Women, Reproductive Health, and Health Reform

Abstract

It is becoming more evident as trends and documented racial disparities emerge that the health needs of US woman are not being met. In response the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) promises continuous coverage for the approximately 19 million US women who currently lack health insurance and for the many more who have only sporadic coverage The promise of continuous health insurance coverage provides an opportunity to transform womens health with comprehensive care over their life course. The CDC supports this life-course perspective for reproductive life planning acknowledging that care for women cannot separate reproductive health from health promotion; pregnancy planning is an important component of preventive services for women. This article discusses three components of the ACA that are well suited to drive the transformation of womens health: patient-centered care system integration and value-driving service delivery. An integrated women’s health system will require improved use of the electronic medical record better workflow and communication across accountable care organizations and better-designed health information technology to meet the direct needs of patients. Reproductive life planning and accompanying family planning have the promise of decreasing the unplanned pregnancy rate optimizing womens health managing health pregnancies and improving birth outcomes - thereby affecting the health of the next generation.