26 Jan Healthcare Resources and HRT for the Transgender Community in California
Hi Everyone,
You know that we want you to be healthy and safe. To help you with your health care journey we are creating a list, by state, of health care organizations that serve the transgender, nonbinary, gender queer and non-conforming community. While we are creating this site for you, we are also doing this weekly post on health care. While it’s nice to have a list, in these posts we can also give you a few details on what each of the organizations we post actually do. We’ll just go through the states alphabetically, unless you send us a note and request a particular state and we’ll move requests to the top of the list.
Some states have lots of resources and we’ll let you know as best we can where in the state the resources are located. Other states don’t have as many resources. So the number of states we post each week will vary. Sometimes it will be a post about one or two states with lots of resources and sometimes it will be a post about several states with a few resources each.
This week we are looking at California. California is blessed with an enormous number of resources for Transgender, Non-Binary, and Gender Non-Conforming care for adults, youth and children as well as many resources for LGBT people who are veterans and a huge number of Planned Parenthood Health Care Centers. Many resources across the country are, to their credit, creating comfortable places for transitional medicine as well as routine proactive health maintenance and interventionary health care. We will try to highlight what is offered in each case.
If you still can’t find the health care you need, drop us a note on FB (B.UR.SLF LLC), instagram/ twitter @burslfllc or email burslfllc@gmail.com and we will see what we can do to help.
This week we are covering resources for Californa.
California:
Contra Costa Health Services Gender Clinic (Website – Gender Clinic for Transgender and Nonbinary Patients, FB – Contra Costa Health Services, IG – Contra Costa Health Services)
The monthly Gender Clinic a staff trained in transgender health issues to provide culturally competent care. Care includes HRT, hormone and medicine management as well as referrals for surgery and other transition related care including connections to mental health and legal resources.
Payment Options: Contra Costa Health Services accepts insurance and has multiple programs for financial assistance see Health Coverage.
Please note that this clinic has specific times and places to see gender non-conforming, non-binary and transgender clients ages 18 and older. The times and places are :
Martinez Health Center, Every 3rd Thursday morning – 8 am to 12 pm
West County Health Center, Every 4th Thursday morning – 8 am to 12 pm
Pittsburg Health Center, Every 3rd Thursday morning- 8 am to 12 pm
These are not drop in clinics. Appointments can be made by referral or call 800-495-8885.
Theese locations are in Richmond-Antioch Areas, between San Francisco and Sacramento
Adults 18+
Kaiser Permanente Thrive, East Bay – Transgender Care (Website – Transgender Care, FB –Kaiser Permanente Thrive, IG – @kpthrive)
The Multi-Specialty Transitions Dept. is committed to providing equitable, compassionate and high-quality medical care to transgender youth, adults, and families. lturally competent care to Transgender adults, youth, children and their families.
Kaiser Permanente East Bay has both an adult gender specialist team and a pediatric gender specialist team. Teams include specialists in surgery, gynecology, nursing internal medicine and also mental health and social workers. The program provides HRT, sugical referrals and other services. Teams work together to provide these gender-affirming health care services.
Payment options: Kaiser Permanente has several Health Care Plans including low income and uninsured options.
The Multi-Specialty Transitions Dept. is located in Oakland and there are a variety of locations for Kaiser Permanente across the East Bay Area.
Adults, youth and children are served along with their families.
Kaiser Permanente Thrive, Southern California – Transgender Services (Website – Transgender Services, FB – Kaiser Permanente Thrive, IG – @kpthrive)
Transgender Services provides gender-affirming HRT and surgery as well as primary care, sexual health care and mental health care
Payment options: Kaiser Permanente has several Health Care Plans including financial assistance and options for people who are uninsured
Click the link for a map to locations in southern California
Adults, youth and children are served along with their families.
UCLA Health Gender Health Program (Website – Gender Health Program, FB – UCLA Health, IG – @uclahealth)
The multi-disciplanary team of physicians and care providers appears to do just about everything. Primary health care, hormone therapy, facial resconstruction and body modification including chest/top surgery and genital reconstruction & bottom surgery, reproductive health, gynecological services and fertility services, vocal surgery, behavioral health services, case management, referrals to specialty physicians.
Payment Options: UCLA Health participates in over 100 managed health care plans, but there are no obvious options for financial assistance.
The Gender Health Program is located in Los Angeles
The program serves children, adolescents and adults who are trangender or gender diverse
Los Angeles LGBT Center, Transgender Health Program (Website –Transgender Health Program, FB – Los Angeles LGBT Center , IG – @lalgbtcenter)
Full range of primary care services, hormon therapy, pre- and post-surgical care. Sexual health services with HIV/ STD teating and treatment including
Payment Options: which include Medi-Cal, Medicare, most major insurance plans, and some HMO, help to get insurance through Covered California or determine your eligibility for medical and drug assistance programs as well as financial assistance can be found at the insurance plans link
The LA LGBT Center Transgender Health Program is located in Los Angeles
Ages served not stated, the center appears to serve adults, but call for age limts on specific programs
Transgender Care – UCSF (Website – Transgender Care, FB – UCSF Medical Center, IG – @UCSFMedicalCenter)
UCSF is a multi-disciplinary program with specialists in transgender care and surgery, primary care, gender-affirming HRT and surgery, voice and speech therapy, sexual health and reproductive health, pelvic pain and health care navigation.
