Creating an LGBTQ-friendly practice (2024)

Physicians who create an environment where all patients feel welcome can better meet their patients' often complex health care needs. Find recommended standards of practice with lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender patients and additional resources to assist making your practice LGBTQ-friendly.

Visual cues that your practice is a safe place

Simple ways to create an inclusive office environment include:

• Display brochures and educational materials about LGBTQ health concerns.
• Visibly post a nondiscrimination statement(PDF).
• Display posters from nonprofit LGBTQ or HIV/AIDS organizations.

Consult theGuidelines of Care for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Patients(PDF), created by the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, for advice on communicating with LGBTQ patients, guidelines for forms and patient-provider discussions and more.

Customize your patient intake forms

Examine the comprehensiveSample New Patient Intake FormthatThe Fenway Instituterecommends for use with LGBTQ patients and see how it compares to what your practice currently uses.

Get advice on making your practice LGBTQ-friendly

Listen to the Journal of Medical Practice Management podcast “Expanding into the Gay and Lesbian Market: What Savvy Medical Practices Know," an informative, half-hour-long discussion with Ellen Kahn, director of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Family Project. Learn concrete steps you can take right away.

Meet the standards of practice in caring for LGBTQ patients. Consult the “Community Standards of Practice for the Provision of Quality Health Care Services to LGBT Clients,” a set of recommendations created by the LGBT Health Access Project, part of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

These guidelines were designed to improve LGBTQ access to quality care and to assist clinicians and their facilities in creating responsive environments.

Find specific guidelines and standards that address the following areas:

• Personnel
• Client’s rights
• Intake and assessment
• Service planning and delivery
• Confidentiality
• Community outreach and health promotion

The GLMA Provider Directory

The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) is the national leader in LGBTQ health issues, and their GLMA Provider Directory is a free-to-the-public listing of LGBTQ-friendly practices in the United States.

Many LGBTQ patients looking for quality care free of discrimination choose their health care provider based on word-of-mouth recommendations and directories of known LGBTQ-friendly physicians.

Search for your practice in this directory—make sure that LGBTQ patients looking for a friendly medical environment find your practice for quality care. If your practice isn’t listed, follow the steps to create a free Provider Directory listing.

The Healthcare Equality Index

This index, created by theHuman Rights Campaign, measures the equity and inclusion of how health care facilities in the United States treat their LGBTQ patients and employees. See how your facility is rated and sign up to participate if your facility is not listed.