Improving access to women's health care with telemedicine

Making care more accessible in women's health with telemedicine

Women's health care is on the cusp of a much-needed shift. You can see the gaps—missed follow-ups, delayed preventive visits, and the growing effort required to support patients with multiple specialty needs. Workforce shortages continue to add pressure. One study found that there are only about 38 Ob-Gyns per 100,000 women in the United States—and in many rural counties, that number drops sharply.¹ But even when care is available, patients' own barriers related to travel, mobility, or caregiving can make appointments difficult to maintain. These challenges often lead to delayed diagnoses and missed opportunities for preventive care.

As these gaps become more persistent, many women's health practices are reassessing how care is delivered beyond the traditional in-person visit. Telemedicine has emerged as a prominent way to extend access and offer more flexible options for patients to stay connected with their providers.

Here's a closer look at how important access and continuity can be to women's health care.

Access gaps for women in traditional health care

When access depends heavily on in-person visits, it limits how flexible you can be between appointments, how much support you can give to patients facing real-world constraints, and if you're able to bring the right clinicians together at the right moment.

Even with robust practices and strong clinical teams, traditional care models can struggle to keep up when patients face the following challenges:

• Geographic barriers. More than half of U.S. counties do not have a single practicing Ob-Gyn², which means many women must travel significant distances for even routine care. With limited local options, it becomes costlier and harder to access early support, particularly for prenatal or chronic gynecologic needs.
• Logistical challenges. For women with lack of access to transportation, caregiving responsibilities, or rigid work schedules, in-person visits can be difficult to coordinate. A simple follow-up or prescription clarification may require time off from work or arranging childcare, which can lead to postponed or missed appointments.
• Limited access to preventive and routine care. Preventive services like contraceptive counseling and follow-up screenings often require multiple appointments. When clinics offer limited hours, require travel for brief conversations, or lack easy ways to handle follow-ups virtually, patients may postpone these visits to a later date. This can create a cycle where preventive care is delayed simply because it's not designed to fit into real-world schedules.
• Limited specialty access. Many women require coordinated input from specialists such as maternal–fetal medicine, fertility, or behavioral health. But those specialists may be located hours away or booked weeks out for in-person consultations, creating delays in treatment plans or leaving patients without essential support.

5 ways telemedicine can expand women's health access

Women are becoming increasingly comfortable using virtual visits as part of their health care. In 2021, 42% of women in the U.S. reported using telemedicine at least once in the past 12 months.³ With telemedicine's adoption growing, there are many promising ways it can open more flexible and reliable ways to support women's health care. Here are five opportunities.

1. Reaching patients who face the greatest barriers

Telemedicine brings care within reach for women who face physical or geographic challenges that make in-person visits difficult. Virtual appointments help women living in rural or remote areas access clinical support without long travel times. They also benefit women managing transportation challenges, high-risk pregnancies, or chronic gynecologic conditions by reducing unnecessary travel and enabling clinicians to monitor symptoms more frequently and safely.

Telehealth is equally valuable for patients managing caregiving responsibilities or unpredictable work schedules. When appointments can happen from home, women may not need to arrange childcare or take extended time away from work—which can help them get the care they need.

2. Improving convenience without compromising care quality

Telemedicine can make routine and preventive women's health care easier to maintain. Many common touchpoints, such as contraceptive counseling, follow-up discussions, prenatal questions, and screening result reviews, can be handled effectively through virtual visits. When patients can speak with their clinician from home or another private space, it becomes simpler to review test results promptly and ask questions about new symptoms. This flexibility helps women stay on top of their health while receiving timely, high-quality support.

3. Supporting mental and behavioral health

Mental health concerns are common across various stages of women's health care—from becoming sexually active to pregnancy to postpartum to menopause. For instance, in the United States an estimated 1 in 7 pregnant women and 1 in 5 postpartum women experience a perinatal mental health condition such as depression or anxiety.⁴ Telemedicine can help reduce many of the barriers that prevent women from seeking support by offering a low-friction, private way to connect with mental and behavioral health specialists.

Meeting in a virtual setting can lessen stigma and make it easier for patients to speak openly about how they are feeling. Evidence shows that telehealth interventions during the perinatal period can effectively decrease depression and anxiety symptoms.⁵ Also, a telehealth visit with a healthcare professional with whom a menopausal patient has an existing relationship can be a positive way to help augment care because that professional already has the patient's health history and data to recommend appropriate menopausal treatment.⁶

4. Creating a more comfortable environment for sensitive issues

Telemedicine gives patients a private and secure setting to discuss sensitive reproductive and sexual health concerns. Many women feel more at ease talking about topics, such as family planning, menstrual concerns, sexual health, or fertility, when they can speak from a familiar environment rather than a busy clinic.⁷ This comfort can increase honesty during conversations, strengthen patient trust, and encourage women to bring up issues they may delay or avoid in traditional in-person visits. 

5. Enabling collaborative, multi-specialty care 

Telemedicine also can make it easier for practitioners to bring additional specialists into a patient's care when needed. Maternal–fetal medicine experts, fertility specialists, behavioral health clinicians, and other providers can join virtual visits without the delays or travel requirements that often slow down in-person coordination. This flexibility reduces the fragmentation patients can experience when managing complex health needs. 

The future of equitable women's health depends on accessible care 

As access challenges persist across women's health care, the ability to support continuity beyond the exam room has become increasingly important. Telemedicine helps you extend care in more flexible and responsive ways, helping reduce gaps that can disrupt long-term engagement. The future of women's health will rely on solutions that meet patients where they are and ensure their access to quality care before, during, and after each encounter. 

Learn more about how athenahealth supports women's health practices.