Tampa Bay’s Overheard: The doctor will see you now

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has just named four hospitals in the Tampa Bay Area as Leaders in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality, obtaining perfect scores on an index evaluating their commitment to policies and practices that are inclusive for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer patients, visitors and employees.

St. Petersburg General Hospital, Moffitt Cancer Center, VA Bay Pines Healthcare System and VA James A. Haley Veterans Hospital were the four that were named.

According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, The HRC Foundation, the educational arm of the civil rights organization, said 590 facilities participated in the 2017 survey. It was the first time the index awarded numerical scores, numbers based on implementation of LGBTQ-inclusive policies and procedures in four areas: patient-centered care, patient services and support, employee benefits and policies, and patient and community engagement.

There were 10 Florida hospitals in total that made perfect scores on the index. The other six were Florida Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Care Resource, University of Miami Hospital and VA Miami Healthcare System in Miami, VA Orlando Medical Center and Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston.

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