An LGBT Victory at America's Hospitals

Nearly all U.S. hospitals are now required to administer health care to LGBT people and their kin, effectively voiding discriminatory state and municipal laws.

The Joint Commission, the accrediting agency behind 80% of the nation’s hospitals, published a report Wednesday that requires the providers it supervises to, among other things, not discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

“The Joint Commission has taken the right position on many of the most important issues related to LGBT health. This is a huge step forward that has the potential to significantly improve the quality of care that LGBT people receive,” said Joel Ginsberg, former Executive Director of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. Ginsburg was a member of a panel that helped the Joint Commission develop the new standards and guidelines.

“The impact may be exponentially larger if we can persuade other parts of the health care sector to follow the Joint Commission’s lead,” Ginsburg said.

The report, called Advancing Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient- and Family-Centered Care: A Roadmap for Hospitals, also mandates the following:

• Hospitals should recognize same-sex partners as the patient’s family, including recognizing same-sex marriages, even if not recognized by the law of the state in which the hospital is located
• Patients may designate same-sex partners as surrogate decisionmakers, including in advance directives
• Hospitals should involve same-sex parents in their children’s care, even those parents who lack legal custody
• Hospitals should not permit a patient’s parents who disapprove of the patient’s same-sex relationship from excluding the patient’s partner against the patient’s wishes
• A patient may designate a same-sex partner as family for visitation and other purposes
• Health care providers should use neutral language when taking sexual histories
• Hospitals should use a transgender patient’s preferred name even if not the legal name
• Hospitals should maintain the confidentiality of information about sexual orientation and gender identity  or expression
• Hospitals should use available research data to understand LGBT community needs
• Intake forms should be inclusive of LGBT patients
• Hospitals should create a welcoming environment for LGBT staff and patients
• LGBT hospital staff should be protected from discrimination

The new report augments President Obama’s April move, where he directed the Department of Health and Human Services to require all hospitals that receive federal Medicare and Medicaid funding to ensure that LGBT patients are able to exercise full visitation and health care decision-making rights.

Photo credit: DaRabbit099 by Alex Davidson