In a region where people who identify as transgender can have difficulty finding welcoming and knowledgeable health care, La Clinica is emerging as a leader with a growing team of primary care providers who offer gender-affirming care.
La Clinica is the healthcare home of 180 patients currently getting such care. It has 14 primary care providers who offer services including gender-affirming hormone therapy for adult patients. Six of those also serve youth in coordination with pediatric endocrinologists at Oregon Health & Science University.
“We consider this to be a part of comprehensive primary care for patients,” said Chief Medical Officer Justin Adams, one of the physicians who sees patients of all ages.
Research done over the past two years by sociologists at Southern Oregon University’s Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies department found people who identify as transgender in Southern Oregon and Northern California faced challenges in finding healthcare providers who understood and had expertise in this approach to care. They reported long waits for access and having to travel long distances, especially from rural areas. Although the Oregon Health Plan supports gender-affirming care, struggles with insurance coverage and affordability were common, said researcher Carey Jean Sojka, an assistant professor at SOU.
“It’s great that La Clinica is doing this work, especially with a broader equity lens,” she said. “We’ve seen how important it is to have trans-affirming care right here in Southern Oregon, as it would be so inaccessible otherwise.”
At La Clinica, these services start with primary care and include behavioral health support; gender-affirming hormone therapy for adults and adolescents; and referrals for other gender-affirming care when needed.
Defining the terms
Transgender is a word used to describe people whose personal sense of gender differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. That internal sense is called gender identity. Some transgender people use hormone treatments or surgery to bring their bodies into alignment with their gender identity, and this is known as gender-affirming care.