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Healthcare Equality Index: Equal Visitation

The Core Four criteria of HRC’s national Healthcare Equality Index represent policies and practices that are considered foundational to LGBT patient-centered care. For this reason, each HEI participant that meets the Core Four criteria is awarded the designation “Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality.”

To meet the second of the Core Four criteria, inpatient healthcare organizations must implement and document a visitation policy that:

  • Explicitly guarantees equal visitation to LGBT patients and their visitors AND
  • Is communicated to patients and employees

This HEI criterion reflects updated CMS Conditions of Participation, Joint Commission standards, and recommendations in The Joint Commission LGBT Field Guide, as explained below.

Explicitly Protecting the Visitation Rights of LGBT Patients & Visitors

When inpatient healthcare organizations explicitly guarantee equal visitation to LGBT patients and their visitors, they offer welcome assurance to patients and clear guidance to employees. Approaches to offering this critical guarantee include:

  • Prohibiting discrimination in visitation based on sexual orientation or gender identity, either explicitly within the visitation policy or by explicit reference to an explicitly LGBT-inclusive patient non-discrimination policy
  • Including (or make direct reference to) an explicitly LGBT-inclusive definition of “family”
  • Making an explicit reference to equal visitation for same-sex couples and same-sex parents

As noted above, both CMS Conditions of Participation and Joint Commission standards [PDF] call for equal visitation for LGBT patients and their visitors. Revisiting Your Hospital’s Visitation Policy, a joint publication from HRC and the American Health Lawyers Association, details the CMS and Joint Commission requirements and provides a wealth of other background information, as does the Joint Commission LGBT Field Guide. In addition, as noted below, some state laws guarantee equal LGBT visitation.

Informing Patients & Employees of Policy

As recommended by The Joint Commission LGBT Field Guide, the second of the HEI Core Four criteria calls on healthcare organizations with equal visitation policies to communicate those policies to their employees and patients. This practice provides useful guidance to employees and welcome assurance to patients.

HEI participants are asked to communicate their equal visitation policy in least two of the following ways:

  • Posted on facility website
  • In materials routinely given to patients at admitting/registration
  • In materials routinely given to patients at other time(s)
  • In materials routinely available for take-away in patient waiting areas
  • Posted in patient waiting area(s)
  • Posted in employee work area(s)
  • In materials routinely given to employees at orientation