Women are the largest driver of telehealth adoption in the U.S. — 42% of women have used telehealth, compared with 31.7% of men — and they spend more on healthcare overall, including nearly $9 billion more out-of-pocket annually than men, a gap partly explained by roughly $1.5 billion spent specifically on women-focused care like birth control, menopause management, and endometriosis. Virtual care platforms have followed that demand well past the original birth-control-refill use case.
What's actually available now
- Contraceptive care — prescriptions, refills, emergency contraception, and counseling, often with next-day or same-week turnaround
- Menopause and perimenopause care — hormone therapy evaluation, symptom management, and increasingly, providers with dedicated menopause training, which the average OB/GYN historically receives very little of in medical school
- PCOS and endometriosis support — ongoing management plans, symptom tracking, and medication coordination, not just a one-time consult
- STI testing and treatment, often via at-home collection kits paired with a telehealth follow-up
- Fertility counseling and prenatal support between in-person obstetric visits
Why menopause care specifically has exploded
Menopause is a particularly clear example of a gap telehealth stepped into. Symptoms range from hot flashes and mood changes to measurable bone density loss — an average of roughly 10% of bone mass in the first five years after menopause — yet many physicians receive minimal formal training in menopause management. Specialized telehealth platforms have responded by building programs specifically around perimenopause and menopause, often staffed by clinicians with focused training the average generalist doesn't have. In 2026, the FDA also updated labeling on several menopausal hormone therapy products to better reflect current evidence on risks and benefits — a meaningful shift after years of outdated warnings discouraging appropriate use.
What to look for in a women's health telehealth provider
- Clinicians with specific training in the condition you're seeking care for — menopause-certified practitioners are a real, verifiable credential, not just marketing language
- Lab testing built into the process when relevant, rather than prescribing hormone therapy based on symptoms alone
- Clear escalation to in-person care when something needs a physical exam the platform can't provide virtually
- Insurance coordination options, since many women's health telehealth platforms operate cash-pay only — ask whether prescriptions can route through your regular pharmacy to use insurance for the medication itself even if the visit is out-of-pocket
A regulatory note
Some state telehealth laws still require synchronous audio or video for prescribing certain medications, even when asynchronous care would be clinically sufficient — meaning access can vary more by state for women's health telehealth than people expect. If a platform seems to require a live visit where you'd expect a simple async refill, that's often a state-law constraint rather than the platform being overly cautious.
Menopause care used to mean waiting months for a specialist who might not exist locally. Now it can mean a video visit within the week.
A provider with dedicated women's health services
The provider below includes women's health among its core specialties, with pricing and provider details available before booking.
Where to start
Sesame's women's health category includes contraception, menopause care, and general OB/GYN consults with transparent per-visit pricing.
See Sesame Care's women's health providers → Paid linkThe bottom line
Women's health telehealth has moved well past its birth-control-refill origins into genuinely comprehensive care — menopause, PCOS, endometriosis, fertility support — delivered faster than most in-person specialist wait times allow. The category grew because women were already driving telehealth adoption broadly; the platforms just finally started building for what was actually being asked for.