CPF FUNDED GRANT DETAILS

Pharmacy Access Partnership has been at the forefront of advancing access to EC in pharmacies and sees this model as opening doors for other hormonal contraception methods, namely oral contraceptives, the patch, and ring. This is an important next step to increasing capacity at community pharmacies to better meet womens health needs. In fact, a national survey published in Contraception, December 2006 documents womens strong interest in pharmacy access to hormonal contraception and moreover reveals that four in ten women not using any contraception would begin a hormonal method if they could obtain it directly from a pharmacist. According to a 2005 national survey conducted in collaboration with the American Pharmacists Association, the majority of pharmacists are also interested in providing pharmacy access services to hormonal contraception, with interest highest in California. As such, Pharmacy Access Partnership has been laying the groundwork to develop and implement a pilot pharmacy access to hormonal contraception program in California. Our objectives over the next two years include: 1 recruiting and training pharmacists to provide pharmacy access to hormonal contraception services and implementing a pilot demonstration program in 10-15 community pharmacies in California 2 evaluating the feasibility and acceptability among consumers, providers and payers of pharmacists initiating hormonal contraception under collaborative protocol and 3 educating the public, providers, policymakers, and the media about the value of pharmacists and pharmacies in improving access to reproductive health services and community health overall.