Queer author and researcher Jaime Grant quite clearly remembers the day she got fired by her doctor.Following a 2012 hysterectomy, Grant, then living in Kalamazoo, Michigan, told her physician that she wished to discuss new hormone replacement treatments therapies with her male doctor. She added that she had learned about these therapies from practitioners who had worked with trans people.He abruptly closed her medical file and left the exam room. Grant recalled that his last words were, I cant help you. He had fired Grant as his patient.Queer women on the whole face unique issues in their everyday lives, including how and when they access healthcare. The overt and covert discrimination that queer women like Grant experience makes it more difficult to navigate a healthcare system that was not built for their needs.I had already been involved with womens health advocacy for 25 years at that point in my life so I was accustomed to discussing my heath and healthcare options with my medical providers in the past, said Grant. This should never have happened to me or the many other queer women who have been ignored and dismissed by medical providers over the years.Grant took a key role in efforts to address disparities in medical practices, so queer women get the healthcare they need without the fear of being marginalized and dismissed by healthcare organizations and individual providers. She co-authored theUrvashi Vaid LGBTQ Womens Survey(named after the late LGBTQ+ activist, attorney and author who partnered with Grant to create the survey in 2018), which found that queer women face significant health disparities, mental illness issues and overall barriers to healthcare due to a variety of issues that are specific to that community.The 5000queer women survey respondentscited myriad access and cost issues and anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in medical offices, healthcare facilities and hospitals as the reasons for why they put off or dont obtain medical care.With the surveys release, Grant and co-author Savy Elahian hope that the entire medical field will learn from these results and make the necessary improvements so queer women feel comfortable in healthcare settings. This includes eliminating the sexism, racism, anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry and fatphobia from the institutions that are supposed to take care of all queer womens health.Elahian said, This is powerful data that people need to listen tofrom the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to doctors offices to medical universities.Grant added, We need health spaces that are driven and determined by LGBTQ+ women. We already know what works for us which is community-based solutions, peer-based counseling and support and transformative justices approaches that have been trailblazed by queer BIPOC women. We are saving each other.Rather than culturally competent care, Grant said, queer women must advocate for culturally congruent carecare for queer women as defined by queer women.AnApril 2024 JAMA investigationillustrated the grave consequences of ignoring these needs. The study, which focused on a cohort of nurses living with chronic conditions, found that those who identified as lesbian or bisexual died 26% sooner than straight women. The study further found that lesbian women died 20% sooner and bisexual women died 37% sooner.A March 2021 Williams Institute reportadditionally showed that over half of queer women fear negative judgement by their healthcare provider and that anti-LGBTQ+ bias may impact their care. The report also found that, among other issues, nearly 29% of LBQ women described their health as fair or poor, compared to 19% of straight women.A number of LGBTQ+ focused healthcare facilities in the U.S., among them Boston-basedFenway Healthand Chicago-basedHoward Brown Health(Howard Brown), are trying to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how they address these medical disparities as well as the facilitation of queer womens comprehensive healthcare access.Some queer women dont realize that their health care needs are different from other womens health care needs.Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, M.D., M.P.H Fenway HealthsFenway InstituteCo-Chair Jennifer Potter, MD, said that the institutes focus is on research to help improve outcomes and healthcare policy to change laws and education to teach healthcare professionals to do a better job.Potter spoke about the importance of queer women being their own healthcare advocates because, Your health is important and you can find healthcare that will meet your needsbut it may take a little bit of advocacy on your part.Fenway Institutes National LGBT Health Education Center provides a brochure calledDo Ask, Do Tell: Talking to Your Healthcare Provider About Being LGBT,which has resource links and answers to frequently asked questions. Potter also pointed to GLMAsFind a Provider LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directorywhich is a free, searchable database where patients can find doctors, medical professionals and healthcare providers who are knowledgeable and sensitive to the unique health needs of LGBTQ+ people inthe United StatesandCanada.Fenway Health has hosted the annual Audre Lorde Cancer Awareness Brunch fellowship gathering for over 25 years to raise awareness of cancer diagnoses among the BIPOC and queer women populations, as well as other regular health screenings and events for women.Howard Brown Medical Director of Preventive Health Kenya Thomas, MD, said, When youre uncomfortable with your medical provider, youre far less likely to approach sensitive topics like sexual health or feel like your concerns will be heard before they become severe. In LGBTQ+ women, this can result in issues like undiagnosed chronic illness, untreated STIs, late diagnoses for cervical cancer and much more.Howard Brown joined over 30 LGBTQ+ and multi-racial organizations as a collaborative group to create the Equality Healthcare Cultural Competency Coalition, which pushed for cultural competency training requirements for licensure. That coalition emerged in response toa bill signed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzkerrequiring that cultural competency is part of continuing medical education.According to American Medical Associations (AMA) immediate past President and Medical College of Wisconsin Professor of Anesthesiology Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, M.D., M.P.H (who is gay and the first out LGBTQ+ leader of that organization), The AMA has toolkits for physicians to enhance understanding of the unique health issues of the LGBTQ+ community, including queer women, such as access to reproductive healthcare, mental health support and screenings for conditions like breast and cervical cancer.The AMA also has established aNational LGBTQ+ Fellowship Programthrough its AMA Foundation to train physicians in LGBTQ+ health that has resulted in a network of culturally competent healthcare providers. In 2024, the AMA also created theLGBTQ+ Section,whose work advocates for best-care practices for the LGBTQ+ community that is, among other things, aimed at the improvement of access and health outcomes for queer women. Ehrenfeld noted that, since there is no unified curriculum in medical schools that focuses on queer/trans peoples health needs, the AMA began working with medical schools to ensure that all doctors receive training on LGBTQ+ patients health needs.Ehrenfeld advises that medical providers use intake forms allowing patients to self-identify their sexual orientation, gender identity (and sex assigned at birth), relationship status and the pronouns they use, thereby reducing the potential stigma that queer women and LGBTQ+ people on the whole feel when they access medical care. He added that the questions should be nonjudgemental about patients sexual behavior, contraception use, STI prevention and family planning.Some queer women dont realize that their health care needs are different from other womens health care needs, Ehrenfeld said.A lot of physicians are reluctant to ask about sexual orientationso queer women may not feel like they need to disclose that information or feel uncomfortable disclosing that information. The evidence is clearthe needs of LGBTQ+ individuals are unique. Patients do better when they are able to be honest about who they are and who they love.The post Removing barriers preventing many queer women from healthcare access appeared first on News Is Out.