Pandia Health, an online birth control delivery service, has just expanded to Tennessee. The women-founded, women-led, and doctor-led company offers free delivery for the patch, the pill, and the ring. All that’s needed is an active prescription, plus no copay with insurance or as low as $15 per pack without insurance.
For those who need a new prescription, Pandia also has a team of medical doctors, who can prescribe birth control and answer any follow-up questions for a $20 yearly fee. In this case, the patient provides a few documents (like a government ID and health insurance card) and fills out a 20-question questionnaire that asks about health history and concerns, and a doctor will prescribe the birth control that best fits the patient’s profile. (In Tennessee, anyone of any age, including minors, can consent to the prevention of pregnancy through contraception.)
While the prescription service is asynchronous, without a doctor-patient face-to-face interaction, CEO and founder Dr. Sophia Yen assures that it is safe, though it does not replace regular doctor visits and check-ups. As a doctor-led company, she says, Pandia is HIPAA-compliant, implements only evidence-based and science-backed practices, and keeps up with all the latest research. “American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which is the number-one trusted national organization of OB-GYNs, has stated that birth control is safe and should go over the counter, and women can decide if it’s okay for them, given these 20 questions,” she adds. “So we’ve taken these 20 questions, turned it into a questionnaire, and added a protective layer of a doctor’s oversight looking at your questionnaire plus your medical history.”
Yen, who also lectures as a clinical associate professor at Stanford Medical School, says, “One of the top reasons that women don’t take their birth control is that they don’t have it in their hand.” And this fact inspired her to found Pandia in 2016 with friends Perla Ni and Elliott Blatt to combat what she has coined “pill anxiety,” the anxiety that arises when someone runs out of their birth control without the next packet in hand. “We thought, we’ll just ship women their birth control and keep shipping it until they tell us to stop.”
But birth control isn’t just about pregnancy prevention; it can also help with hormonal acne and regulate periods — two points that Pandia has expanded its mission to include. The company’s #PeriodsOptional campaign promotes awareness that periods can be intentionally skipped for an extended period of time through the use of birth control, as early as two years after a first period. “The number-one cause of missed school and work for women under age 25 is a bad, evil period,” Yen says, and so she views Pandia and its ability to regulate menstruation as an equalizer that can free those with uteri from menstrual pains and the inconveniences and worries that can come with a period. Also, according to Yen, going period-free can decrease the risk of endometriosis, PCOS, anemia, and ovarian and endometrial cancer among other positive side effects, although the effects of going period-free long-term have yet to be studied conclusively.
“We’re here to make women’s lives better,” Yen continues, “and we will only tell you what’s best for your health, even if it affects our bottom line.”
For more information, visit pandiahealth.com. Pandia Health also offers educational material that is free and accessible to anyone via their online blog, YouTube, and Facebook.