Payment options are not obvious, but details on insurance plans and medi-cal are available at the link. Call the provider for further details.
The Transgender Care Program is affilicated with UCSF Medicine and located in San Francisco.
This program is for the transgender and non-binary communities and appears to be for adults. Children and adolescents are referred to UCSF Benioff Children’s, click the link or see below.
Gender Clinic – Santa Rosa Community Health (Website – Gender Clinic, FB – Santa Rosa Community Health, IG – @santarosacommunityhealth)
The Gender Clinic works to provide gender-affirming integrative therapy for gender expansive patients. The clinic offers general primary care, HRT, surgical referrals and mental health services.
Payment options: Insurances accepted are listed at Costs & Insurance and the Gender Clinic has a sliding scale and other options for people who need help with medical bills at Get Help with Costs
The Gender Clinic is in Santa Rosa (Lombardi Campus of Santa Rosa Community Health)
The Gender Clinic welcomes all ages
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Gender Health Center (Website – Gender Health Center, FB – Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, IG – @scvmc_gopublic
The Gender Health Center provides holistic care to adults 18+ including gender affirming HRT, top/bottom surgeries, primary care, sexual and reproductive health care, testing and prevention of STI/ HIV including PEP and PrEP, mental/emotional health and social support. The Gender Health Center also serves children/youth from ages 5 thru 17 by coordinating gender-affirming HRT and puberty blockers with the patient’s current primary care physician.
Payment Options are not obvious
The Gender Health Center is located in San Jose
The Gender Clinic has a program for adults 18+ and children/youth ages 5 thru 17
CTYHD at Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles (Website– The Center for Transyouth Health and Development (CTYHD), FB – Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, IG – @childrensla)
Gender-affirming health care for transgender and gender diverse children and youth, call the program to confirm. Although not stated it is assume that gender-affirming health care includes gender-affirming HRT Additional sevices includes sexual health education including groups, one-on-one navigation services and HIV/STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) screening and treatment. Access to PEP (Post Exposure Prophylaxis) and PrEP (Pre Exposure Prophylaxis) for HIV prevention.
Payment Options: Children’s Hospital at Los Angeles accepts insurance and has options for financial assitance the billing and insurance link.
The CTYHD is in Los Angeles
This program is for children, youth, and adults along with their families.
Children and Adolescent Gender Center Clinic (Website – Gender Center Clinic, FB – UCSF Benioff Childrens, IG –@UCSFchildrens)
The Children and Adolescent Gender Center Clinic serves gender non-conforming children and adolescents by offering gender-affirming HRT and puberty blocking as well as psychological care.
Payment Options: UCSF Benioff Children’s accepts health insurance, medicare, medi-cal and has financial assistance options for self-pay patients. For all the options click the Billing link
The Gender Center Clinic is in San Francisco
The Gender Clinic serves is for children and youth.
Rady Children’s Hospital, Center for Gender Affirming Care (Website – Center for Gender Affirming Care, FB – Rady Childrens – San Diego, IG – @radychildrens
The Center for Gender Affirming care has the following services – puberty suppression, gender-affirming HRT, voice therapy and coaching. Referrals are available for the following services: reproductive health, surgery, dermatology, hematology, other specialists as needed. Mental health and other support services for trans youth and families available
Payment Options: Rady Children’s accepts insurance and has options for Financial Assistance at the link
The Center for Gender Affirming Care is in San Diego.
The Center for Gender Affirming Care serves children and adolescents together with their families
Stanford Children’s Health, Lucille Packard Childrens Hospital – Pediatric and Adolescent Gender Clinic (Website – Pediatric and Adolescent Gender Clinic, FB – Stanford Childrens Health, IG – @stanfordchildrens)
The Pediatric and Adolescent Gender Clinic at Stanford is a multidisciplinary clinic that provides medical services for gender nonconforming youths and their families including care for children and youth making a transition. The clinic includes specialists in pediatrics, adolescent medicine, endrocrinology, and urology. They maintain close ties with groups specializing in primary care, adolescent gyneocology, fertility preservation, and mental health.
Sevices are not outlined, but it is assume the team can handle most aspects of transition medicine likegender-affirming HRT – check the website for details and contact information.
