Transgender Care Experiences, Barriers, and Recommendations for Improvement in a Large Integrated Health Care System in the United States

Purpose

Transgender individuals who pursue gender affirmation medical procedures often need to navigate a complex health system and interact with multiple health care providers in primary and specialty care. We sought to better understand patient, provider, and system level barriers to transgender care in a large integrated health care system in California.

Methods

Three 90-min focus groups were conducted with 13 transgender individuals who received specialty care between April and August 2018 in Kaiser Permanente Southern California.

Results

Participants cited common adversities such as misgendering and system-wide insensitivity during health care encounters and low levels of understanding of their transgender experience among primary care providers. Provider-patient relationship improvements were recommended for pre- and postsurgical care and service-provider sensitivity training. Suggestions include better care coordination, reducing redundancy in clearance for specialty care services, and enhancing patient support for navigation of gender affirmation services. Participants requested careful consideration when implementing systemwide routine processes such as using pronouns and names when calling patients in for visits or describing procedures on service invoices.

Conclusions

Education and training programs for improving transgender care competency and enhancing care coordination between primary care and specialty care for transgender patients are warranted. Including transgender voices with lived-experience as active stakeholders in ongoing efforts such as community advisory boards to identify care gaps may facilitate patient-centered and culturally sensitive transgender care and increased patient satisfaction.

Policy Implications

There is a need for systematic training for transgender care competent providers and enhancement of care coordination between primary care and specialty care.