At QueerDoc, accountability to our community is important to us. One of the ways we do this is financial transparency. We believe healthcare is a human right and that everyone deserves access to equitable gender affirming care within their own community. We also think healthcare should NOT be a business, which is an interesting statement from a healthcare business.
We often get asked why we aren’t a non-profit organization.
Our founder’s experience in healthcare non-profits left them jaded. So many non-profit healthcare systems and CEOs still make millions of dollars profiting off of vulnerable people while allowing balance sheets to drive healthcare decisions. Dr. Beal felt that organizing QueerDoc as a small business would allow them autonomy in making decisions. As a physician they have first hand knowledge of patient care needs, which directly informs decisions about the structure of visits and costs at QueerDoc. Also, not having a board to consult allows QueerDoc to be responsive to community needs (like continuing to provide care in ban states).
Dr. Beal strives to stay rooted in community.
They often do take business decisions to their unofficial “Board of Directors” who are other trans folx with intersectional identities that Dr. Beal has the joy of being in community with. Dr. Beal’s values are shaped by their queerness:
- Queerness as defined by bell hooks.
- Queerness as an ideology.
The other day, one of their “Board Members” was wearing a tshirt that said, “Gay as in Happy. Queer as in Fuck the Police.” Sums it up!
Our entire team at QueerDoc is queer and 5 out of 6 of us are trans.
We live within the same forces of systemic oppression as our patients. We passionately love trans healthcare, and it is our job. Meaning we deserve equitable pay. In our current system our wages come from you, our patients. Trust us – we all vote for a single payer system and would love to see systemic change in American healthcare. Until that happens, we believe that QueerDoc is one small part of creating options for trans folx accessing care. We are constantly trying to balance our own cost of living needs and keeping care as affordable as possible by utilizing a sliding scale model. Keeping the low end of our sliding scale where it is is getting harder in the setting of late-stage capitalism and aggressive inflation. However, we strive to be transparent with you, our patients and community, about money. Historically, we have published our year-end financials on our socials. When you look at our Profit & Loss statements from 2022 and 2023, the “net income” at the end of the year has been used for our team’s January 1st payroll. Over half of our gross revenue at QueerDoc goes to support our team through payroll and benefits.
QueerDoc continues to grow and we hope to compensate our founder and administrative team more equitably as we do. 2023 was a landmark year because we were able add benefits our two full-time team members’ pay packages: 50% of health & vision, 100% of dental, unlimited PTO, and a 2% employer contribution to a Simple IRA. In 2024, we’re able to reach our full time administrative team members’ goal pay range (although they probably need to scale that up due to inflation). We try to create a workspace that allows humans to be humans at work- flexible and autonomous. Our team members set their own schedules and are encouraged to engage with sustainable expectations of productivity. We are actively trying to cultivate anti-racism and anti-ableism in the workplace which means a different relationship with work. We aren’t getting that perfect every time, but perfectionism is rooted in white supremacy, so we strive to frame everything as an opportunity to grow together.
Transparency In Action: Here Are Our Financial Statements:
We have updated our mission and vision for 2024.
Mission
To raise the bar in queer and gender affirming medical care through:
direct clinical services via telemedicine to individuals
clinician continuing education and training
consulting services
legislative and media advocacy
Vision
To reshape the landscape of healthcare making high-quality, individualized gender affirming medical care the national standard of care.
We continue to follow our ethos in shaping our work and content production:
- How does this challenge white supremacy?
- How does this support HAES/fatness?
- How is this accessible? Who cannot access this?
While honoring our own limitations and managing our forks and spoons. We appreciate you taking time to learn more about QueerDoc as a company. We will continue to strive for transparency and growing together!
