Brigham and Women’s/Faulkner Hospitals Highlighted in Healthcare Equality Index 2009

USA (SANEPR.com) June 26, 2009 -- Brigham and Women’s/Faulkner Hospitals (BW/F) proudly announce that they have been named top performers in the Healthcare Equality Index 2009. The HEI is an annual survey administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. BW/F earned top marks for its treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients and employees. BW/F are two of only ten hospitals to earn a complete score on all survey dimensions among the 166 participating hospitals and clinics.

"We at Brigham and Women's and Faulkner Hospitals in Boston are thrilled to have participated in the HEI survey in 2009, and we vigorously embrace the commitment to inclusion and diversity in healthcare that it embodies," said Dr. Michael Gustafson, Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s senior vice president for Clinical Excellence. "And while we are proud of our perfect HEI score, we are equally gratified that the process of self-assessment has stimulated significant new quality improvement activity to further bolster our care policies and practices for both LGBT patients and our LGBT staff."

The HEI focuses on key policies and practices that ensure culturally competent healthcare for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients and families. These policies address patient non-discrimination, visitation rights, decision-making practices, and employee benefits and non-discrimination.

BW/F’s efforts in ensuring healthcare equality for the LGBT community earned it the distinction of being among the 10 participants to answer “yes” to each of the survey’s main criterion which applied to them.

For more information on the Healthcare Equality Index 2009, or to download a free copy of the report, visit www.hrc.org/hei.

About Brigham and Women's Hospital:-
Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 777-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare, an integrated health care delivery network. In July of 2008, the hospital opened the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, the most advanced center of its kind. BWH is committed to excellence in patient care with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery. The BWH medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives and its dedication to educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving more than 860 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by more than $416 M in funding. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information about BWH, please visit www.brighamandwomens.org

About Faulkner Hospital:-
Faulkner Hospital, founded in 1900, is a 150 bed non-profit, community teaching hospital located in Jamaica Plain, MA. In 1998, Faulkner Hospital, highly regarded as one of the region's most respected community teaching hospitals, joined with Brigham and Women's Hospital, one of the country's leading academic medical centers, to form a common parent company. Faulkner has a long history of meeting the health care needs of the residents of southwest Boston and surrounding suburbs and offers comprehensive medical, surgical and psychiatric care as well as complete emergency, ambulatory and diagnostic services. The hospital also serves as a site for training several hundred health care professionals, annually, in the areas of nursing, nutrition, pharmacy, social work, psychiatry, rehabilitation therapies, addiction recovery and more. Faulkner is dedicated to improving the health and well being of residents of the community and serves over 60,000 men, women, children and elderly each year through a wide variety of preventive health education, free health screenings, school partnerships and community outreach. More information at www.faulknerhospital.org