Mary Bradsberry

Number of oral contraceptive pill packages dispensed, method continuation, and costs.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the effect of the number of cycles of oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) dispensed per visit on method continuation, pill wastage, use of services, and health care costs. METHODS: We used paid claims data for 82,319 women dispensed OCPs through the California Family PACT (Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment) Program in January 2003 to examine contraceptive continuation and service use. RESULTS: Women who received 13 cycles at their first visit in January 2003 received 14.5 cycles over the course of 2003 compared with 9.0 cycles among women receiving three cycles at first visit. When client characteristics are controlled, women who received 13 cycles were 28% more likely to have OCPs on hand and twice as likely to have sufficient OCP cycles for 15 months of continuous use compared with women who received three cycles. Oral contraceptive pill wastage was higher among women initially dispensed 13 cycles (6.5% of the cycles dispensed) than among women who received three cycles (2% of cycles). Despite having one fewer clinician visit, women dispensed 13 cycles were more likely to receive Pap and Chlamydia tests and less likely to have a pregnancy test than women initially dispensed fewer cycles. Over the course of the year, Family PACT paid

Number of Oral Contraceptive Pill Packages Dispensed and Subsequent Unintended Pregnancies

99 more for women who received three cycles and

Race, Ethnicity and Differences in Contraception Among Low-Income Women: Methods Received By Family PACT Clients, California, 2001–2007

44 more for women who received only one cycle than it did for women who received 13 cycles at their first visits of 2003. CONCLUSION: Dispensing a year’s supply of OCP cycles to women is associated with higher method continuation and lower costs than dispensing fewer cycles per visit. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II-2

Expanded state-funded family planning services: estimating pregnancies averted by the Family PACT Program in California, 1997-1998.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate how number of oral contraceptive pill packages dispensed relates to subsequent pregnancies and abortions. METHODS: We linked 84,401 women who received oral contraceptives through the California family planning program in January 2006 to Medi-Cal pregnancy events and births conceived in 2006. We compared pregnancy rates for women who received a 1-year supply of oral contraceptive pills, three packs, and one pack. RESULTS: Women who received a 1-year supply were less likely to have a pregnancy (1.2% compared with 3.3% of women getting three cycles of pills and 2.9% of women getting one cycle of pills). Dispensing a 1-year supply is associated with a 30% reduction in the odds of conceiving an unplanned pregnancy compared with dispensing just one or three packs (confidence interval [CI] 0.57–0.87) and a 46% reduction in the odds of an abortion (95% CI 0.32–0.93), controlling for age, race or ethnicity, and previous pill use. CONCLUSION: Making oral contraceptives more accessible may reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancy and abortion. Health insurance programs and public health programs may avert costly unintended pregnancies by increasing dispensing limits on oral contraceptives to a 1-year supply. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III

Estimates of Pregnancies Averted Through California's Family Planning Waiver Program in 2002

CONTEXT The extent to which racial and ethnic differences in method choice are associated with financial barriers is unclear. Understanding these associations may provide insight into how to address racial and ethnic disparities in unintended pregnancy. METHODS Claims data from the California Family PACT program, which provides free family planning services to low-income residents, were used to determine the proportions of women receiving each type of contraceptive method in 2001-2007. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify associations between womens race and ethnicity and the primary contraceptive method they received in 2007. RESULTS Compared with white women, blacks and Latinas were less likely to receive oral contraceptives (odds ratios, 0.4 and 0.6, respectively) and the contraceptive ring (0.7 and 0.5), and more likely to receive the injectable (1.6 and 1.4) and the patch (1.6 and 2.3). Black women were less likely than whites to receive the IUD (0.5), but more likely to receive barrier methods and emergency contraceptive pills (2.6); associations were similar, though weaker, for Latinas. Racial and ethnic disparities in receipt of effective methods declined between 2001 and 2005, largely because receipt of the patch (which was introduced in 2002) was higher among minority than white women. CONCLUSION Although Family PACT eliminates financial barriers to method choice, the methods women received differed substantially by race and ethnicity in this low-income population. The reduction in racial and ethnic disparities following introduction of the patch suggests that methods with novel characteristics may increase acceptability of contraceptives among minority women.

