Health Records Adapting to Meet Transgender Needs

Transgender people have run into problems getting health care because of medical record keeping that limits treatment options to specific genders, but that could be about to change.

Starting in 2019, Medicare- and Medicaid-eligible hospitals will likely be required to use electronic health record technology from companies like athenahealth and Epic Systems that allows them to record sexual orientation and gender identity data. That would allow, for example, a transgender woman to get coverage for a prostate exam, or a transgender man to get a pap smear.

Electronic health records—the internet-based documents used to track information and treatment for individuals—currently ...