Few Medicaid-participating primary care physicians providing longer-acting birth control methods, finds study

Medicaid beneficiaries face barriers in accessing medical care—and that includes contraceptive care. A new study finds that despite birth control being an essential health service, all primary care physicians that see them may not be offering Medicaid patients some of the most effective, longer-acting birth control methods. While nearly half (48%) of primary care physicians who treat Medicaid patients provided prescription contraception like the birth control pill, only 10% provided longer-acting methods like IUDs and implants, according to a new study published in JAMA Health Forum.