LGBT patients experience unique social determinants of health related to stigma, laws and policies, demographic factors, and barriers to care and have unique health needs that are often not addressed in primary care. Ten community health centers, from nine states, spent one year laying the foundation for culturally responsible, clinically appropriate primary care for their LGBT patients through the use of two improvement strategies: Project ECHO and a Practice Improvement Collaborative.
Together, these strategies encouraged public health and primary care collaboration, supported integrated service delivery models, created communities of practice, and provided clinical knowledge and practice-based improvement strategies to lay the foundation for improved health outcomes for LGBT patients.
In this session, project partners will describe the structure and execution of the initiative; emerging practices for identifying, engaging, and caring for LGBT patients in community health centers; and key challenges and opportunities. A participant health center will describe their experience leveraging care teams, health information technology, organizational leadership, and partnerships to improve the systems supporting the care they provide their LGBT patients.
- - Describe the improvement strategies used in the initiative to improve the care health centers provide LGBT people.
- - Identify common emerging practices that support health centers in identifying and engaging their LGBT patients.
- - Identify common opportunities for improvement that will support health centers in providing culturally responsible, clinically appropriate primary care to their LGBT patients.