While PrEP is highly effective at preventing HIV infection and has been available for more than 10 years, many people who might benefit from taking it have not received a prescription. Through focus groups with health centers across the United States, The Fenway Institute and the Bureau of Primary Health Care identified barriers and facilitators to PrEP use. A lack of provider knowledge about PrEP, discomfort discussing sexual behavior, patients’ negative perceptions of PrEP, financial and staffing limitations, medical mistrust, and low health literacy all impeded PrEP access. However, focus group participants also identified multiple strategies to ease PrEP use, including provider training and resources, visit templates that include sexual history questions, patient outreach and education through trusted community members, and use of telemedicine.
Learning Resources — Publications in Organizational Change
Creating Welcoming and Affirming Clinical Studies for LGBTQIA+ Participants Toolkit
This toolkit focuses on the implementation stage of training sites to successfully engage and retain LGBTQIA+ participants. Within the toolkit, you will find information on foundational LGBTQIA+ concepts and terminology, best practices for affirming transgender and gender diverse participants, and recommendations for collecting SOGI data as part of participant demographics. By learning these competencies, all study staff can become skilled and confident in supporting the dignity of LGBTQIA+ participants, and ultimately, can contribute to improving health equity for LGBTQIA+ communities.
Affirming Organizational and Human Resource Policies for an LGBTQIA+ Workforce
Building a space of equity and inclusion for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual and all sexual and gender minority (LGBTQIA+) people in health care is a critical step to address health disparities faced by these communities. However, the process of building inclusive spaces is one that takes significant time, analysis, and investment at every level of leadership. This guide presents strategies and considerations in driving organizational change for LGBTQIA+ inclusion and equity in health care.
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- Organizational Change
Ten Strategies for Creating Inclusive Health Care Environments for LGBTQIA+ People (2021)
Creating welcoming, inclusive, and affirming health care environments is critical for increasing access to care for LGBTQIA+ people. This guide presents ten strategies every health care organization can do to become more affirming and welcoming for LGBTQIA+ patients and staff and sets a foundation for comprehensive organizational change.
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- Organizational Change
Affirmative Services for Transgender and Gender Diverse People – Best Practices for Frontline Health Care Staff
This publication provides best practices and guidance for frontline healthcare staff on how to best serve transgender and gender diverse patients. Topics covered include gender affirming language, asking about sexual orientation and gender identity data, asking for name and pronouns used, and more. The publication features a quick-reference sheet that can be removed and posted in a workspace.
Recruiting, Training, and Retaining LGBTQ-Proficient Clinical Providers: A Workforce Development Toolkit
As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people increasingly access care at health centers, the clinical workforce needs to be prepared to meet the unique health needs of LGBTQ patients. Finding LGBTQ-proficient providers, however, can present a challenge, especially outside major metropolitan areas.
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- Organizational Change
Creating a Transgender Health Program at Your Health Center
In this guide, we provide a framework for building a health program for transgender and gender diverse patients at your health center. There is no "one size fits all" approach to this work, but there are certain building blocks from which to create your own program that supports the gender diverse people in your community.
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- Organizational Change
- Transgender Health
Fact Sheet: Transgender Health and Medical-Legal Partnerships
This fact sheet describes common social and legal needs that affect the health of transgender individuals, and ways integrated legal services can help meet those needs. It examines medical-legal partnership programs at three health care organizations and how they operate, and it shares stories of people benefiting from medical-legal partnership services.
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- Organizational Change
- Transgender Health
LGBT Health Readiness Assessments in Health Centers: Key Findings
The National LGBT Health Education Center started conducting direct training and technical assistance with Federally Qualified Health Centers in 2014. This service was made possible by the expansion of our National Cooperative Agreement with the Health Resources and Services Administration to include technical assistance work. Since 2014, seventeen health centers in six states (Connecticut, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, and Texas) have participated in the assessment process.
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- Organizational Change
Focus on Forms and Policy: Creating an Inclusive Environment for LGBT Patients
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people come from all walks of life and experience many of the same health problems as non-LGBT people. This means that every organizational policy and procedure may impact the experience of LGBT people. To create an LGBT-affirming and inclusive environment, it is important to examine policies and procedures. This publication reviews some common updates to organizational forms and polices to create an affirming and inclusive environment for LGBT patients, and reviews strategies to modify procedures, behavior, and language to be inclusive of all patients.
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- Organizational Change
