Conclusion
Retrospective analysis of Ohio Medicaid billing and
pharmacy claims to identify teens at high risk for
pregnancy and to evaluate prescription contraception
utilization showed poor compliance. This methodology
is an efficient and inexpensive tool for identifying
teens at risk for unwanted pregnancy in order to target
pregnancy prevention interventions, to evaluate the
success of pregnancy prevention programs, and to
measure the quality of female adolescent health care.
Teen pregnancy is costly to society, often resulting in
a life of poverty and poor health for the mother and
her child. Potential methods for better targeting and
evaluating pregnancy prevention initiatives deserve
further assessment. This methodology should be tested
on other combined claims and pharmacy databases
such as health plans and the Medicaid data sets in
other states.