Bayer and Geisinger partner to create contraception counseling pathway to improve overall contraceptive care for women

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Feb 13, 2019, 09:00 ET

WHIPPANY, N.J., Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer, a longstanding leader in women's healthcare, and Geisinger are partnering to create a contraception counseling pathway within the Geisinger Electronic Health Record (EHR) with the aim of standardizing the delivery of comprehensive contraceptive care and reducing unintended pregnancies. The goal is to optimize care within the Geisinger network and help ensure their patients are actively involved in personal contraception decisions, which can have long-term impact for the woman and her family.

Women's health visits will now accompany a short pre-visit questionnaire developed by Geisinger about reproductive health including any plans to become pregnant. The questionnaire responses will trigger a set of questions in the EHR for the healthcare provider and will result in a more productive, comprehensive discussion about contraceptive options during the woman's visit.

"This new counseling pathway empowers women to take control of their reproductive life planning decisions – whether to have a baby, when to have a baby, and the timing between babies," said Yesmean Wahdan, MD, deputy director, Bayer U.S. Medical Affairs, Women's Healthcare. "There's a lot that needs to be covered in a woman's health visit and the counseling pathway ensures that the right conversations are happening at the right time between a woman and her healthcare provider."

Many women may not realize that birth control options have varying efficacy rates, and that they should consider speaking with their healthcare provider about different birth control options.

"Our end goal is providing quality care and access to contraception to every woman within the Geisinger organization. Unintended pregnancy rates are still high, and we need to address that and do a better job educating women about contraceptive options," said Sandra Culbertson, M.D., Chair of Geisinger Women's Health. "The new counseling pathway will facilitate more robust women's health visit discussions and ultimately optimize care and access to contraception."

This collaboration tapped into patient education and engagement, healthcare innovation, research, and technology to optimize and streamline how patients consider their reproductive life planning options.

"Partnering with Bayer was a natural decision. For both Geisinger and Bayer, enhancing the quality of patient care is at the heart of everything we do. Together we want to have a measurable impact on the lives of the women and families that we serve, and we look forward to expanding this partnership and addressing other patient needs," said Holly Barbella, RN, MSN, MBA, FACHE, associate vice president, Women's Health at Geisinger.

About Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of health care and agriculture. Its products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time, the Group aims to create value through innovation, growth and high earning power. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development and to its social and ethical responsibilities as a corporate citizen. In fiscal 2017, the Group employed around 99,800 people and had sales of EUR 35.0 billion. Capital expenditures amounted to EUR 2.4 billion, R&D expenses to EUR 4.5 billion. For more information, go to https://www.bayer.us/.

About Geisinger
Geisinger is an integrated health services organization widely recognized for its early adoptions of the electronic health record and the development of innovative care delivery models such as ProvenHealth Navigator^®, ProvenCare^® and ProvenExperience^®. As one of the nation's largest health service organizations, Geisinger serves more than 3 million residents throughout 45 counties in central, south-central and northeast Pennsylvania, and in southern New Jersey at AtlantiCare, a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient. In 2017, the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and Geisinger Jersey Shore Hospital became the newest members of Geisinger. The physician-led system is comprised of approximately 32,000 employees, including more than 1,800 employed physicians, 13 hospital campuses, two research centers, and a 582,000-member health plan, all of which leverage an estimated $12.7 billion positive impact on the Pennsylvania and New Jersey economies. Geisinger has repeatedly garnered national accolades for integration, quality and service. In addition to fulfilling its patient care mission, Geisinger has a long-standing commitment to medical education, research and community service. For more information, visit www.geisinger.org, or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.