Increasing access to emergency contraception through online prescription requests.
OBJECTIVE
To describe a pilot program, Plan B Online Prescription Access, to provide easy access to prescriptions for emergency contraception via the Internet.


METHODS
We measured electronic prescriptions for Plan B (Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Cincinnati, Ohio) by month over time. Pharmacists faxed patient-generated prescriptions back to the Department of Public Health for confirmation.


RESULTS
Despite no marketing, within the first 18 months of the program, 152 electronic prescriptions for Plan B were requested by 128 female San Francisco residents. Seventy-eight prescriptions were filled (51%) by pharmacists.


CONCLUSIONS
If correctly marketed, online prescriptions for Plan B have the potential to be an effective means of increasing emergency contraception access in both urban and rural settings across the United States. Further user-acceptability studies are warranted.
Averbach
Sarah
S
School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, 500 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. sarah.averbach@ucsf.edu
Wendt
Jacqueline Moro
JM
Levine
Deborah K
DK
Philip
Susan S
SS
Klausner
Jeffrey D
JD
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044363:Contraception, Postcoital; D003280:Contraceptives, Oral, Synthetic / Q000600:supply & distribution* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D055695:Electronic Prescribing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D016912:Levonorgestrel / Q000600:supply & distribution* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012495:San Francisco
D003280:Contraceptives, Oral, Synthetic; D016912:Levonorgestrel