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Survey reveals critical gaps in women's healthcare
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BATON ROUGE- A new survey from Maven Clinic's Research Institute reveals that the healthcare system has long failed to treat women as whole people, with some of the clearest gaps showing up in GLP-1 and hormone care.
The research, conducted by Beyond the Script, looked at how women experience care across different life stages and what providers say about their ability to deliver it.
Among women surveyed, 54% said they suspected their symptoms were connected but were treated as separate problems. Only 19% said their hormones are always taken into consideration in care related to their reproductive life stage.
Around 47% of women said having one provider who understands their whole health would most improve their care. Nearly half, 46%, have tried a health product based on non-clinical recommendations.
The survey adds that 37% of women who used medications for weight, metabolism or hormones said the care felt limited, inconsistent or lacked meaningful follow-up.
Providers are also feeling the strain, with 41% saying they don't have enough time to adequately support patients after prescribing GLP-1s.
Seventy-three percent of providers often see patients with symptoms spanning hormonal, metabolic and mental health, yet fewer than half say their training left them fully equipped to treat those conditions together.
Dr. Janelle Duah, Associate Medical Director at Maven Clinic, spoke with 2une In's April Davis about the findings.
Duah is a triple board-certified, Yale-trained, internal medicine physician who specializes in metabolic health, obesity medicine and women's health.
For women who feel frustrated or unheard when it comes to healthcare, Dr. Duah says you can advocate for yourself. She spoke about her personal experience as a patient.
"I mentioned having to jump from doctor to doctor," Duah said. "Over half of women say that when they're in an encounter with a healthcare provider, they feel dismissed. So it's not in your head and neither are your symptoms. Women have a really good inclination for understanding when things might be wrong. We want to trust our instinct. We want to act on that instinct, and we want to advocate for ourselves. Come prepared to appointments. It might take a second opinion, a third opinion, a fourth opinion to get to that right provider who actually listens and who actually cares and wants to give you more than just a prescription."
Maven Clinic was founded in 2014 by Kate Ryder and partners with more than 2,300 employers and health plans. Through its consumer platform, Maven provides virtual care across 30 or more specialties, as well as dedicated hormone and GLP-1 care programs built specifically for women.
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