Bayer Women's Health Medical Affairs Department is interested in receiving and reviewing grant applications to support appropriate programs which cover the following areas of interest:

Therapeutic Areas/Disease States:
Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC)

Intended Audience:  Healthcare Professionals including OB/GYNs, Advance Practice Providers specializing in Women's Health (NPs, PAs, APRNs, CNMs, and RNs), Primary Care & Family Medicine Physicians, Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine Clinicians and Pharmacists.

Priority Educational Topics for Consideration: Bayer Women's Health Medical Affairs is interested in independent medical education proposals that address current and emerging educational needs related to intrauterine devices (IUDs), with emphasis on person-centered, evidence-based, and noncoercive counseling; practical strategies to support patient understanding and informed decision-making; and approaches that improve the IUD placement experience, including management of insertion-related pain and anxiety.

• IUD use across reproductive life stages: Education addressing IUD counseling considerations for adolescents and young adults, nulliparous patients, postpartum and interpregnancy patients, individuals with changing reproductive goals, and patients in later reproductive years or perimenopause, including those over 40 years of age.
• IUD-focused counseling and shared decision-making: Educational initiatives that strengthen HCP ability to discuss IUDs within the broader contraceptive landscape; elicit individual patient goals, values, preferences, prior experiences, and concerns; provide balanced information on benefits, risks, expected bleeding changes, duration of use, removal, and return to fertility; and support initiation, continuation, switching, or discontinuation based on patient preference.
• Optimizing the IUD insertion experience: Education focused on evidence-based approaches to anticipatory guidance, individualized pain and anxiety management, trauma-informed communication, procedural counseling, and post-insertion support to improve patient preparedness, confidence, and satisfaction with care.
• Practical approaches to insertion pain and anxiety management: Case-based education that helps HCPs assess patient-specific concerns, set expectations before the visit, discuss available comfort measures, apply structured algorithms for pain and anxiety management, and tailor follow-up support after placement.
• Addressing IUD misinformation, myths, and stigma: Programs that equip inserting and non-inserting HCPs with practical strategies to identify and respectfully address common misperceptions about IUD eligibility, safety, fertility, nulliparous use, infection risk, hormonal exposure, bleeding expectations, insertion pain, and removability, while promoting clear, patient-friendly communication.
• Clinician toolkits and implementation resources for IUD care: Development of practical resources for inserting and non-inserting clinicians such as counseling scripts, decision aids, insertion-preparation checklists, workflow tools, algorithms, case vignettes, downloadable slides, and patient-facing discussion guides that can be applied in OB/GYN, primary care, family medicine, pediatric and adolescent medicine, pharmacy, and advanced practice settings. Implementation resources may also address the identification and reduction of systems barriers, including strategies for engaging operational leadership, partnering with frontline staff, communicating the value of patient experience initiatives, and building sustainable adoption into routine practice
• Equitable access and culturally responsive IUD counseling: Education that helps HCPs recognize barriers to IUD access, address health literacy and language needs, reduce implicit bias, and apply culturally responsive communication practices that respect reproductive autonomy and support informed patient choice.
• Advance the Use of IUDs for Therapeutic and Non-Contraceptive Indications: Identify key patient populations and assist health care professionals in recognizing IUDs as a potential component of comprehensive management for patients with complex medical or gynecologic needs, including, as appropriate: patients with PMOS, patients using GLP-1 receptor agonists or other incretin-based therapies, endometriosis or adenomyosis, perimenopausal and menopausal patients. Incorporate real-world clinical scenarios and case-based education to illustrate scenarios in which patients who may benefit from an IUD for therapeutic purposes are not currently being identified or offered this option.

Preferred Format:

• Enduring
• Downloadable slides
• Incorporation of social media outreach (YouTube, Facebook, Spotify, Instagram, LinkedIn, X)
• Podcast
• Live Virtual
• AI accessible

Proposal Requirements:

The proposal must be compliant with standards and guidelines for commercial support (e.g., ACCME).
The proposal should include:

• Needs assessment
• Educational design and rationale for selection (where applicable)
• Learning objectives
• Proposed faculty
• Participant recruitment plan (where applicable)
• Outcomes strategy/plan
• Detailed budget (please use the template available on the website)

Provider Justification:
Copy of most recent accreditation letter and status

Process:

Applications/proposals which are submitted and determined to be complete are reviewed monthly. Allow a minimum of 45 days from submission for response.

Acceptance of a Bayer educational grant indicates that you will:

• Reconcile grant funding within 60 days of completion of the educational program
• Permit a Bayer Medical Affairs representative to audit live programs
• Share activity data and outcomes metrics within 30 days of their availability

References

1. Hubacher D, Finer LB, Espey E. Renewed Interest in intrauterine contraception in the United States: evidence and explanation. Contraception 2011;83:291-294.
2. Trussel J. Contraception Failure in the United States. Contraception 2004; 70:89-96
3. Xu X, Macaluso M, Ouyang L, Kulczycki A, Grosse SD. Revival of the intrauterine device: increased insertions among US women with employer-sponsored insurance, 2002-2008. Contraception 2012; 85:155-59.
4. Data on file.
5. Rubin SE, Fletcher J, Stein T, Segall-Gutierrez P, Gold M. Determinants of intrauterine contraception provision among US family physicians: a national survey of knowledge, attitudes and practice. Contraception 2011; 83:472-78.
6. Harper CC, Blum M, Thiel de Bocanegra T, Darney PD, Speidel JJ, Policar M, Drey EA. Challenges in Translating Evidence to Practice. Obstet Gynecol 2008; 111: 1359-69.
7. Madden T, Allsworth JE, Hladky J, Secura GM, Peipert JF. Intrauterine contraception in Saint Louis: a survey of obstetrician and gynecologists’ knowledge and attitudes. Contraception 2010; 81:112-16.
8. Committee on Gynecologic Practice. Increasing use of contraceptive implants and intrauterine devices to reduce unintended pregnancy. Long Acting Reversible Contraception Workshop- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee Opinion; Obstet Gynecol 2015; 126:e44-8.
9. Committee on Practice Bulletins-Gynecology. Long-acting reversible contraception: implants and intrauterine devices. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Practice Bulletin; Obstet Gynecol 2011; 118:184-94.
10. Bayer, L et al., Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2025 Feb 3:S0002-9378(25)00072-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2025.01.039. Online ahead of print
11. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Committee on Clinical Consensus–Gynecology. Pain Management for In-Office Uterine and Cervical Procedures: ACOG Clinical Consensus No. 9. Obstet Gynecol. 2025 May 15;146(1):161-177. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000005911. PMID: 40373312.
12. Caron J, Henkel A. More than a pinch: a review of pain management during intrauterine device placement. Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2026 Sep 24. doi: 10.1097/GCO.0000000000001144. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42777126.