Your Foria Journey

If you’re looking for gender-affirming care with Foria, welcome! This page will guide you through our patient journey and let you know what to expect if you are starting hormone therapy with us. When you begin there’s a few different appointments and tests you may need to have. These are so we can make sure you’re healthy and your treatment is working well. 

If you’re already on hormones and would like to transfer your care, our guide will also walk you through those steps. This is a slightly simpler process – just scroll down to “Transfer patients”.

New patients

Getting started on hormone therapy requires three different appointments. These are your initial consultation, your hormone initiation appointment and a medication check-in appointment. In some cases, you may need more than one check-in appointment. Our clinicians will let you know if this is the case.

If you live in Ontario, you’ll need to book and pay for each individual appointment in advance. This is because Foria is a paid service in Ontario. Foria appointments are free for Alberta patients, so if you live in Alberta you will not need to pay as you book.

You can only book one appointment at a time (after your first appointment you’ll be able to book and pay for your second, and so on). 

Getting started

When you book and pay for your first appointment, you can select which clinician you’d prefer and pick a date and time that works for you. Afterwards, you’ll receive confirmation and welcome emails along with a short pre-visit questionnaire. 

The best place for your virtual appointments is somewhere quiet, private and indoors. Since our appointments are video calls, you’ll need a device with audio and video (like a laptop or smartphone) and a stable, private internet connection.

Initial consultation

Your first appointment with Foria is 45 minutes long and costs $299 for Ontario patients. This is a chance for you and your clinician to get to know each other. These longer appointments let you talk about your health and gender history in depth, along with any goals and expectations you may have. The aim of these appointments is to see if hormone therapy is right for you. 

After your appointment

If you’re a good fit for hormone therapy, you’ll be sent some documents after your consultation. These will arrive through secure messaging in your online patient portal. We will also send you a link to book your second appointment. 

The first document we’ll send you is a lab requisition for some blood tests, which you can print or email to a lab of your choosing (if you’d like, we can send this directly to the lab for you). We will also send you a questionnaire to confirm that you consent to hormone therapy. 

You’ll also receive a questionnaire about your blood pressure. This will ask you to measure your blood pressure, which you can do with a blood pressure cuff (these are available online or at pharmacies). If you don’t have one, you can get your blood pressure measured at a pharmacy or doctor’s office. 

Hormone initiation

Your second appointment with Foria is also 45 minutes long and costs $199 for Ontario patients. This appointment is usually about two weeks after completing your lab tests.

In this hormone initiation appointment your clinician will review your lab tests and you’ll have a chance to talk about hormone therapy in more detail. If you and your clinician decide to move ahead with hormones, you’ll explore the different options – injectable, oral or topical medication, depending on your treatment plan – and any potential side effects. Once you’ve decided on a medication, we can send your prescription to your preferred pharmacy. If you’d like, we can send your prescription to Foria’s partner pharmacy, Affirming Care, which offers free and discrete shipping of your prescriptions.

After your appointment

It’s time to start your medication! You can collect it yourself or have it delivered to you, if your pharmacy offers this service. Foria’s partner pharmacy, Affirming Care, can provide at-home delivery of your medication.

After your appointment we’ll also send another lab requisition for more blood tests, which you can print or email to a lab. This will arrive through secure messaging in your patient portal. We can also send this directly to a lab for you. You should do your blood tests 10 weeks (two and a half months) after starting your medication.

Medication check-in

Your third appointment with Foria is 20 minutes long and costs $99 for Ontario patients. This is usually three months after you started medication.

In your check-in appointment you can talk to your clinician about your medication and any side effects you’re having. They’ll review your lab tests and can adjust your dose if needed. Depending on your treatment plan, they might recommend more than one follow-up appointment.

Transfer patients

If you are continuing or re-starting hormones, Foria can help! You’ll only need one appointment to transfer your care to us. 

Transfer of care

If you are transferring your care to Foria, your first appointment is 45 minutes long and costs $199 for Ontario patients. This is a chance for you and your clinician to get to know each other. This longer appointment lets you talk about your health and gender history in depth, along with any goals and expectations you may have. The aim of these appointments is to see if hormone therapy is right for you and explore how we can support you. 

You do not need to have any lab tests before your transfer appointment, but if you have any recent tests then you can share these with your clinician. They will order your new lab tests at this appointment, and can adjust this based on any recent documents you have.

Follow-up

Once you have completed all your intake appointments, you will only need to book follow-up appointments. These appointments are 20 minutes long and cost $99 for Ontario patients.

Follow-up appointments are a chance to talk about your medication and your health with your clinician. Generally you will do blood tests before these appointments. Your clinician will then review your lab results, and if you’re experiencing any side effects or have any questions, it’s a great time to discuss them. If needed, your clinician can adjust your dose. 

The frequency of follow-up appointments will vary depending on your treatment plan, but if your dose is stable then these will be every six months to one year for most people. 

Still got questions?

Are you wondering if Foria is the right fit for you? Book a free, 15 minute "Systems Navigation" appointment with a Foria clinician! We can give more information about our services or other public and community services, if these are more appropriate for you. We are not able to provide medical advice during these phone calls.

by Foria Clinical Team

Aug 9, 2023・ minute read

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