Before Your Gender Affirming Care Visit

If you are interested in gender-affirming care, you can choose to have a free and optional telehealth appointment with our Patient Navigator before you have an appointment with a provider. This can help us learn a little more about you and allow us to answer any questions you may have about our hormone treatment program.

The Navigator visit can be very helpful for new patients who are worried about starting at a new clinic. It is also helpful for patients who live far away and want to be sure this is the right fit.

At this appointment, you will:

• Go through the intake process
• Go over the informed consent model we use for care 
• Talk about your journey and medical history
• Go over expected changes and what’s reversible vs. what’s not
• Talk about your support system and offer additional resources

Before your visit ends, the patient navigator will schedule your initial visit with a clinician. 

This virtual visit with the Navigator is free – even if you choose not to move forward with a second appointment.

At this appointment, you will meet in-person with your health care provider. This appointment can take place at any Planned Parenthood location in Southwest Ohio.

For any in-person appointment, be sure to have a photo ID and, if you plan to use insurance, your insurance card. Sometimes the name on your ID or insurance card won’t match each other or may not match the name you go by – that’s ok. Just let the our staff member know when you arrive. 

If you have children under 13 with you, we ask that you bring another adult who can watch them in the waiting room during your appointment. NOTE: Due to COVID-19, one guest is currently able to come with you to your appointment.

At this appointment, we will:

• Go over your medical history, current medications and allergies – the types of things you’d go over in any other doctor’s office visit
• Review the information provided to the patient navigator
• Draw any needed labs
• If eligible, get a prescription to start hormone therapy

If your treatment includes self-injections, we will teach you how to do that. Before you leave, the health center staff will schedule your first follow-up visit.

Gender affirming hormone therapy often involves a 3 to 5-year care plan and, for most people, will require ongoing management for the rest of their life. To keep your plan on track, we recommend that you come in for routine follow-up appointments.

In the first year, we will schedule a follow-up visit approximately every three months if you are on hormone therapy. Once your medication dose is stable, we will see you every 6 months. Eventually, we'll just need to see you annually.

Your follow-up visits don’t have to be in-person, though! You can choose a telehealth option if that is more convenient. 

If you use insurance, the name used for billing purposes generally has to match the name on your ID. Communications from Planned Parenthood will always use the name you go by. We are committed to providing the best care for you possible, so please let us know if there is anything you experience that we could improve!

If you have any lab work done, these results will be available in one to two weeks. A member of our care team will contact you with any abnormal results when they are available and have been reviewed by your clinician. Your lab results, visit summaries, and more are also available in your MyChart account. 

Following your visit, you will receive a survey emailed from PressGaney asking for your feedback. Please complete it so we can continue to improve your patient experience.