Mount Auburn Hospital Earns ‘LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader’ Designation From Human Rights Campaign Foundation
Cambridge, Mass. – Mount Auburn Hospital (MAH) has been recognized as an “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader” by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the sixth time the hospital has achieved the honor. The LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality designation recognizes healthcare facilities for promoting equitable and inclusive care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer patients and their families.
“At Mount Auburn Hospital, we take great pride in our dedication and commitment to patient-centered care for all, including members of the LGBTQ+ community,” said Chad Wable, president of MAH. “We are honored for the recognition of the Human Rights Campaign for our efforts to provide equitable healthcare through our inclusion and belonging policies for LGBTQ+ patients, visitors and employees, and by ensuring equal visitation for same-sex partners and parents as well as by providing our staff with LGBTQ+ health education.”
The Health Equality Index is an annual survey conducted by the HRC Foundation, the educational arm of America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for LGBTQ+ people. The survey scores healthcare facilities on policies and practices dedicated to the equitable treatment and inclusion of their LGBTQ+ patients, visitors and employees. To be named a LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader, HEI participants are scored in four criteria: foundational elements of LGBTQ+ patient-centered care, LGBTQ+ Patient Services and Support, Employee Benefits and Policies, and LGBTQ+ Patient and Community Engagement.
“Every person deserves to have access to quality healthcare, be respected and heard by their doctor, and feel safe in the facility where they are receiving care. But LGBTQ+ people are often subject to discrimination in all spaces, including healthcare facilities, which leads to members of the community avoiding care and anticipating our voices will not be respected in an incredibly vulnerable environment,” said Tari Hanneman, Director of Health & Aging at The Human Rights Campaign. “The Healthcare Equality Index, at its core, strives to ensure LGBTQ+ people are protected and affirmed by their healthcare providers and feel safe seeking services. Our HEI active participants are truly pioneering the healthcare industry by implementing robust, comprehensive LGBTQ+ inclusive policies that hopefully, because of their work, will become standard practice.”
About Mount Auburn Hospital
Mount Auburn Hospital was founded in 1886. A teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, its mission is to provide clinically excellent care with compassion and to teach students of medicine and the health professions.
Mount Auburn Hospital is a part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a healthcare system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,700 physicians and 39,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.