Payment Options: Stanford Children’s accept insurance and has a financial assistance program check the link at Financial and Insurance Information
The Pediatric and Adolescent Gender Clinic is located in Stanford
The Pediatric and Adolescent Gender Clinic serves children and adolescents
Family Health Centers of Sandiego, Transgender Health Services (Websites – Transgender Health Services, FB – Family Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD), IG – @familyhealthcenterssd)
Transgender Health Services provide adult and pediatric monitored gender-confirming HRT, sexual and reproductive health with STI/ HIV testing and treatment including PEP and PrEP, OB/Gyn services, contraception, routine medical screening like colonoscopies.
Payment Options: FHCSD accepts health insurance, other payment options are not obvious
Transgender Health Services is located in San Diego, Chula Vista (San Ysidro) and Vista.
Transgender Health Services accepts adults and pediatric patients. Check with the provider for age limitations on particular services
Planned Parenthood California
California has an enormous amount of Planned Parenthood Health Centers. PP is generally an affordable option for gender-affirming HRT as well as many other primary care, routine medical care and sexual/ reproductive health care options. Many PP health center are now also offering remote health care via telehealth even for HRT and so it is no longer necessary to be able to travel to a particular health center to recieve care. There is an expanded post at HRT and Help for Transgender Patients in Arkansas, Arizona, California and Colorado with information about 78 of these PP Health Centers and the (6) affiliated PP organizations. See a summary of this post below.
California has an amazing (78) Planned Parenthood Health Centers that belong to (6) different Planned Parenthood organizations. The (6) Planned Parenthood organizationations are (1) Planned Parenthood of Northern California – PPNC, (2) Planned Parenthood Mar Monte – PPMM, (3) Planned Parenthood California Central Coast – PPCCC, (4) Planned Parenthood Los Angeles – PPLA, (5) Planned Parenthood Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley, Inc. – PPPSGV, and (6) Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, Inc. – PPPSW. These offer different services and a few are fully dedicated to one service. Here is a run down of LGBTQ services in California Health Centers.
Paryment Options: Many PP Health Centers accept insurance and offer financial help
Generally PP Health Centers serve patients 18+, but some sites will provide gender-affirming HRT to ages 16/17 with parental consent, check with the individual health care centers for age limitations on services.
California VA Health Care Systems (Websites – VA Central California Health Care System, VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System, VA Nothern California Health Care System, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, San Francisco VA Health Care System, VA Loma Linda Health Care System, VA Long Beach Health Care System and San Diego VA Medical Center FB – U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs, IG – @VeteranAffairs)
According to the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs, Patient Care Services for LGBT veterans includes the following (and other) services – hormone treatment, treatment and prevention of STIs/PrEP, cancer screening, prevention and treatment. If there are questions reach out to the LGBT Veteran Care Coordinator (VCC) at the site.
Payment Options: VA Health Care is offered free of charge to veterans. Veterans may have some copays.
VA Central California Health Care System has (1) medical center in Fresno and (3) associated clinics in Merced, Oakhurst and Tulare
VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System has (2) medical centers in Los Angeles and Selpuveda (2) ambulatory care facilities in Los Angeles and Sepulveda and (9) associated clinics in Antelope, Bakersfield, East Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Oxnard, San Gabriel Valley, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Santa Maria
VA Northern California Health Care System has (2) medical centers in Mather and Martinez, (10) associated clinics in Chico, Fairfield, Mare, McClellan, (2) Oakland, Redding, Sierra Foothills, Yreka and Yuba City and (1) dental clinic in McClellan
VA Palo Alto Health Care System has (3) medical centers in Palo Alto. Menlo and Livermore and (7) associated clinics in Capitola, Fremont, Marina, Modesto, San Jose, Sonora and Stockton
San Francisco VA Health Care System has (1) medical center in San Francisco and (6) associated clinics in Clear Lake, Eureka, San Bruno, San Francisco, San Rosa and Ukiah
VA Loma Linda Health Care System (1) medical center (Jerry L. Pettis) in Loma Linda, (1) amulatory care center in Loma Linda and (7) associated clinics in Blythe, Corona, Loma Linda, Murrienda, Palm Desert, Rancho Cucamonga and Victorville
VA Long Beach Health Care System has (1) medical center (Tibor Rubin) and (6) associated clinics in Anaheim, Carbillo, Gardena, Laguana, Santa Ana and Santa Fe Springs
San Diego VA Medical Center has (1) medical center in San Diego, (1) residential recovery facility in San Diego and (7) associated clinics in Chula Vista, Encondido, Imperial Valley, Mission Valley, Oceanside, Rio and Sorrento Valley
LGBT Veteran Care is for U.S. veterans.
About the author, Gayle M. Frankenbach, Ph.D. is the mother of a Daughter, Lise and a transgender son Elliott. Elliott and Gayle both passionately desire to care about and care for the trans community. Elliott and Gayle also both love the unbound creativity of the cosplay community. When we realized there is a big overlap between the two communities B.UR.SLF, LLC was born at the interface of these two great communities to serve them individually and together. Elliott and Gayle also enjoy running a trans son & parent business to be visible for parents on a journey to visibly support their own trans kids and be a great allies.