Note: This letter originally appeared as an e-mail sent to the Hopkins community on July 1, 2022.
Dear Johns Hopkins Community:
As an institution committed to seeing our LGBTQ+ faculty, staff, and students thrive, Johns Hopkins is excited to announce important expansions of its gender-affirming care benefits and supports. Gender-affirming care is evidence-based medical best practice that, for transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse people, is essential health care that enhances quality of life and overall well-being.
Beginning July 1, all Johns Hopkins health insurance plans will be updated and aligned enterprisewide to cover an expanded range of gender-affirming care for all users of these plans. The plans—most of which previously offered coverage for gender-affirming surgeries in addition to hormone therapy—will extend coverage to include additional gender-affirming care procedures, namely voice therapy and facial reconstructive procedures. Hopkins will also close coverage gaps and align all enterprisewide plans across the university and health system to offer the same levels of coverage.
There has been ongoing dialogue with students who have championed improvements and worked constructively with university leaders to address the needs of trans and non-binary individuals. As a result, students enrolled in graduate and undergraduate programs on most Johns Hopkins campuses will also benefit from enhanced gender-affirming care supports through our student health and well-being services, such as hormonal therapy and mental health evaluations for letters of readiness.
These changes come alongside other recent initiatives to better serve our LGBTQ+ community. For example, we have implemented IT solutions across both the university and the health system to allow for the use of chosen names and pronouns across many of our systems, including on ID badges and diplomas.
As we move forward, Johns Hopkins University and Health System will continue to be guided by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health as we review and assess our practices. More information about accessing gender-affirming care can be found on the website for the Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender Health.
We are so pleased to share these changes with you, and we will continue our work to ensure that our diverse students, faculty, staff, and post-doc populations feel welcomed, affirmed, safe, and supported by Johns Hopkins.
Sincerely,
Kevin Shollenberger
Vice Provost for Student Health & Well-Being
Johns Hopkins University
Pierre Joanis
Vice President for Human Resources
Johns Hopkins University
Inez Stewart
Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
Johns Hopkins Medicine