Rush Named Leader in Healthcare Equality Index For Fourth Consecutive Year

Rush University Medical Center has been named a Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality in the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) report, an annual survey of U.S. hospitals regarding treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients and their families and hospital employees.

Rush is one of only five hospitals in the nation that the survey has ranked as a leader for four or more consecutive years, and one of only three in Illinois that met all of the survey’s main criterion this year. The survey’s 122 respondents represented 407 health care facilities nationwide.

The HEI survey is administered annually by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the country’s largest LGBT civil rights organization. The survey evaluated hospitals on the basis of four key policy areas: visitation policies, cultural competency training and patient and employment non-discrimination policies.

“Rush is proud to have been among the earliest Leaders in Healthcare Equality and to have maintained that leadership since 2009,” says Rush CEO Larry Goodman, MD. “It reflects our overall commitment to fostering a culture of respect, inclusion and equal treatment for patients, visitors and employees from all the diverse groups that make up our Rush community.”

“Being included among the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Leaders in LGBT Healthcare Equality for the fourth consecutive year is an important affirmation of this effort, one we are proud and grateful to receive,” said J. Robert Clapp, Jr., executive vice president, Rush University Medical Center and executive director, Rush University Hospitals.

• Healthcare Equality Index 2012

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