While there's still progress to be made, hospitals in general are consistently improving when it comes to implementing policies friendly to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, according to a new survey.
Now in its 10th edition, a record 590 healthcare facilities participated in the Healthcare Equality Index, a survey conducted by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The foundation also researched policies at 900 additional non-participating hospitals.
This year, 303 facilities -- 51 percent of those actively participating -- earned the designation of "Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality." And securing that honor is more difficult now than it has been over the previous decade. For the first time, HEI participants were awarded numerical scores for their LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practices in four areas: patient-centered care, patient services and support, fully-inclusive employee benefits and policies, and patient community and engagement. The "Leader" designation was awarded to facilities that scored a perfect 100.
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The highlights include some of the work taking place at two transgender youth clinics, GENECIS at Children's Health in Dallas, Texas, and the Center for Child and Adolescent Gender Care at Duke Children's Hospital in Durham, North Carolina. Legislative action in those communities has challenged some of the protections of the LGBTQ community.
In Texas, SB6, a bill that seeks to limit transgender people's access to public facilities, passed out of committee and is up for a vote by the full state senate. In North Carolina, HB2 seeks to limit protections from transgender discrimination. The two facilities detailed in the report were noted for providing a medical haven for people in those communities.
Another 144 facilities in the survey earned a "Top Performer" designation for scoring between 80 and 95 points.
In addition to the positive scoring criteria, the 2017 HEI includes a section focusing on responsible citizenship, calling out activity that would undermine LGBTQ equality or inclusive patient care. Healthcare facilities stood to have 25 points deducted from their score for a large scale official or public anti-LGBTQ blemish on their records. This year, Johns Hopkins Hospital became the first and only facility to receive this deduction.
[Also: Full list: These 20 hospitals earned 'F' grades in the Fall 2016 Leapfrog patient safety ratings]
Of the hospitals that did not participate in the HEI but were scored based on HRC's research, only 61 percent have nondiscrimination policies that include both "sexual orientation" and "gender identity," and only 52 percent were found to have an LGBTQ-inclusive employment nondiscrimination policy. However, 95 percent of those facilities are committed to equal visitation, close to the rate of the facilities that actively participated in the survey.
Twitter: @JELagasse