Going to the doctor can be a stressful situation, but many in the LGBTQIA+ community continue to face stigma and additional barriers to care. In fact, over a third of individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community have faced discrimination of some kind in the past year, according to the Center for American Progress.
“I think for the LGBTQIA+ community, of which I am a part, … the best-case scenario is that there is a lack of comfort in our healthcare interactions. I’ll give you an example for myself,” Liana Douillet Guzmán told MobiHealthNews.
“When I go to the doctor, they’ll ask me what kind of birth control I’m on, and I have to explain that I’m not on birth control, because I’m married to a woman, and we’re not going to accidentally get pregnant. And there is this moment where I am searching in their eyes to see how that lands for them. Does that throw them off, and [I] sort of wonder, will that impact the healthcare that I receive?”
Douillet Guzmán said that this is often the best-case scenario because she has the resources to choose another doctor if she doesn’t feel supported. However, many do not have that freedom.
Douillet Guzmán is now working to change that paradigm through technology. She is taking over the reins of Folx, an LGBTQIA+ focused digital health company, from founder A.G. Breitenstein. Launched in 2021, Folx is a relatively young company in the digital world. It has caught investor attention, and gained just under $30 million in venture funding. The company currently offers treatment plans for gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy, PrEP, erectile dysfunction treatment, educational content and a community of queer and trans educational healthcare providers.
This company is part of an emerging trend of digital health companies looking to meet the needs of LGBTQIA+ people, which includes Pride Counseling, Included Health and Plume.
Optum Ventures vet A.G. Breitenstein founded Folx based on their own experiences with healthcare and will still be involved in the company as executive chair of the board.
“I started FOLX Health because of my own experience and discomfort as a non-binary lesbian navigating the broken healthcare system for the queer and trans community. FOLX has grown at hyperspeed since our commercial launch just last March,” Breitenstein said in a statement.
“Now FOLX is poised to take its next big step to bring a new model of care to the whole LGBTQIA+ community, and Liana is the perfect person to lead us through that next stage of growth. She brings critical skills and experience that FOLX needs to reach our community and drive the conversation about how to reshape our notion of health and healthcare.
“She has driven hyper-growth in both the direct-to-consumer and employer markets as both an operational and marketing lead. She brings a fresh perspective and shares our mission-driven values of bringing accessible healthcare to this unique and vibrant community.”
This is Douillet Guzmán’s first foray into healthcare. After a short stint as a paralegal, she decided to move into marketing. However, over the years she has worn many hats. She served as the chief operating officer at Blockchain, and most recently as chief marketing officer at Skillshare.
Douillet Guzmán said she wasn’t necessarily looking for CEO roles when she was recruited.
“But as I learned more about Folx, it felt like that one-in-a-million opportunity to do something that I cared deeply about, and which is incredibly personal to me, and to do it within a company that I believe can change, cannot just drive impact for itself, but can actually change the industry as a whole.”
Douillet Guzmán said that COVID-19 changed healthcare across the U.S., and the way that patients want to access care.
“I think we’ve all seen in the pandemic just how important it is to have ready access to healthcare, and also how possible that is. I think before the pandemic required us to think differently, there was this perception that healthcare could not be delivered virtually, at least not effectively.
“And what we’re finding is that actually when people have that access, they’re more likely to. I know for me, for instance, I might not want to make an appointment to go see a doctor, but if I can quickly hop on a telehealth call and just sort of answer some questions, I’m going to do that. And I feel much more empowered. And so I think that connectivity is really an important next phase for healthcare broadly.”
This shift in technology adoption could also be key in improving healthcare to meet the needs of LGBTQIA+ folks. She noted that many individuals in the community face “biography and gatekeeping” in healthcare.
“I think those are some of the pain points that Folx and others like us can help to solve,” she said. “It’s just creating that more individualized healthcare experience, where you know that you’re going to get not just expertise, but you’re going to get transparency, and reliability, and affirmation, and support and the ability to be a partner in your care.”
“Virtual provides access and ease. I think a lot of our members live in clinical deserts where they don’t actually have the access to the care that they deserve. And so I think having that virtual component makes us far more accessible to a much broader audience.
“But I could also see a world in which we layer on some in-person experiences as well. And some of it is our members also getting to decide which interactions are async versus synchronous, which interactions are virtual versus in-person.”