UCSF Medical Center today became the only institution in the United States to receive a perfect score on the LGBT Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) for four consecutive years.
The HEI annually invites health care facilities nationwide to rate themselves on recognized criteria for equitable, inclusive care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) patients and their families. The criteria call on health care facilities to have LGBT nondiscrimination policies covering both patients and employees, to provide equal visitation for same-sex partners and to offer LGBT competence training for staff.
Unique among U.S. health care facilities, UCSF Medical Center has met — in fact, exceeded — all of these criteria since the HEI was created in 2007 by the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT civil rights organization, and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.
“We’re enormously proud of our unequalled record,” said Mark Laret, chief executive officer of UCSF Medical Center. “We want LGBT patients and their families to know that we are deeply committed to providing them with knowledgeable, sensitive care and completely equitable and respectful treatment.”
The 2010 HEI rates 178 health care facilities nationwide, 11 of which join UCSF as “top performers,” meeting all criteria for LGBT equity and inclusion. This year’s HEI report also features a description of UCSF’s acclaimed LGBT health competence training program, overseen by UCSF LGBT Resource Center Director Shane Snowdon.
“As the HEI report notes, it’s critical to bring paper policies and practices alive by providing training on the needs of LGBT patients and their families,” Snowdon said. “Our training program is the most extensive in the country — we’re regularly consulted by other health care facilities who want to join us in offering truly equal and inclusive care.”
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