November 08, 2011
New Resource for Hospitals on Welcoming LGBT Patients and Families
The following post comes from HRC Family Project Manager Alison Delpercio:

http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/new-resource-for-hospitals-on-welcoming-lgbt-patients-and-families

Today The Joint Commission, the nation's largest healthcare accreditation organization, released a new guide for hospitals outlining best practices and resources for welcoming LGBT patients and their families. The release of this field guide follows the implementation of The Joint Commission's new LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination standards (PDF) which went into effect in July of this year.

This is huge. Why? Well, The Joint Commission is responsible for accrediting more than 19,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States. This guide and the new standards send a message to hospitals that LGBT patients should be included in their efforts to provide the highest quality care possible to all. (You may recall that the Department of Health and Human Services has sent a similar message to hospitals, specifically when it comes to visitation rights of LGBT patients. We blogged a few weeks ago about Secretary Sebelius herself making this message loud and clear.)

Now its set in stone...if JHACO (now officially the "Joint Commission) sez it, ya gotta do it!

I have not yet worked in a Hospital that didn't expect its staff to do any less. I have had Managers, Directors and Administrators that were Gay and Lesbian, and even several Trans co-workers. Nothing less was acceptable.