JANUARY 5, ÏW justputl»
northwest
Hospitals Under the Microscope
Health care access becomes subject of national scrutiny
by Heather Cassell
hospital visit is rarely a welcome event,
hut for queers it can he downright
terrifying. Those not legally connected
to their families often face the threat of
separation from a partnei or child who
is receiving care. This could soon begin to change.
The Human Rights Campaign recently
partnered with the Gay and Lesbian Medical
Association to develop the first-ever Healthcare
Equality Index. The survey is similar to HRC’s
Corporate Equality Index, which has been measur
ing corporations’ sexual minority policies and
practices for seven years. Approximately 1,000 of
the largest hospitals in the United States received
surveys in November, questioning their queer
patient care and employee policies. The survey
deadline was Dec. 31, and survey results are expect
ed out in the spring of 2007.
“Many sectors in health care have come to
recognize that there are health disparities experi
enced by distinct populations,” said Joel Ginsberg,
executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Medical
Association. “The idea that LGBT people have
unique health needs and experience specific health
disparities is one that is now only becoming more
generally understood by administrative health
care.”
With rhe rising awareness of queer health care
needs, particularly related to gender identity,
Ginsberg said it was a “natural idea” to rate
hospitals to push sexual minority health care and
industry workers’ needs further into public
consciousness.
One of the largest concerns for the queer
community regarding health care is disclosure. “We
face barriers to care which often have to do with
fear of disclosure or having been treated insensi
tively or being discriminated against or not know
ing where you can go and be out and honest about
who you are,” said Ellen Kahn, director of HRC’s
Family Project.
One of the goals of creating the Healthcare
Equality Index is to break down the barriers so
people can freely go to the hospital or their doctor
without fear of being discriminated against for
being honest about who they are.
HRC president Joe Solmonese said the index
will initiate a dialogue with U.S. hospitals about
sexual minority health care issues and hosp.tai
employees. This is being accomplished by meas
uring the quality of queer patient care and
employee policies at U.S. hospitals with more
than 300 beds. The index cast a wide net among
hospitals from rural, suburban and urban areas as
well as university, private, public and religious
affiliated institutions.
Solmonese believes it’s important to know
where hospitals stand in terms of progressive policy
for their patients and the queer medical staff being
entrusted with their care. “It’s...not just an impor
tant collaboration for us, but an important collabo
ration for the community," he said.
The index won’t provide information about the
quality of sexual minority health care and policies
at specific hospitals in the initial publication of the
results, but HRC hopes that, similar to the
Corporate Equality Index, the information
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Providence Health System, a Catholic hospital, vows to abide by core values of respect and
compassion toward patients and visitors.
gathered will provide a general overview of policies
in the industry and provide an incentive for more
hospitals to participate.
“We took an approach that is sort of a little bit
softer,” said Kahn about initiating a relationship
with hospitals. “We are trying to engage hospitals
in a way that’s not putting them in a defensive
position or feeling like something is coming out of
the blue.”
She hopes that this approach will lead to.
positive responses through hospital participation.
“I think what we’re looking at, at least initially
out of the gate, is sort of the broader things: Are
there policies in place.7 Are there general sort of
protections for GLBT patients.7 What is the
extent to which their discussion in training and
education of staff.7 It is a baseline measure, and
that’s definitely what it’s intended to be.”
Out of the three hospitals in the Portland
area—Legacy Emanuel Hospital and Health
Center, Oregon Health and Science University
Hospital and Providence Health System—
Providence, a Catholic hospital, was the only one
to respond to Just Out.
Lisa Godwin, senior public affairs coordinator
for Providence, said in an e-mail, “Our employees
are expected to honor and abide by our five core
values of respect, compassion, justice, excellence
and stewardship—as they relate to all patients and
visitors.” She added that they have an active
diversity program with committees that ensure
implementation of policies such as domestic
partnership for sexual minority employees and staff
training to provide care that is sensitive and
respectful of queer patients and their families.
Other hospitals across the country are respond
ing to the survey as well, even if they don’t have
culturally specific training and policy in place.
A report by the Williams Institute at UCLA
released Dec. 1 stressed a need to monitor certain
caregiving industries that systematically deny care
to HIV-positive people in the Los Angeles County
area. The study found professionals from skilled
nursing facilities, obstetricians and cosmetic
surgeons routinely denied care to HIV-positive
clients.
According to Ginsberg, hospitals’ participation
in the survey relates to the bottom line. The Kaiser
Family Foundation released the most recent
estimate of national expenditures for health care at
nearly $1.9 trillion in the United States in 2004-
With an estimated
million queer people
living in the United States, Ginsberg pointed out,
“It’s a very large piece of the economy, and to the
extent that health care is acting in ways that,
recognize the unique and legitimate needs of
LGBT people, that’s a big part of society.”
Survey designers expect the index to extend to
other sectors of the health care industry. “It made
sense to start with hospitals because we all have to
deal with hospitals,” said Kahn, explaining a desire
to expand the survey to sectors including long-term
care facilities, nursing homes, hospices and
community health clinics.
Kahn added, “1 think that it would give us a
good baseline measure of where we are right
now.” ©
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The H ealthcare E quality I ndex survey is
available online at www.hrc.org under the health
heading.
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San Francisco freelance journalist HEATHER
CASSELL is an associate editor for Bay Area
Reporter. She received her bachelor’s degree in
creative writing from San Francisco State University.
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between Yamhill and Morrison
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