The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has named University of Virginia Medical Center as a Top Performer for its equitable treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) patients and team members.
“We work every day to be a welcoming place for all patients to receive care and to be a supportive, respectful work environment for all of our team members,” said Pamela M. Sutton-Wallace, chief executive officer of UVA Medical Center. “As the diversity of our patients increases, it is more important than ever for us to support a diverse workforce to serve all of our patients. Creating a diverse workforce helps bring about excellence in everything that we do as a health system.”
Through its Healthcare Equality Index, the Human Rights Campaign, a national civil rights organization for LGBTQ people, rates hospitals on how well their policies and practices support inclusion of LGBTQ patients, visitors and employees. Hospitals are rated in multiple areas, including:
- non-discrimination and staff training
- patient services and support
- employee benefits and policies
- patient and community engagement
“We have made great strides as an institution, and we will continue working to ensure UVA Medical Center is an inclusive place for all of our patients, visitors and team members,” said Bush Bell, patient experience officer at UVA Medical Center.
UVA offers a Transgender Health Clinic as part of its Teen and Young Adult Health Center in Charlottesville. A monthly UVA clinic for adult transgender patients is now open at UVA Family Medicine and Specialty Care in Crozet, with plans to move the clinic to Charlottesville later this year.
For more information about the 2018 Healthcare Equity Index, visit www.hrc.org/hei.
