LARC Access Expansion Act

Core Policy Mechanism Top 1

Telehealth Demonstration Program for LARC Access

Creates a demonstration program funding eligible health clinics to use telehealth to expand rural and underserved women's access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), including patient consultations and referrals through a voluntary provider consortium. Creates a federal grant program allowing qualifying community health clinics to expand access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) by training staff and maintaining same-day supply. Clinics must serve underserved areas and not perform or fund abortions.

• Population Scope Low Grants reach only health centers in medically underserved or shortage areas that already exclude Title X recipients and abortion providers — a narrow subset of clinics serving a limited share of the population.
• Budgetary Magnitude Low No dollar amount is authorized or appropriated; both grant programs are purely discretionary, leaving actual funding contingent on future congressional appropriations.
• Legal / Regulatory Depth Medium Inserts two new subsections into 42 U.S.C. § 254b, creating new statutory grant authority with eligibility conditions and use-of-funds requirements — a new statutory program, but one that authorizes permissive grants rather than imposing binding mandates on the regulated population.
• Degree of Discretion Granted High Both programs use 'may award' language, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) retains broad authority over grant selection, consortium composition, and designation of rural areas, with no mandatory award or minimum funding floor.
• Implementation & Enforcement Burden Low Compliance relies on grantee self-certification against abortion provision, with no new enforcement infrastructure, penalties, or inspection mechanisms created.
• Temporal Commitment High The new subsections are permanent amendments to the Public Health Service Act with no sunset, expiry, or mandatory reauthorization, persisting until Congress affirmatively acts to repeal them.