Record 747 healthcare facilities nationwide receive LGBTQ equality designation from HRC
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation released its 15th anniversary edition of the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI). It is the country’s benchmarking survey of healthcare facilities on policies and practices dedicated to the equitable treatment and inclusion of their LGBTQ patients, visitors and employees.
New Jersey had 33 facilities rated at a perfect 100. That is an increase of five facilities since 2020. A full listing of the New Jersey HEI 2022 listings is available here.
Over 906 healthcare facilities participated in the survey and 496 of those earned an “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader” designation, while 251 earned the “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Top Performer” designation.
Check the interactive map of HEI index facilities nationwide here.
“Every person deserves to have access to quality healthcare, be respected and heard by their doctor, and feel safe in the facility where they are receiving care. But LGBTQ+ people are often subject to discrimination in all spaces, including healthcare facilities, which leads to members of the community avoiding care and anticipating our voices will not be respected in an incredibly vulnerable environment,” said Tari Hanneman, Director of Health & Aging at The Human Rights Campaign. “The Healthcare Equality Index, at its core, strives to ensure LGBTQ+ people are protected and affirmed by their healthcare providers and feel safe seeking services. Our HEI active participants are truly pioneering the healthcare industry by implementing robust, comprehensive LGBTQ+ inclusive policies that hopefully, because of their work, will become standard practice.”
The HEI evaluates and scores healthcare facilities on detailed criteria including: Foundational Policies and Training, LGBTQ+ Patient Services and Support, Employee Benefits and Policies, and Patient and Community Engagement.
In the 2022 new report, an impressive 496 facilities earned HRC’s “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader” designation, receiving the maximum score in each section and earning an overall score of 100. Another 251 facilities earned the “Top Performer” designation with scores between 80 and 95 points and at least partial credit in each section. With 82% of participating facilities scoring 80 points or more in the new survey HRC says health care facilities are demonstrating that they are going beyond the basics when it comes to adopting policies and practices in LGBTQ care.
Highlights in the 2022 HEI includes:
- 93% of participants met the HEI’s training requirements, completing more than 200,000 hours of staff training in LGBTQ+ patient-centered care.
- 82% of participating facilities earned either the Leader or Top Performer.
- 99% of HEI participants documented that they include both “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in their patient non-discrimination policy.
- 99% of HEI participants documented that they include both “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in their employment nondiscrimination policy.
- 81% of HEI participants offer transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits to their employees, up from 75% in 2019, which was the first year this it was required in order to obtain Leader status. 2020.
- A record 176 facilities, nearly 20% of all participants, participated in the HEI for the first time.
The HRC Foundation researched the key policies for LGBTQ inclusion at over 1,300 non-participating hospitals. Unfortunately, these research hospitals were much less likely to have LGBTQ non-discrimination policies in place. This is a stark contrast to the near-perfect adoption by active participants. Among the researched hospitals in which HRC was able to find or obtain enumerated patient non-discrimination policies, only 70% have policies that include both sexual orientation and gender identity compared to 99% of the surveys HEI participants.
