ReproHH fills critical gaps, offering real-time clinical guidance about comprehensive sexual and reproductive health
Reproductive Health Hotline (ReproHH) is a new, free, confidential hotline to support clinicians nationwide to provide reproductive and sexual healthcare. ReproHH connects frontline providers with experts from the UCSF Department of Family & Community Medicine for real-time clinical guidance.
UCSF Associate Professor of Family & Community Medicine
Healthcare providers around the country are facing intersecting crises that endanger people’s access to reproductive healthcare. Abortion bans, widespread closures of labor and delivery units, drastic Medicaid cuts, and targeting of Planned Parenthood are just some of the factors that put additional pressure on primary care providers to meet people’s needs for this specialized care. ReproHH was launched to address these growing gaps, especially in rural and underserved areas where providers often work in isolation.
“Healthcare providers want to give the best possible care to their patients,” said UCSF Associate Professor of Family & Community Medicine Jen Karlin, MD, PhD, who led the Hotline’s development. “For many areas of reproductive healthcare, providers don’t have anyone to turn to for support. ReproHH offers that clinical safety net.”
Staffed by experienced physicians, ReproHH provides consults on matters including:
- Complex contraceptive counseling
- Medication and procedural abortion, where legal
- Care for miscarriages and post-abortion
- Early pregnancy management
- Sexually transmitted diseases, urinary tract infections, and vaginitis
- Pain management for gynecological procedures
Built on Proven Infrastructure
The Reproductive Health Hotline is a project of The Goldschmidt Collective and housed within the UCSF Department of Family & Community Medicine. The Collective’s flagship is the National Clinician Consultation Center (NCCC). The only advice center of its kind in the nation, the NCCC for more than 30 years has provided free remote consultations on managing HIV/AIDS, perinatal HIV, pre-exposure prophylaxis, and bloodborne pathogen exposures. ReproHH builds upon that model, bringing a new focus on sexual and reproductive health.
A Broad Coalition for Reproductive Justice
ReproHH is supported by a wide network of organizations working to expand access to reproductive care, including Essential Access Health, TEACH (Training in Early Abortion for Comprehensive Healthcare), RHAP (Reproductive Health Access Project), and Access Bridge. Their advisory committee includes doulas, licensed midwives, advanced practice clinicians, pharmacists, youth advocates, and physicians across a wide array of specialties who work in various settings, including Indigenous, tribal, and urban health clinics and with other communities with limited access to care in every region in the US. Together, these groups aim to reduce misinformation, promote equitable access to quality healthcare, and ensure that providers in any setting—from student health to community clinics—can confidently care for their patients.
Supporting a Growing Workforce
Clinicians eligible to dispense medication abortion under California law—such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and pharmacists—are among those expected to benefit from the hotline.
“Training doesn’t stop after the classroom,” said Dr. Karlin. “What makes ReproHH unique is that it walks with providers as they bring care to their communities.”
Visit https://reprohh.ucsf.edu/ to learn more.
