LGBTQ+ people often face worse health outcomes than others. A new study aimed to look at the role that hospitals have to play in fostering an inclusive environment for sexual and gender minority patients. It looked at adult and children’s hospital websites for information they do or do not share to inform this marginalized group.
The study, recently published in JAMA, looked at the sites of 300 adult hospitals and 46 pediatric hospitals. It found that while more than three-quarters of adult hospitals explicitly included LGBTQ+ people in their nondiscrimination policies, as required by the Affordable Care Act, only a quarter had an inclusive clinician directory and provided resources or information about LGBTQ-specific services.
The findings are “very concerning,” Sahil Sandhu, a fourth-year medical student and first author on the study, told Stat.
One positive result was that pediatric hospitals were found to be more likely to display relevant information. Like adult hospitals, more than three-quarters had nondiscrimination policies, more than half posted resources, a third had an inclusive directory and nearly two-thirds reported specific services.
Larger hospitals, for-profit hospitals and hospitals with webpages within a broader health system website were also more likely to display LGBTQ+ information. These hospitals have more resources to compile this content, the study said, and build websites offering advanced features. Resources included tips, explanatory articles or links to national or local organizations for LGBTQ+ people. Hospitals in states with more anti-LGTBQ+ policies, as defined by the Movement Advancement Project, as well as Catholic-affiliated hospitals, were less likely to provide this information online, the study found.
Psychiatrist and associate professor at Harvard Medical School Alex Keuroghlian, M.D., who worked on the JAMA study, told Stat that explicit threats are a real concern. Even in a state like Massachusetts that protects gender-affirming care, they said, a program they direct on psychiatry gender identity at Massachusetts General Hospital became a lot more cautious about sharing information online after threats began in 2022.
“It stands to reason that any efforts to continue to provide this care or to advertise this care, will encounter more adverse repercussions, hostility, and even legal consequences,” Keuroghlian told Stat. “The threat is very real.”