How to create an inclusive healthcare experience for the LGBTQ community

Healthcare is a universal part of employee benefit offerings. But the experience can be anything but for your queer employees. 

In 2010, 73% of transgender respondents and nearly 29% of bisexual, gay and lesbian respondents believed their identity would cause them to be treated differently in healthcare, according to a survey by Lambda Legal. Nearly a decade later, more than one in six LGBTQ adults still avoided seeking care due to anticipated discrimination, while 16% reported discrimination in healthcare encounters, according to the National Library of Medicine. 

While there is still a significant way to go toward providing inclusive care and experiences for the LGBTQ community, there’s notable progress being made, according to Meghan McManama, vice president of clinical strategy and communication at healthcare provider Premise Health.

“One of the best parts about LGBTQ care right now is that a lot of the large organizations that are doing amazing work and setting the standards are becoming household names,” she says. “The work that has been done for decades to create best practices and standards of care and safe places for the LGBTQ population is spilling over more [into healthcare] than it even was 15 years ago when I started practicing.”

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McManama notes that inclusive practices like asking patients for their pronouns has been a good first step toward inclusivity within the medical community. Additionally, doctors have begun asking for an anatomical inventory — which allows providers to get the necessary medical information about a patient’s body without overstepping their boundaries. 

Being accepting of and normalizing the expression of various gender identities, removing any and all biased language or assumptions surrounding a patient’s appearance and even just hanging up informative posters or slogans that promote being inclusive have all become more commonplace and send a signal that anyone who needs care can get it. 

“It's not a rubber stamp that says you aret this sex so you get these tests and this is how they're interpreted,” McManama says. “It's more fluid.” 

When an LGBTQ individual experiences a care discrepency, it could be due to providers being afraid to ask their LGBTQ patients the right questions, McManama says. That then leads to lapses in care or discrepancies in the way they are treated in the exam room. The first step to bridging the healthcare gap is for providers to educate themselves on how to communicate openly and candidly with patients about their wants and needs.

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“It's getting comfortable and knowing how to talk to members about their sexual orientation, their gender identity information and how that impacts their health and the other components of their life,” McManama says. “[LGBTQ patients] shouldn't have to educate their providers during visits.” 

And it’s not just up to healthcare providers — employers should be doing their part, too. Like cis-gendered employees, LGBTQ employees’ healthcare often relies on their employer and the benefits that are made available. Some of the responsibility to create safe environments for their employees — no matter their sexual identity — will fall on them. 

“It's important for the employer to make sure that they're offering health plans and benefits that can give equitable care to the LGBTQ population,” McManama says. “Make sure that the employees who have access to those benefits know that that is a place where they are going to be respected and be able to bring their full self.”