Study examines high emergency department use by transgender Medicare patients

Editor's Note

A study showing greater likelihood for transgender (TGD) Medicare patients to use the emergency department highlights the need to train staff in transgender-inclusive care, the authors argue.

Conducted by the Brown University School of Public Health, the study was published February 13 in JAMA Internal Medicine. As reported in MedicalXpress, researchers examined national emergency department use among 3,639 transgender beneficiaries and 6,151,389 cisgender beneficiaries between 2011 and 2020.

TGD Medicare patients aged 65 and older were 172.9% more likely than cisgender Medicare beneficiaries to use the emergency department in a year. TGD beneficiaries with disabilities were also more likely than cisgender beneficiaries with disabilities to use the emergency department, by a difference of 157.4%.

Researchers noted that the findings underscore the importance of ED clinicians receiving training in TGD care to reduce the likelihood of discrimination.