As Pride month draws to a close, it’s important to remember that there are still significant differences in the health of members of the LGBTQ community compared to the general U.S. population Research Nearly one in six LGBTQ Americans avoid or delay medical care because of discrimination, and about 30 percent find it difficult to get medical care due to cost.
A major health disparity among the LGBTQ community is a lack of preventive health knowledge, according to a new study. Report Co-authored by a health tech company Fresia and healthcare communications agencies Click HealthThe report found that 45% of LGBTQ patients received preventive health reminders from their doctor’s office, compared to 64% of the general population.
The survey, conducted in January, was completed by 520 health care facility members at the point of care. LGBTQ community. It shows varying degrees of familiarity with different types of preventive services. For example, awareness of HIV and mental health screening in the LGBTQ community is higher than in the general population. However, awareness of other important preventive health checks, such as blood pressure and cholesterol checks, is higher among the general population.
“These contrasts can be explained by years of tailored interventions targeting LGBTQ people with measurable population-level impacts,” said Thea Briggs, Phreesia associate director of content strategy. “They may also suggest that public service announcements and other advocacy efforts on preventive health programs such as cardiovascular health are less effective for LGBTQ patients.”
The report also found that 42% of LGBTQ patients were “not at all confident” that they knew which cancer screenings they should have. Among non-cisgender respondents, that percentage rose to 54. Health care providers can address this problem by stepping up efforts to ensure all patients know when they are due or expired for recommended preventive care, Briggs said.
She also advised healthcare providers to be transparent about the costs associated with preventive care, as many respondents admitted they did not understand which preventive care services were covered by their insurance. Only 28% of LGBTQ patients said their insurance fully covered preventive care, compared to 48% of the general population.
Increasing the participation of the LGBTQ community in preventive health will require targeted campaigns by the healthcare industry. To build these effectively, the industry must better understand the health of LGBTQ Americans. Gaining this understanding means that more LGBTQ people must be included in research, such as clinical trials and population health studies.
“We still have a long way to go in understanding how the health of different subgroups within the larger LGBTQ community and how factors such as race and socioeconomic status intersect with sexual orientation and gender identity,” Briggs noted.
Briggs also recommends that healthcare providers sponsor continuing education programs to train their clinicians so they are ready to provide inclusive care to LGBTQ patients. Because inclusive nursing training programs educate clinicians about the unique needs of a particular community, clinicians often learn how to address differences in care that they may not even be aware of prior to the program.
An example of an inclusive care initiative came on Wednesday, when health level Announce its partnership and OutCare HealthThe partnership allows patients looking for providers on the Healthgrades platform to find clinicians who are culturally competent in LGBTQ community care. These efforts should continue, Briggs said, because they can help LGTBQ people feel more comfortable in medical settings and thus feel more confident getting the care they need.
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