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What to expect on your first visit and beyond

Before your first visit, please call or schedule an appointment online for gender affirming hormone therapy. In addition to scheduling, you may be informed of important information unique to the health center you will be visiting (such as parking directions). 

Please note there may be some differences to the information listed below if your appointment is done through telehealth.

At times there are protestors outside PPMI health centers; see more information in our FAQ.

At your first visit, a Planned Parenthood staff member will:

  • measure your weight and blood pressure,
  • note your gender identity, pronouns, and sex assigned at birth in your medical record; of note, we ask all patients for this information in order to best care for them, regardless of reason for visit
  • review your medical history, including medications, allergies, medical diagnoses (physical and mental health history), surgical history, sexual and reproductive history and practices, and family history; this includes a confirmation/review of information you may have entered during e-check in,
  • discuss your medical transition goals,
  • review the changes expected with hormone therapy, answer questions you may have, and sign an informed consent form for hormone therapy with you, and
  • draw blood to monitor for potential side effects of hormone use.

We ask that you do not bring children to your visit. We know that this is sometimes unavoidable, and we will do our best to provide you the care you need while ensuring the safety of you and everyone in our health centers.

MY CHART

We strongly encourage patients to register for our MyChart patient portal prior to their first visit and to use online check-in to improve privacy during the check-in process. If you book your appointment online, we encourage you to call us to provide your email address and initiate the MyChart registration process.

Registering for MyChart is required for care through a telehealth visit. You will need to set up your account in order to connect to your visit.

If you have a MyChart account with another health care organization you will need a new separate account with PPMI.

Please note that all patients are asked to provide some basic information regarding income at check-in to determine eligibility for grants and other resources.

Learn more about MyChart

More about your visits

At your visit you will not be asked to change into a medical gown or have an exam, unless you request an exam for a particular concern. Other testing, such as for pregnancy, sexually transmitted infection, and cervical cancer screening, are available but are not required.

A clinician will work with you to determine a hormone prescription plan (types of medications and route of administration) to best meet your needs. In most cases your clinician will be able to send a prescription to your pharmacy the same day as your visit. A letter from a mental health provider is not required.

A typical initial visit will likely take 1-2 hours. Follow-up visits are generally shorter.

If you are starting hormone therapy, in your first year of care, you should plan for 4 visits, with blood work:

  • your first appointment,
  • a 3-month follow-up,
  • a 6-month follow-up, and
  • a 12-month follow-up.

Frequency of visits may change based on your medical history, your medications, and the results of your blood tests. Repeat blood work is usually recommended 3 months after medication dose adjustments. After the first year of hormone use, most patients are seen and have blood work annually.

We use the MyChart patient portal as our preferred route of communicating with patients regarding lab results.

Explore gender affirming care at PPMI