Okay, remember, can come into a pharmacy and pick up the
pharmacy contraception off of the shelf and take it to the pharmacy counter and check out and have it covered for no cost.
This is critically important because access to contraception and robust reproductive health for women is important to DHS.
It's important to the governor. It's something that I'm very passionate about in my role as DHS.
But in addition, I started in public health as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa.
We're working with women specifically around reproductive health and family planning.
And never imagined that I would have had to do this in the United States 25 years later.
So, very excited about this standing order that's been put in place so that women in Wisconsin have access.
Women in Wisconsin are covered by Medicaid and have access to emergency contraception free of charge.
So, with that, I'd like to hand it over to the Pittsburgh family premises.
Thank you, Secretary Johnson.
I want to echo your calls for increased access to care, especially care in reproductive health.
This is why we lowered the cost of Plan B and drugs related to Plan B to our cost when God's decision came down several years ago.
We're embedded in our community and we are nimble to respond to their needs.
And it's important that we meet people we're down.
Our pharmacy looks forward to using this tool and we appreciate the governor trusting pharmacists to meet the man.
I will turn it over now to Dr. Epstein of Access Community Health.
Thanks, Ben.
Hey, everybody. I'm Dr. Jody Epstein.
I'm a family physician at Access Community Health Centers.
And I have the pleasure to care for women and children across their lifespan.
The women I care for in my clinic are often juggling so many things.
They work, they take care of their households, they care for their children, their parents.
They're trying to take classes.
They're trying to find a little bit of time to squeeze in care for their bodies and for their health.
And I say these women are expert multitaskers and they know best when and if they want to grow their families.
The reliable contraception is the key for them to be able to do this.
But it can be hard to get to the doctor's office.
And sometimes emergency contraceptives are needed when the office is closed.
I take overnight phone calls from our patients and it is not at all uncommon to get a call for a patient on the weekend,
requesting emergency contraception when their method failed, was forgotten, or the contact was not consensual.
Emergency contraception is more effective when taken immediately after unprotected intercourse.
And that's a medication that can't wait till Monday morning and it's really expensive without a prescription.
So having access to that at the pharmacy is crucial.
And even for women that are not in an emergency situation, getting a prescription for birth control can be a process.
It takes at least a phone call and sometimes it requires waiting for an appointment, arranging child care, taking a bus and paying a copay.
I've seen women with the best intentions to call for prescription, but life gets in the way.
So this new standing order for over-the-counter contraception removes that barrier.
Women can stop in the pharmacy, pick up reliable methods without a copay and without needing to wait to talk with a provider like me.
It puts affordable reliable methods into women's own hands.
And patients do better when we reduce barriers to care.
As a physician at a community health center, I'm all about removing barriers.
I think this change is important and meaningful.
And a way to help my patients and all women on Badgercare get the contraception they need.
So thank you to Secretary Johnson and to DHS for this instant order.
Thank you.
Thank you, Jody.
We are not taking questions from the podium, but we will do what often is it?
First of all, yes.
Hi, I'm T.H.A.D.
You're describing a little bit, you know, some parts of this may have the kind of moral objection in deciding what happens on those instances.
Sure, so I believe that state law provides the ability for a pharmacist to object to filling any prescription on moral grounds.
But I believe the law also forces that individual to find alternative options for the patient to do.
So that could be another co-worker in the same setting, or it could be a pharmacy down the street or in the next town over.
But I believe that the law requires that they have to work towards another solution for you.
Anything else you want to add?
I would just encourage people to be patient with pharmacy staff as they try to navigate this new rule and just give them some grace.
This is something that you'd be publicizing.
Yeah, I mean we plan to build a protocol that addresses all the things that need to happen in order for us to comply with the standing order.
And then once we do that, then yeah, we will advertise it.
All right.
Great, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
First thing I was hoping you could do is kind of touch on the notion of like that standing prescription, like what's changed since the standing order?
Sure.
So what has changed is DHS has put in a standing order in place, which is essentially a prescription for pharmacies specifically for women who are covered by Medicaid.
So previously women who were covered by Medicaid, if they wanted emergency contraception, had to get a prescription from their physician.
And that physician had to then send the prescription to a pharmacist or pharmacy, and then they could have their emergency contraception paid for.
Now, instead of having to go to their physician, and oftentimes women may need our patients, sorry, cut that part.
Emergency contraception, it happens on the weekends, it happens when you potentially can't get to the doctor, you can't get a prescription written.
Now they can just come to a pharmacy, pick it up off the shelf, and bring it to the pharmacist and it'll be paid for.
Do you have a sense of how many women might be on a Medicare right now that might be impacted by this?
We have that number, and I want to say is it 55?
It's 355,000 between the ages of 15, and I don't know that, but it's hundreds of thousands of women are covered by Medicaid in Wisconsin, who will benefit from this.
And then to group my ignorance to understanding this, obviously, Medicare, so having insurance is going to be impacted.
Is that a reason why DHS can't institute this order broadly?
Sure, so we have influence, Medicaid is obviously a paid for benefit by DHS, by the state, and so when we write a standing order, it really is only for the people who are covered by Medicaid or by Badger Care.
And in the cases of other insurance companies, they could potentially do the same thing.
But again, it's up to those insurance companies.
These are mentioned before, kind of on the horizon will be the daily comfort stuff that was-
Correct.
Yeah, so Opill was approved this summer by the FDA, and as soon as Opill is available on the market and available in pharmacies, we will write a standing order for Opill as well, so it'll work very much the same way a woman covered by Medicaid can come into a pharmacy, pick it up off the shelf, and have it paid for at the pharmacy.
Thank you.
Really appreciate it.
Well, I have that now.
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