Karen E. Adams
Physician · OB-GYN
15+ years of experience
Menopause Society Certified Practitioner
About Stanford Program in Menopause & Healthy Aging
Adams directs Stanford's menopause program and sees patients at the gynecology clinic in Palo Alto. The program offers in person consults, video consults, and video group visits. She is board certified in both obstetrics and gynecology and in lifestyle medicine, so diet, exercise and sleep come up alongside hormone therapy. Before Stanford she spent 14 years as residency program director at OHSU in Oregon, where she also ran the menopause and sexual medicine program. She hosts the program's podcast and gave a TEDx talk called Sleep, Sex, and Menopausal Zest. The program writes to its patients about practical problems like the estradiol patch shortage.
Care
Treats
- Perimenopause
- Menopause
- Hot flashes
- Sleep problems
- Mood & anxiety
- Brain fog
- Vaginal dryness
- Low libido
- Irregular periods
Prescribes
- Hormone therapy
- Non-hormonal medication
- Supplements & lifestyle
- Lab testing
Cost and insurance
Insurance
Aetna
Anthem
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Program
Cigna
UnitedHealthcare
Kaiser Permanente
Health Net
MultiPlan
First Health
Blue Shield of California
Medicare Advantage
Medicaid managed care
Tricare
VA Community Care
Beech Street
Cardinal Care (Stanford University student plan)
Coastal Healthcare Administrators
HealthSmart
Private Health Care Systems
Stanford Health Care Alliance
Sutter Health Plan (formerly Sutter Health Plus HMO)
Valley Health Plan
Blue Shield PERS Access+ HMO and Blue Shield PERS Platinum PPO (CalPERS)
Kaiser (referral from your Kaiser physician and plan authorization required)
United Health Care (narrow network plans such as CORE cover Stanford hospital but not Stanford physician services)
All Medi-Gap plans
Medi-Cal managed plans: Central California Alliance for Health, Contra Costa Health Plan, Health Plan of San Mateo, Partnership Health Plan, Santa Clara Family Health Plan
TriWest Healthcare Alliance for TRICARE and VA Community Care (all services must be authorized by the VA)
Medicare
Medicaid (CA)
Self-pay
Available — prices aren’t published, ask for rates
The plan list is Stanford Health Care's own enterprise insurance page, linked as Insurance Coverage from her provider page, and on most HMO plans Stanford is in network for specialist care only, so you need a referral from your own primary care doctor plus plan authorization.
Verified October 2026. Coverage depends on your plan — confirm with your insurer before your visit.
Qualifications
MD, FACOG, DipABLM, MSCP
