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Bianca Allison Receives National Award to Study Over-the-Counter Contraception Access

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Bianca Allison, MD, MPH, a researcher with the Child and Adolescent Health Program at the Sheps Center, has received a competitive award from the Society of Family Planning to study access to over-the-counter oral contraception in North Carolina.

The $175,000 award will support her project, “Implementing over-the-counter oral contraception in a Medicaid expansion state: Pharmacy practices, utilization patterns, and economic impact in North Carolina.”

Allison’s research comes at a pivotal time following the approval of Opill, the first over-the-counter daily oral contraceptive in the U.S. While North Carolina Medicaid covers the medication, early evidence shows that utilization remains low—highlighting the need to better understand barriers to access.

Using a mixed-methods approach, the project will examine how pharmacy practices, patient awareness, and policy environments shape real-world access to contraception. The study will focus particularly on adolescents, Medicaid beneficiaries, and uninsured individuals, with attention to rural and underserved communities.

Findings will inform strategies to improve access and estimate how changes in implementation could affect contraceptive use, unintended pregnancy rates, and Medicaid spending.

Read more details here: https://societyfp.org/awarded_grants/sfp20-otc1/