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Below are the answers to some of our most frequently asked questions.
- What is a Pregnancy Help Medical Clinic (PHMC)?
A Pregnancy Help Medical Clinic (PHMC) is simply a Pregnancy Help Center, sometimes referred to as a "crisis pregnancy center" or "CPC", which has converted its operations to provide medical services to clients. To do so, the center must be a licensed medical clinic under the laws of the state in which it operates. Unless dictated otherwise by state statutory regulations, a "medical clinic" is defined as a facility which provides medical services under the supervision and direction of a licensed physician.
- How complicated is it to become licensed as a medical clinic?
Only a few states such as California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York have detailed and complicated licensing requirements for a center to be acknowledged as a "clinic". In these states the regulations must be complied with and state inspection is required. However, the vast majority of states do not have such regulations. In a state which is not regulated the only legal requirement is to have a physician (MD) who is licensed to practice medicine in the state serve as the Medical Director of the clinic and supervise all of the medical services being offered. The legality of the center providing medical services flows from the legality of this physician to practice medicine under his or her medical license.
- Are there federal laws governing the operations of a Pregnancy Help Medical Clinic?
Federal OSHA standards apply to all such clinics. In addition, a federal law known as CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) also applies and the proper paperwork must be completed to satisfy such requirements.
- If our center becomes a medical clinic will we cease to provide crisis intervention counseling?
No! A Pregnancy Help Medical Clinic is still a crisis pregnancy center and continues to provide all of the crisis intervention counseling for women who are in crisis pregnancies. By "converting to a medical clinic" a center is not changing its mission. Rather, it is enhancing your mission to by attracting, reaching and serving at risk women with the professional medical services they really need.
- What medical services are offered by a Pregnancy Help Medical Clinic?
The basic medical services provided are limited in scope and give a woman in a crisis pregnancy information to enable her to make a fully informed decision. Such services usually are limited to pregnancy diagnosis and ultrasound examination to determine the viability of the pregnancy. Some clinics are offering STD testing as well. A very few are offering prenatal care. However, most Pregnancy Help Clinics are referring to private physicians for prenatal care.
- Why should our center consider making a conversion to a Pregnancy Help Clinic?
The medical services offered by a Pregnancy Help Medical Clinic are attracting more clients to centers than ever before. By offering an immediate diagnosis of pregnancy clients will know if they are indeed pregnant. (A non-medical crisis pregnancy center cannot provide such a diagnosis since doing so will be practicing medicine.) By offering ultrasound services this pregnancy can be confirmed and its viability can be established. By offering STD testing women can receive immediate help and care for health problems which have arisen. Because of these services, centers which have made the conversion to medical clinic status are reporting major increases in the numbers of clients they are seeing on a monthly basis.
- Is this kind of conversion expensive?
The expense of making such a conversion will vary depending on a number of factors. If the zoning and building codes where a center is located requires changes in the facility before it can serve as a clinic then such expenses must be incurred. Likewise, additional expense will be incurred through the hiring of a Nurse Manager to run the clinic. However, it has been our experience that when a Pregnancy Help Center shares it vision of "going medical" with its community and supporters additional funds are raised to meet these expenses.
- Must a center convert to medical clinic status before providing ultrasound services?
The provision of ultrasound services is the practice of medicine. Ultrasound is a diagnostic procedure which must be supervised and directed by a licensed physician experienced in ultrasound. Hence, before your center provides such services it must be operating to provide medical services. This means you must either be licensed as a medical clinic or have a licensed physician who serves as your Medical Director and oversees and is responsible for the provision of ultrasound services.
- Who can perform ultrasound examinations at our center if we become a medical clinic?
Ultrasound services must be directed by and supervised by a licensed physician who is familiar with the technology and can review each exam given. Those who are capable of performing such exams under such supervision are: physicians, ultrasonographers and nurses. NIFLA provides a training course for nurses in limited obstetrical ultrasound to enable them to provide such service. However, ultimately the exam undertaken is the responsibility of the overseeing physician who must review the results of each exam.
- How can NIFLA help our center make this conversion and offer medical services?
NIFLA has a published a manual, "The Pregnancy Help Medical Clinic", which outlines the necessary steps to take to convert your operations to provide medical services. The manual comes with an electronic disk which contains the necessary policies and procedures to satisfy federal OSHA standards as well as checklists, job descriptions and organizational flow charts to guide you in this process. This manual can be ordered from NIFLA.
In addition, NIFLA has launched The Life Choice Project (TLC), a comprehensive program which provides all the necessary elements to convert to medical status including a new ultrasound machine. In TLC your center will be given consultation from an experienced NIFLA consultant to guide you in every aspect of your conversion process. Upon request NIFLA will forward to you a brochure which more fully explains TLC.
To obtain more information on becoming a NIFLA member, please contact Thomas Glessner at NIFLA, at (540) 372-3930 or e-mail tglessner@nifla.org.
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