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NYC Health + Hospitals Designated “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader” in the 2022 Healthcare Equality Index

18 NYC Health + Hospitals facilities received a perfect score for their policies and practices dedicated to the equitable treatment and inclusion of LGBTQ+ patients, visitors, and employees

The Healthcare Equity Index measures LGBTQ+ policies and protections at healthcare facilities across the nation

Apr 20, 2022

New York, NY

NYC Health + Hospitals today announced that 18 of its patient care facilities across all five boroughs received the “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader” designation from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation for 2022. This is the sixth consecutive year that NYC Health + Hospitals has earned this recognition for its commitment to providing expert, culturally-competent care to LGBTQ+ patients. A record 906 healthcare facilities participated in the 2022 Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) survey. NYC Health + Hospitals was among the fewer than 500 healthcare facilities earning an “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader” designation. The public health care system is at the forefront of ensuring equitable access to high-quality, comprehensive care for LGBTQ+ patients, offering a variety of services through its six Pride Health Centers and one Gender Affirming Integrated Services Practice in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and The Bronx.

“Health care is right not a privilege no matter who you love or what gender you identify as,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “We not only welcome everyone in New York City, and strive to ensure our public health system can meet the health care needs of our fellow New Yorkers. I am proud that NYC Health + Hospitals continues to be a leader in LGBTQ+ health care in New York City.”

“NYC Health + Hospitals is honored to be recognized as a leader in LGBTQ+ healthcare equality. Treating everyone with respect and dignity is the foundation of our success and the impetus for so much of what we do to serve New Yorkers and reduce the inequities in health care,” said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD. “We will continue to carry out our mission of providing expert, culturally-competent care to LGBTQ+ patients.”

“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.”

The HEI measures LGBTQ+ policies and protections at healthcare facilities across the nation. To earn the “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader” designation, facilities must get the highest score in the rated criteria and demonstrate they offer transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits to their employees to receive a top score of 100 points. Over the past several years, NYC Health + Hospitals has made significant investments on its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion to ensure that it remains strongly aligned to its mission, vision and values of providing quality health services to New York City’s diverse residents.

The 15th anniversary edition of the Health Care Equality Index assesses participants on four criteria: Foundational Policies and Training, LGBTQ+ Patient Services and Support, Employee Benefits and Policies, and Patient and Community Engagement. The following NYC Health + Hospitals facilities received perfect scores:

Bronx:

Brooklyn:

Manhattan:

Queens:

Staten Island:

Pride Health Centers
In 2014, NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan became the first public hospital to open a health center dedicated to the needs of LGBTQ+ patients. The system now has six Pride Health Centers and one Gender Affirming Integrated Services Practice in Manhattan, Brooklyn and The Bronx that provide culturally responsive, compassionate, and respectful healthcare services in a welcoming environment that addresses barriers that contribute to health disparities among LGBTQ+ youth and adults. Providers in these centers have undergone extensive training to understand how to provide culturally responsive care for all LGBTQ+ patients and families. The centers offer a wide range of services, HIV treatment and prevention, HIV and STI testing and treatment services, adolescent care, and social work. These centers are located at the following facilities:

  • NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue
    462 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10016
  • NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health, Gouverneur
    227 Madison St., New York, NY 10002
  • NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi
    1400 Pelham Parkway South, Building 8, Suite 1D, Bronx, NY 10461
  • NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health, Judson
    34 Spring St., New York, NY 10012
  • NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan
    1901 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10029
  • NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull
    760 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11206
  • NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, Gender Affirming Integrated Services Practice
    234 East 149th Street, Bronx, NY 10451

 

Gender-Affirming Surgery
NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln and Metropolitan, pioneers in LGBTQ medical and psychosocial care, offer a variety of services for the transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary (TGNCNB) community, including voice coaching and gender-affirming surgeries such as top surgery (augmentation and mastectomy), tracheal cartilage shave, hysterectomy, and oophorectomy.

To help patients, their families, and allies find gender affirming and supportive services across New York City, NYC Health + Hospitals created in 2021 the Transgender Health Care Resource Guide: a guide that seeks to address and reduce the barriers that TGNCNB people experience in accessing affirming health care. It also serves as a directory of services offered at various NYC Health + Hospitals locations and includes extensive community resources, which might be closer or more appropriate for patients.

For more information about LGBTQ health services, visit nychealthandhospitals.org/LGBTQHealth or call 1-844-NYC-4NYC.

Contact: Press Office, 212-788-3339

About NYC Health + Hospitals

NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest public health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 42,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NYCHealthSystem or Twitter at @NYCHealthSystem.

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