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.

STUDY

DESIGN

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.

CONCLUSION

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.