Video-based remote medical visits offer one potential solution for transgender patients who typically find it difficult to locate specialized healthcare services, according to a May 5 NPR analysis.
Here are five things to know about how telehealth is supporting transgender patients.
1. In a 2017 poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Boston-based Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 10 percent of transgender people indicated they had been discriminated against by a physician or health clinic.
2. In rural areas, these concerns tended to increase. Rural areas already face physician shortages, making finding physicians competent in transgender care even more challenging. One study cited by NPR found 14 percent of rural transgender patients traveled more than an hour to see a primary care provider.
3. Karen Williams, a transgender woman living in rural Georgia, spoke with NPR about why she opted not to visit her local physician when she felt ready to begin taking hormones. "I know lots of people in rural areas, like me, where they don't have any doctor who remotely knows anything about transgender care," Ms. Williams said.
4. Ms. Williams decided to schedule an appointment with Izzy Lowell, MD, an Atlanta-based family practitioner specializing in care for transgender patients. Ms. Williams sees Dr. Lowell through QMed, a startup practice Dr. Lowell launched in summer 2017.
"The current system is not at all fair to transgender people," Dr. Lowell wrote in an email to NPR. "And I don't like unfairness."
5. QMed offers in-person and remote care services to transgender patients from across the southeastern U.S., with a focus on adults and adolescents in rural regions. Dr. Lowell told NPR she has almost broken even with her practice and is near the point of covering her startup expenses from last year.