This week we mark the 13th-annual LGBT Health Awareness Week, which this year is focused on the theme of “Time to Come Together: Trust, Transparency, Truth.” It’s a very personal connection for me, as I was one of the founding members of the National Coalition for LGBT Health, the organization that sponsors this annual event. Our coalition is comprised of leaders from national and state LGBT organizations, health centers, health departments, universities, health organizations, clinical and behavioral-health providers and LGBT individuals and allies.
Together, we are dedicated to improving the health and well-being of LGBT individuals through federal and local advocacy, education and research.
Our approach to this work is multifaceted. The Coalition, through its membership, works to change public and private-sector policies, laws and regulations regarding LGBT health and related issues; to increase resources to expand the delivery of culturally competent health and social services to a diverse and inclusive LGBT population; and to build and disseminate knowledge regarding the LGBT population’s health status, access to and utilization of health care and other health-related information
Improving health outcomes and building greater cultural competency among medical providers starts with raising awareness. That’s where the idea of LGBT Health Awareness Week comes in. This year’s theme gets to the heart of several key concepts: trust, transparency and truth. These are fundamental elements of any patient-provider relationship, but they’re especially critical for LGBT-identified individuals.
The reasons for this were highlighted in a recent Kaiser Family Foundation research report that outlines the need for a national focus on achieving LGBT health equity. LGBT Americans are often poorer than the overall population, which contributes to higher instances of medical debt and postponement of care. LGBT individuals are more likely to rate their health as poor and report more chronic health issues, like HIV/AIDS, mental illness, substance use and sexual and physical violence.
LGBT individuals often have higher rates of alcohol and substance abuse and higher rates of suicide attempts and ideation, due to family and societal rejection and lack of support. Yet with these glaring health disparities, more than half of medical schools lack LGBT-related curricula. Those institutions that do offer instruction on LGBT health only offer an average of five hours of instruction.
The past year was a banner year for LGBT civil rights and health, with more states gaining marriage equality, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act implementation and increased anti-discrimination protections for transgender individuals in federal policies. These achievements have created a solid foundation, but there is still more work to do.
That’s why our coalition believes it’s time for everyone — LGBT consumers, clinical and behavioral-health providers, health-care system administrators and state and federal governments — to come together across settings and disciplines to participate in discussions about LGBT health disparities, and advocate and educate on critical health-care gaps and needs of LGBT individuals.
It’s time to build more trust that our providers and the health-care system are sensitive to and address our personal identities and health needs.
It’s time for transparency in our health-care systems, to be more open and honest about services and costs to help ensure greater access to health care. We must advocate for authentic and complete data collection of sexual orientation and gender identity to reflect reality.
It’s time to tell the truth. We must be honest about our sexual orientation, gender identity and health needs with our providers and the health-care system overall.
On March 25, I had the opportunity to address several-hundred participants from across the country in a webinar titled “It’s Time for Trusting Relationships.” I was one of four speakers representing LGBT health centers and advocacy organizations that have led the way in terms of building clinical programs and best practices that address the needs of our diverse populations, such as transgender individuals, racial and ethnic LGBT minorities, gay and bisexual men at increased risk for HIV and LBTQ women.
The purpose of the webinar was to provide recommendations and insights for other health centers and medical providers on how to build trustful relationships with LGBT clients. It all ties back to the larger mission of the Coalition, and the goal of promoting greater cultural competency in our health-care system.
For my part, I shared some of our experiences at Mazzoni Center Family and Community Medicine over many years, as we’ve worked to address the gaps that existed in our own provision of services to transgender-identified individuals. We’ve built a successful and growing program that now provides comprehensive primary care to more than 2,000 trans* identified patients. We know the need for culturally appropriate care and services is out there: From 2011-14, we saw a greater-than-600-percent increase in intakes for people interested in starting hormone therapy.
It all starts with awareness, and with an honest appraisal of those areas that we as providers need to improve. Building trust means listening to your patients and the people within your communities. It starts with the very first interaction someone has when they walk into your offices, before they even meet their provider — is the space welcoming, are the staff respectful and friendly, does the person feel acknowledged for who they are and what they need that day?
Maintaining that kind of relationship with patients is an ongoing process and requires consistent evaluation and improvement of the way your practice or organization works.
I am thrilled to be involved in this important conversation, and to help advance the knowledge and cultural competency of providers across the country. I am proud of the work we’ve done here in Philadelphia, building Mazzoni Center’s practice from a small, community-based clinic to a thriving, full-fledged primary-care practice that serves an extremely diverse patient population, and has become a recognized leader in providing culturally competent, patient-centered care for LGBT individuals.
And I encourage everyone in our communities to show support and bring awareness to LGBT health via social media, using the hashtags #TIMETOGETHER, #TIME4TRUST, #TIME4TRANSPARENCY, #TIME4LGBTTRUTH and #LGBTHealthWeek. To learn more about the events of this week and download materials and graphics to share, visit www.HealthLGBT.org and www.MazzoniCenter.org.