Human Rights Campaign Foundation Recognizes 24 UPMC Hospitals for LGBTQ Patient Care
By: Taylor Andres
Twenty-four UPMC hospitals have been recognized for their LGBTQ patient care policies and practices by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation— the country’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization. Of these, 15 hospitals have been designated as “Leaders in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality,” and nine have been recognized as “Top Performers.”
The results were released today in the 2022 Healthcare Equality Index (HEI)— an annual survey that scores hospitals on policies and practices dedicated to the equitable treatment and inclusion of LGBTQ patients, visitors and employees.
Criteria for the 2022 HEI reflect non-discrimination and staff training, patient services and support, employee benefits and policies and patient and community engagement.
“Since UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital was first designated as a Leader by the HRC in 2014, followed by UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in 2015, UPMC continues to show our commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community,” said Joy Gero, Psy.D., director of Population Health & Improvement and program manager of LGBTQIA+ Health at the UPMC Wolff Center. “This past year, UPMC put an emphasis on training clinical and non-clinical staff about affirming and compassionate ways to care for this community, with over 10 thousand hours of training completed. We still have work to do, and I am proud of our efforts and hopeful we will continue to improve looking forward.”