Cost-savings from the provision of specific contraceptive methods in 2009.

OBJECTIVES The California Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment Program was implemented in 1997 to provide family planning services for uninsured, low-income women and men. We estimated the impact on fertility of providing 500 000 women with contraceptives. METHODS Paid claims and medical record review data were used to estimate pregnancies averted. Pregnancies women experienced while enrolled in the program and pregnancies they would have experienced given methods used before enrollment were modeled as a Markov process. RESULTS One year of Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment services averted an estimated 108 000 unintended pregnancies that would have resulted in 50 000 unintended births and 41 000 induced abortions. CONCLUSIONS Providing contraceptives to low income, medically indigent women significantly reduced the number of unintended pregnancies in California.

Racial and ethnic disparities in postpartum care and contraception in California’s Medicaid program

CONTEXT During its first year of operation (1997-1998), Californias family planning program, Family PACT, helped more than 750,000 clients to avert an estimated 108,000 pregnancies. Given subsequent increases in the numbers of clients served and contraceptive methods offered by the program, updated estimates of its impact on fertility are needed. METHODS Claims data on contraceptives dispensed were used to estimate the number of pregnancies experienced by women in the program in 2002. Medical record data on methods used prior to enrollment were used to predict client fertility in the absence of the program. Further analyses examined the sensitivity of these estimates to alternative assumptions about contraceptive failure rates, contraceptive continuation and contraceptive use in the absence of program services. RESULTS Almost 6.4 million woman-months of contraception, provided primarily by oral contraceptives (57%), barrier methods (19%) and the injectable (18%), were dispensed through Family PACT during 2002. As a result, an estimated 205,000 pregnancies-which would have resulted in 79,000 abortions and 94,000 births, including 21,400 births to adolescents-were averted. Changing the base assumptions regarding contraceptive failure rates or method use had relatively small effects on the estimates, whereas assuming that clients would use no contraceptives in the absence of Family PACT nearly tripled the estimate of pregnancies averted. CONCLUSION Because all contraceptive methods substantially reduce the risk of pregnancy, Family PACTs impact on preventing pregnancy lies primarily in providing contraceptives to women who would otherwise not use any method.

Number of oral contraceptive pill packages dispensed and subsequent unintended pregnancies

BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that contraceptive provision generates significant public sector cost-savings by preventing health care and social service expenditures on unintended pregnancies. Over the past decade, womens contraceptive options have expanded considerably, calling for the need to better understand the relative cost-benefit of new contraceptive methods. METHODS We estimated the number of pregnancies averted by each specific contraceptive method by subtracting the total number of pregnancies expected under Family PACT from the total number of pregnancies that would be expected if the program were not available. The cost of providing each method was compared with the savings in reduced public expenditures from averted pregnancies. A resultant cost-benefit ratio was calculated for 11 specific contraceptive methods provided to women under Family PACT. RESULTS Every contraceptive method studied saved more in public expenditures for unintended pregnancy than it costs to provide. Over half (51%) of the pregnancies averted in 2009 were attributable to the most commonly used method, oral contraceptives. Injectable methods accounted for 13% of averted pregnancies, followed by intrauterine contraceptives (12%), and barrier methods (9%). Intrauterine contraception and contraceptive implants had the highest cost-savings with approximately

Do Bedsider Family Planning Mobile Text Message and E-mail Reminders Increase Kept Appointments and Contraceptive Coverage?

5.00 of savings for every dollar spent for users of these methods. CONCLUSIONS Because no single method is recommended clinically for every woman, it is medically and fiscally advisable to offer women all contraceptive methods to enable them to choose methods that best meet their needs, increasing the likelihood of compliance with the method chosen and prevention of unintended pregnancies.