Gender-Affirming Care and Why it’s Important

Everyone Deserves Great Care. At HealthPoint, gender-affirming care (GAC) is an important part of routine primary care. Our team works hard every day to make sure patients along the gender spectrum find a welcoming, supportive environment at all our clinics.

Check out the video from our team below on why gender-affirming care is important.

The Human Rights Campaign states that gender-affirming care “is not a single category of services but instead is a range of services, including mental health care, medical care, and social services.” They go on to explain that it is also “medically necessary to support people in affirming their gender identity.”

At HealthPoint our services for transgender, non-binary, and gender-diverse patients include: 

• Gender-affirming medications (estrogen, androgen blockers, testosterone, etc.) and injection instruction as needed 
• Gender-affirming care for adolescents including social, behavioral, and medical transition support including puberty blockers 
• Specialty referrals for gender-affirming surgeries (e.g. vaginoplasty, chest reconstruction, etc.) and procedures (e.g. speech therapy, electrolysis) 
• Assistance obtaining mental health letters of support for gender-affirming procedures and referrals for internal or external behavioral health counseling as needed 
• Coordinated care with our other specialty programs to address sexual health, HIV, substance use disorder, and addiction medicine. 

Hear from some of HealthPoint’s providers who specialize in Gender-Affirming Care.

Dr. Carolyn Halley (They/Them) shares, “I helped develop our GAC program for adult patients starting in 2016 and  now have medical clinicians and behavioral health consultants that specialize in primary and gender-affirming care for adults in all our clinics.”

Dr. Peter Metzger (He/Him) describes his journey in providing GAC, “I am a pediatrician who has helped develop the Pediatric GAC workflow and pathway [at HealthPoint.] I have pursued additional training as a pediatrician to provide gender-affirming care to patients. It is not commonly provided in a primary care setting, and we have worked hard to develop safe and effective systems to support pediatric GAC access through HealthPoint.”

Dr. Ryan Varian (He/Him) says, “We are committed to providing integrated, whole-person care to every patient who enters the clinic. We provide opportunities to discuss social transitioning, mental health, and gender-affirming medical care with patients and their families. Each person defines their gender care goals; therefore, we are committed to partnering with each person seeking care to define how our team can support their movement towards those goals.”