Earning a LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader designation from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the education arm of America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for the LGBTQ+ community, is a big deal.
But doing it five times? That’s really something to be proud of—and it’s exactly what we’ve achieved at Temple Health.
Our Health System scored a 100/100 on the HRC’s Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) survey: a national LGBTQ+ benchmarking tool that evaluates healthcare facilities’ policies and practices related to the equity and inclusion of their LGBTQ+ patients, visitors, and employees.
“Equality is at the heart of our mission at Temple Health, so we take great pride in earning the LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader designation,” says Abhi Rastogi, MBA, MIS, President and CEO of Temple University Hospital and Executive Vice President of Temple Health. “We’re committed to welcoming LGBTQ+ patients, employees, and visitors, and to treating the LGBTQ+ community with kindness, compassion, empathy, and sensitivity.”
Expanding Gender-Affirming Care, Making Inclusive Providers Accessible
For Dexter Rose, LSW, and Robert Bettiker, MD, FACP, MGA, who have been instrumental in making our Health System a more inclusive space for LGBTQ+ patients, earning the Healthcare Equality Leader designation and evaluating our results from the HEI survey is an opportunity for Temple Health to identify where we’re excelling and see where we can do even better.
“Our Gender-Affirming Surgery Program has really grown, and we have patients coming from all over the city, the state, and the region to see us,” says Rose, who is a Social Worker as well as the Gender-Affirming Surgery Program’s Manager. “Many of our patients find out about us through word of-mouth: they hear about us through other patients’ positive experiences, which can build a sense of trust. Our team does a wonderful job of supporting patients, helping them feel comfortable and safe. Patients come in for surgery, and then we’re able to connect them with other specialties in the Health System, like OB/GYN, Endocrinology, and Primary Care. We even work with Temple University Beasley School of Law students, who have a name change clinic for transgender patients.” (For more information, please see the Gender-Affirming Resource Library.)
Another important step forward was creating a list of LGBTQ+-affirming Temple Health providers, which patients can search when they’re seeking care. This project was spearheaded by the Temple Health LGBTQ Alliance Task Force, which is led by Dr. Bettiker, Brenda J. Horowitz, MD, Professor of Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine (LKSOM), and Jennifer L. Aldrich, MD, Professor of Medicine at LKSOM.
“To be on the LGBTQ+-affirming providers list, you have to have completed training on LGBTQ+ issues, signed a pledge, and provided us with a statement on why you’d like to be considered an affirming provider,” says Dr. Bettiker, who is a Professor of Medicine at LSKOM. “While that training can be on any LGBTQ+-related topic, I think it’s especially important that our providers learn something about social determinants of health, so they can be educated on what kinds of stressors LGBTQ+ people face in their daily lives.”
Creating Resources for Patients, Employees, and Our Community
Our teams have also done an excellent job expanding available resources for LGBTQ+ patients and community members, and making it easier for patients to have their preferred name and pronouns recorded in our MyChart and Epic medical records software.
“Patients can go into MyChart and record their sexual orientation, preferred pronouns, and chosen name, and that information will show up in Epic for providers and staff to see,” Dr. Bettiker explains.
Rose and their team have also created a Gender-Affirming Resource Library on the Temple Health website, which contains educational resources to help support trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse individuals and give their support networks access to the information and care they need, and is available to patients and the general public as well as Temple Health employees.
“With the help of Stefanie Murphy, AVP of Corporate Marketing, and Veronica Montefusco, MBA, Senior Marketing Manager, we’ve been able to create a postcard that has a QR code which links to the library, and that we hand out at LGBTQ+ community events,” Rose says. “I’ve heard from many people at different health systems that they’ve used the library, and that it’s become a real community resource.”
Rose also encourages all Temple Health employees to check out the comprehensive LGBTQ+ education trainings available in HealthStream, as well as the over 200 online and on-demand CME-accredited LGBTQ+ training options available for free through the National LGBTQIA+ Health Center. “These are easily accessible ways for everyone to expand their knowledge and better support our patients,” Rose explains.
Continuing to Lead in Healthcare Equality
Both Rose and Dr. Bettiker want to build on the progress our teams have already made to make Temple Health an even more affirming space for our LGBTQ+ patients.
“Even though all patients have the option to edit their pronouns in MyChart, only patients who are accessing LGBTQ+ healthcare are asked for their pronouns during initial patient registration,” Rose says. “I would love to see us ask all patients their pronouns during registration, because I think it presents an opportunity for patient education. I also think it would help to normalize asking for pronouns, which would be a great way to support all of our patients.”
“I would also like to see more Temple team members listing themselves as LGBTQ+-affirming providers,” they continue. “One way to make that happen would be building the training into our onboarding process. You wouldn’t have to sign up for it if you didn’t want to, but if you were interested in that option, it would be easy to find.”
Dr. Bettiker agrees. “We need even more people who are trained, or have a very strong interest, in LGBTQ+ health,” he says. “We’re especially focused on Primary Care, as well as Pediatrics and Internal Medicine.”
These efforts will continue to position Temple as a nationwide leader in LGBTQ+ healthcare, and make us even better equipped to provide the kind of compassionate and inclusive care our LGBTQ+ patients deserve.