Tufts Medical Center was one of 680 health care facilities who participated in the 12th edition of Human Rights Campaign’s Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) survey. After much teamwork throughout our organization, we received a top score of 100 earning us an "LGBTQ Health Care Equality Leader" designation. This survey is a benchmark for health care facilities to evaluate their policies, procedures and physical environment to be inclusive of the LGBTQ community.
This survey assesses participants on four criteria: Non-Discrimination and Staff Training, Patient Services and Support, Employee Benefits and Policies, and Patient and Community Engagement.
In our efforts to meet these criteria, we evaluated our current practices and made enhancements for our patients, families and employees.
For Patients and Families:
For Employees:
- Offer inclusive bereavement leave in the event of the death of an employee’s partner or their immediate family
- Developed written gender transition guidelines documenting supportive policies and practices on issues pertinent to a workplace gender transition
- Held training and Grand Rounds on LGBTQ patient needs from health care providers
- Updated our annual education to include LGBTQ status as confidential patient information
- Updated our Press Ganey employee engagement survey to allow employees to identify as LGBTQ and capture questions on LGBTQ concerns
- Have explicit LGBTQ-inclusive hiring efforts
