Tag: pharmacist prescribing

How to Set Your Birth Control Formulary and Inventory Levels

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Inventory management can either make or break a pharmacy or clinic. It’s one of those things that you absolutely must keep a close eye on. Otherwise, things can go from good to bad and bad to worse very quickly.

For the patient, their most basic expectation is to walk into the pharmacy with their shiny, new prescription and leave with their medications in hand. That’s why it is absolutely crucial to carefully set your birth control formulary and appropriately set your inventory levels.

Birth Control Pharmacist Formulary Inventory

Which birth control products should I keep in stock? 

If you are in a pharmacy that is already dispensing birth control prescriptions, you likely don’t need to make many changes at all! You can pick from the existing products that other birth control users are happy with when prescribing for your patients.

If you starting up and are a low volume clinic or pharmacy, simplicity is the key. Don’t stock your shelf full of 5 different equivalent generics that can be substituted for one another. Pick the one generic that is most cost effective or one that your patients most often request.

Choose medications to have on hand that can’t be substituted. Always keep Nuvaring, Xulane, and Depo-Provera or its generic on hand. These formulations are great options for people who have trouble adhering to a daily regimen or just don’t want to think about taking a pill every day.

Be sure to stock progestin only pills, extended cycle combination oral contraceptive (COC) pill packs, as well as emergency contraception because…well it’s in the name that it’s an emergency (Ella and Plan B One Step or generic). POPs are important to have stocked for your patients who may have contraindications to estrogen, such as migraines with aura or may be in the immediate postpartum period. There is only one progestin only pill formulation – norethindrone 0.35 mg.

When selecting the COCs to keep on hand, try to utilize the progestin’s class effects to your patient’s advantage. There are about 40 COC formulations on the market today. Narrow down the abundance of options when choosing your formulary by looking at how the progestins differ from one another. For instance, stock a COC that contains a progestin with low or no androgenic activity such as norgestimate or drospirenone respectively if your patient is concerned about or struggling with acne.

Other noncontraceptive benefits of hormonal pills that patients may request will be to suppress their menses. This is why we always want to have an extended regimen or even better a continuous regimen COC pack readily available. Yes, some of these are costly items that may not be your store’s “fast movers”, but having different formulations and the chance to get started on these right away will pay off in the end. The result being happy patients, happy pharmacy staff, and a larger base of pharmacy patrons.

Speaking of cost, inventory — if managed incorrectly — can come back to haunt you. Carefully controlling the inventory is how you will manage the potentially devastating high-cost of some medications. Like before, consider birth control options that cannot be substituted and limit your inventory on products that seem to have endless substitutions. Also, if you’ve noticed some insurances prefer certain products over others, keep that in mind as well.

How do I determine how much to keep on hand?

Once you’ve established what products you would like to keep on hand, look at your pharmacy’s dispensing history for each product. How many times do you dispense that product in a month’s time? Do you have a patron that comes in like clockwork every month for Yaz or LoLoestrin? Someone returning every three months for her 3-month supply? Here’s where utilizing a patient compliance tool to schedule refills, with the patient’s permission, can be extremely

Take all of these factors into account and utilize your inventory system’s options to set an order point or TIL (target inventory level). This will tell your computer to automatically order that medication once your BOH (balance on hand) drops below your pre-determined TIL. Most pharmacy systems have some version of this function and it can be a really helpful tool. The point here is to make sure you don’t have thousands of dollars in inventory sitting on your shelf gathering dust and worst case scenario expiring on the shelf. On the other side of that coin, you don’t want to turn patients away because you don’t stock the product that they are consistently picking up on a monthly It’s important to find a balance.

Patients in California and selected other states can now request up to an annual supply of their birth control to be dispensed and state law requires their health insurance company to cover this. Want to know more? Check out our recent article with more details.

Hopefully you find these tips useful in setting your birth control formulary and inventory.

About the Author:

Candace Stifflemire is a fourth-year pharmacy student at the University of the Incarnate Word Feik School of Pharmacy in San Antonio, Texas.

