California Pacific Medical Center - part of the Sutter Health network - achieved a perfect score for its non-discrimination policies in creating a welcoming environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients. The results are announced in the 2011 Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), an annual survey by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation.
The HEI 2011 reports on the voluntary participation of a record 87 survey respondents, representing 375 facilities nationwide. The facilities are judged on four criteria: patient non-discrimination, visitation, cultural competency training, and employment non-discrimination. The goal is to identify hospitals or medical centers that have adopted policies to protect their patients, and employees, from discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
"Quality healthcare saves lives, but too many LGBT Americans are denied that care or are too afraid to seek it because of discrimination and intimidation," said HRC President Joe Solmonese. "We are making progress, but we have a lot of work left to do. The HEI is a great starting point for healthcare facilities and professionals that desire to provide quality healthcare to all Americans. We thank the HEI 2011 participants for their hard work and dedication to ensuring healthcare equality for all patients."
"We are proud to now be included among the HEI's Leaders in LGBT Healthcare Equality," says Judy Li, DrPH, Vice President for Community Benefit and Healthcare Innovation at CPMC. "But by no means do we feel that our work is done. The survey has encouraged us to further reflect on our LGBT-inclusive practices and continually seek out opportunities for improvement, even in areas where we have received credit on the survey. Our goal is to be a model of inclusiveness for medical centers as well as employers across the country."
Li says that CPMC has a long and proud tradition of supporting the LGBT community. With four hospital campuses - one of which is located in the Castro District famously represented by Harvey Milk — CPMC offered compassionate care during the earliest days of the AIDS crisis and opened Coming Home Hospice to offer dignity for terminally ill patients. CPMC also has long-standing partnerships with local LGBT-community organizations, including the San Francisco LGBT Center and the Lyon Martin Clinic, the country's first clinic to focus on lesbian and transgender health issues.
CPMC made the honor role this year after strengthening its existing written policies regarding patient visitation rights.
"The Healthcare Equality Index survey helped us realize that our written policies on patient visitation rights did not fully reflect our anti-discriminatory values and practices," says Li. "So we created a more expansive and LGBT-inclusive definition of "family", one that better matched what we have always done in practice. By formalizing our practices in writing, we are taking another step toward ensuring that each of our patients gets an equal level of high-quality, compassionate care. It's the right thing to do for our patients, our staff, and our community."
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