Telehealth Expands Access to Specialists for Male Infertility Visits
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More than a third of men seeking infertility-related care are seeing providers other than urologists, but telehealth offers an affordable, viable option for many men, according to two studies presented at the virtual American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Scientific Congress. Yet many men do not have access to reproductive urologists, which is where telemedicine can play a role, according to Alex Zhu, DO, a second-year urology resident at Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor. In his abstract presentation on October 19, he cited a 2016 study that found that 13 states had no male reproductive urologists and that Kentucky had only one assisted reproduction center. Due to the lack of andrologists, patients often have to drive far distances to see a reproductive specialist or will rely on general urologists who may not have the interest or expertise in male reproduction, It is reasonable to assume that this geographic barrier significantly impacts the access and outcomes of assisted reproductive care. Overall, telemedicine is an invaluable resource for male infertility patients.
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@lagnajita Although most of the affected men (64.6%) who sought care because of infertility saw urologists, more than a third saw a provider other than a urologist, including 13.6% who saw gynecologists, the second most common provider type. Among those who did not see urologists, 69.4% of all the infertility diagnoses came from gynecologists. The average age of men seeing providers other than urologists was 31 years, younger than the average 36 years of those who saw urologists (P < .05). A higher proportion of those who did not see a urologist were Black (18.2%) compared with the proportion of Black patients who saw urologists (10%; P = .04).