What is a comprehensive LGBTQ+ primary care program?
At Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, we are building a comprehensive LGBTQ+ primary care program. Let's talk about what that is.
A comprehensive LGBTQ+ primary care program REQUIRES an interdisciplinary team.
A clinician trained in LGBTQ+ health who sees patients without wraparound navigation or programmatic support is NOT a comprehensive LGBTQ+ primary care program. It may be a starting point.
An annual cultural competence training is NOT a comprehensive LGBTQ+ primary care program.
Putting up a rainbow flag and saying you welcome the LGBTQ+ community is NOT a comprehensive LGBTQ+ primary care program.
Having an LGBTQ+ specific webpage that just lists clinical services like HIV testing that you should be providing routinely anyway is NOT a comprehensive LGBTQ+ primary care program.
A nondiscrimination statement is NOT a comprehensive LGBTQ+ primary care program.
I could go on.
Honestly, I've seen some things claiming to be an LGBTQ+ primary care program that are about as far off the mark as saying you do cardiac surgery because you have a stethoscope.
A comprehensive LGBTQ+ primary care program needs wraparound navigation services. It needs mental health services. It needs well-designed workflows to make sure that patients aren't called by the wrong name or pronoun, not just in the LGBTQ+ clinic, but throughout their experience with the facility. It needs a well-designed quality improvement program. It needs accountability to the TGNC community, in the form of meaningful TGNC leadership or TGNC community advisory oversight. It needs public health expertise to keep track of local epidemiology, best practices in program design, and emerging approaches in the field. It needs interdepartmental collaborations to ensure an appropriate patient experience from scheduling through to billing.
It needs collaboration and resources.
I'm incredibly proud of our team at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center. I'm proud of our dedicated, interdisciplinary LGBTQ+ Health & Wellness Center staff, who make this vision a reality every day. I'm proud of our leadership in understanding that this Center needed both programmatic and clinical leadership to fully realize our vision of health equity. I'm proud of the senior leadership team who has provided support from redesigning workflows and policies to inviting us to train their team, to support with data, budgets, and grant preparation.
We need all of this to make a comprehensive LGBTQ+ primary care program.