When Dispensing Contraception, the More the Merrier

Dispensing a full year's supply of oral contraception (OC) raises adherence and lowers rates of unintended pregnancy. To estimate the financial and health implications of the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system offering to dispense a 12-month OC supply, researchers developed a decision model.

The model assumed that 24,300 female veterans fill OC prescriptions each year, half of these women would opt for 12-month dispensing, and the VA spends $17,000 on every unplanned birth. The outcome indicates that allowing dispensing of a 12-month OC supply would avert 583 unintended pregnancies and 245 abortions each year, annually saving the VA $2,117,800.