From pre-conception to mid-life and beyond, women and their families deserve a trusted care experience
Janet Choi, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Progyny
Throughout my 25 years in reproductive endocrinology and obstetrics/gynecology, I have witnessed first-hand the tremendous improvements that have been made in women’s health. Are they coming fast enough? Not to my liking. Has it been a straight trajectory? Not always, but it’s hard to find anything in healthcare that is.
One thing is certain, however: the opportunity for positive change has never been greater. The convergence of medical and technological advancements; the rise in patient education and public advocacy; and the sheer desire of women to demand better all stand now to make 2025 a year that we will all be proud of. Here’s how I see things shaping up.
To deliver the trusted care women and families deserve, we must recognize the root of the problem.
To achieve the progress we need to see in women’s health and family building, it’s necessary first to confront the hard historical facts. It is baffling to me when I look back and consider the degree to which women’s health, at a global scale, has been sidelined, siloed, and de-prioritized. We’re still playing catch-up from the decades where women were excluded from clinical trials, and subject to the long-held belief that we can just suck it up and keep forging ahead despite pain or illness (though this is also a testament to our collective resilience and strength).
Women have also historically put the health of others ahead of our own. As the go-to caregivers in most families, the responsibility for managing the health of children, spouses, and aging parents can be all-consuming, leaving little time to focus on our own care. A recent Deloitte survey of US consumers finds that women are 35% more likely than men to have skipped or avoided care over the past year. Along with competing demands for our time, out-of-pocket costs present a higher barrier to care for women, who the same survey shows require nearly 10% more services than men on average—even excluding maternity-related care. While the drivers of this imbalance are varied and complex, the result is starkly simple: women are not getting the individualized focus and quality care we deserve.
Fragmented care is not serving women, or employers.
While the surge of investment and innovation in women’s health is a significant and welcome breakthrough, much of this progress has unfolded in a way that’s not advantageous to meaningful care delivery. The result? A jagged landscape of siloed point solutions, each addressing specific needs, conditions, or life stages, yet failing to account for the interconnected nature of women’s health. With so much of women’s care happening outside of primary care and little coordination among providers, these fragmented solutions often miss the bigger picture. This can lead to delays in diagnosis, ineffective treatments, and, ultimately, worse outcomes for women.
Take endometriosis, for example, a chronic, estrogen-dependent condition that affects roughly 1 in 10 women of reproductive age globally and, untreated, commonly leads to infertility. Despite its prevalence and devastating effects, average time to diagnosis ranges from 6 to 11 years globally. Why? Because women’s care is scattered across such a wide range of providers, it can take years to assemble the puzzle pieces to arrive at an accurate diagnosis, let alone effective treatment. For example, a woman experiencing pelvic pain may see their gynecologist or PCP but may not think to inform them they’re already seeing a GI for rectal bleeding or abdominal pain, or that they’ve been in and out of the ER for debilitating menstrual pain. When the picture finally comes together, first-line treatment tends to be hormonal suppression before surgery. If she gets to the point of surgery, odds are high that the endometriosis surgeon she needs will be out-of-network.
It doesn’t have to be this way. When women’s health and family building needs are integrated from pre-conception through mid-life and entrusted to providers trained and credentialed and accessible across the full spectrum of women’s needs, life-impacting conditions like this can be caught and treated early, minimizing suffering and improving outcomes.
A tidal shift is underway, as more women advocate for the care they deserve.
Fortunately, change is in the air. In just the past several years, the women’s health landscape has been reshaped by a convergence of forces: from within the medical community to health-tech entrepreneurs and government-funded research—and from women themselves demanding better. Women’s health has benefited from heightened awareness of gender bias and inequities in health outcomes, a surge in innovation (check out my post from the Forbes Health Summit), and empowerment of women everywhere to leverage new digital resources to learn more and advocate for their needs.
While post-election there is an air of uncertainty—if not unease—about everything from the economy to healthcare policy to reproductive rights, one thing is certain: women refuse to turn back on the gains we’ve made. As we head into 2025, the question is not whether we will advance the cause and build on recent momentum, but how to do so in a way that sets a new standard of clinical excellence and outcomes for women, their families and employers.
In 2025, let’s set a new standard of care for women globally.
As we enter this new year, let’s pause to celebrate the progress made in advancing women’s health. The influx of innovation and focus on this historically underserved space has been nothing short of transformational. But momentum alone is not enough to address the fundamental issues that persist. It’s time for a new paradigm.
Let’s make 2025 the year we drive women’s and family care from the edges of the healthcare system to its center.
Let’s continue to break down silos and create pathways for underserved areas, from pre-conception to pregnancy, parenting and menopause.
Let’s demand high quality, accredited specialists who are trained and credentialed across the spectrum of women’s and family health needs.
Let’s raise the standard of care to include accountability for outcomes and a trusted care path, so each of us can realize our individual health and family-building goals.
We’re on this journey together.
—Janet