to repair provider networks and restore access to care for all who rely on safety-net family planning. Congress’ failure to fund Title X has made it impossible for the Biden administration to rebuild the program. The consequences of prolonged budget shortfalls are reverberating across the program forcing providers to freeze positions, limit services, and eliminate agencies from the Title X network.”

Here is the link to the FPAR report.