Colorado is Third State Allowing Pharmacists to Prescribe Birth Control

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More good news about access to birth control is coming from the state level. Colorado has passed legislation authorizing pharmacists to prescribe birth control after obtaining additional training. They are the third state to follow California and Oregon with this statewide authority specific to birth control. There is a task force that is charged with implementing the new protocol in the coming months.

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Pharmacist Protocols

All state protocols to date require pharmacist training and patient screening with a questionnaire and blood pressure measurement. Colorado’s legislation most closely resembles Oregon’s in allowing initiation of birth control pills and patch to adult women for up to three years until she sees a physician. California’s protocol is more comprehensive in allowing initiation of birth control ring and injection as well, in addition to serving female patients of all ages without a duration limit.

Public Health Impact

In 2010, 45% of all pregnancies (43,000) in Colorado were unintended. This expanded pharmacist scope is great news for women in Colorado and affords them more choices in access points for birth control. Colorado pharmacists are also looking forward to providing this important public health service to their patients.

It is yet to be determined what types of patients utilize this service when offered by pharmacists. The service became available at participating pharmacies as of January 2016 in Oregon and April 2016 in California.

Colorado has had great success with other initiatives to address unintended pregnancies. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Family Planning Initiative provided more than 30,000 intrauterine devices (IUDs) or implants at low or no cost to low-income women. This contributed to a 40% drop in the teen birth rate from 2009 through 2013. This project is among others in demonstrating that when cost and access barriers to long-acting, reversible contraceptive methods such as IUDs and implants are removed, women are likely to choose these more effective methods. By 2019, Colorado aims to reduce the unintended pregnancy rate to 30% or less as one of their “Winnable Battles.”

Safety

There have been concerns about the safety of providing hormonal contraception without physical exams and pap smears. Though hormonal contraceptives are not without risks, these are generally outweighed by the benefits and considered safe for most women. A pelvic examination and a pap smear are not necessary to initiate hormonal birth control.  They are important for other health reasons.  Women will need to complete a health history questionnaire and have their blood pressure taken at the pharmacy.  The pharmacist will use this information to determine which methods of birth control are safe.

This is another step forward in increasing access to birth control.  Hopefully more states will pass similar laws expanding access with pharmacist prescribing.

There is also growing support for over-the-counter birth control pills. That differs from pharmacist prescribing because consultation with a pharmacist would no longer be required.

This article was originally published in Pharmacy Times.

MPR Ask the Experts Interview

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A few months ago, I was interviewed by the team at Monthly Prescribing Reference (MPR) regarding pharmacist prescribing of oral contraceptives. The newsletter has just been published and I want to share with you all as it is a great reference if you are interested in prescribing oral contraceptives.

In the 16-page newsletter dedicated to this topic, you will see both my responses as well as responses from Dr. Lorinda Anderson of Oregon to the following questions:

In your opinion, what are the implications of legislation allowing qualified pharmacists in California and Oregon to prescribe and dispense certain types of contraceptives? What is your take on how women perceive these new laws?

Under the Affordable Care Act, insurance plans are permitted to use cost sharing to encourage or discourage use of specific contraceptive products. In your opinion, how much does cost sharing influence the decision of which OC to prescribe? Are there any concerns that cost sharing could prevent a patient from receiving the OC that is optimal for her?

When choosing from among the many combination OCs available, how do the doses of estrogen factor into your decision (if at all) regarding which OC to prescribe?

For which patients and under what circumstances might one opt to prescribe a progestin-only OC or a combination OC?

What questions/concerns should pharmacists expect to address when counseling a patient who is being prescribed an OC?

In your experience, what are some common side effects that may occur with OC use? In the event that a patient finds specific side effects persistent and/or bothersome, what do you recommend in terms of next steps?

In what type of situation should a pharmacist refer patients to a women’s healthcare professional or other healthcare provider for contraception?

What would you like to communicate to your colleagues regarding the appropriate training and knowledge that should be acquired in order to begin prescribing contraceptives? Can you recommend any relevant resources that your colleagues could consult if needed?

Do you have any concluding remarks that you would like to share with our readers?

Please see the full newsletter here.

Thank you to MPR and Teva Generics for supporting this important content for pharmacists.