About the Author: Dylan M Sabb (he/him)
Family Physician, Boulder Clinic

At a community level, access to care is one of the keys to population health outcomes, and this is restricted by workforce limitations, cost, geography, and increasingly legislation changes. 

Within our clinics there are several structural components that can foster belonging and improve healthcare outcomes, including patient line and wait times for visits, front office and medical assistant (MA) staff interactions, intake forms, and the decoration and set-up of our exam rooms. Much of this centers on communication. There are perhaps a dozen ways to help a new patient feel welcomed or discouraged before I even open the exam room door. 

As an early career physician, I am still figuring out how to protect myself against burnout to sustain access for my patients, while identifying which aspects are under my influence regarding my schedule, team, and built environment within a large institutional setting.

What is an informative, quirky, or fun fact about yourself?
I am a tiny house enthusiast currently restricted to conventional housing due to Boulder County zoning.


Gender-Affirming Primary Care Residency Research Collaborative (GAPCRRC)
We are a group of academic primary care doctors, working to improve gender-affirming care training across the US. We have several hundred at-large members and a leadership team of Family Medicine (FM) doctors (including myself), 1 Internal Medicine (IM) and 1 Ob/Gyn.

Currently, curriculum development and evaluation is institution-specific, so our first goal to improve and standardize access to care has been to develop "milestones" -- like we already use broadly for residency trainees -- but tailored to gender-affirming care provision. This way, programs can identify strengths and set goals for improvement on skills, exposure, or impact both at an individual and institutional level. 

Our future goals include 1) establishing a clearing house for distribution of syllabi, cases, and lectures and 2) helping direct research questions towards patient-oriented outcomes pertinent to primary care of trans and gender non-conforming patients.

Click Here to View the Flyer: Pilot Study of New Gender-Affirming Care Clinical Milestones

If people have questions or would like to collaborate with you, how would you like for them to contact you to learn more about your work?
For patient care, call 720-848-9200