Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center Named a Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality

CHICAGO — Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center has been designated a “Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality” by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC), the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization.

The designation was reported in the 10th edition of the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), which analyzed survey results of 590 healthcare organizations and the quality of LGBTQ-inclusive policies at more than 900 other healthcare facilities. Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, which has received the “Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality” designation every year since its inception in 2011, is one of only 302 hospitals in the country that earned the top honor this year.

“We are extremely proud to receive this designation, which demonstrates Illinois Masonic’s longstanding commitment of service to our LGBTQ community,” said Susan Nordstrom Lopez, President of Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. “The HRC’s much more stringent analysis in this year’s HEI means we have met the highest standards in safe and high-quality LGBTQ care, support and advocacy.”

The 10th edition of the HEI implements new criteria that raise the bar on what it takes to earn HRC’s “Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality” designation. For the first time ever, HEI participants are given scores in four criteria, including the quality and depth of LGBTQ health services, employee benefits and policies and community engagement. The coveted “Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality” status is reserved for organizations, like Advocate Illinois Masonic, that achieve perfect scores in each category.

A longtime advocate for the LGBTQ community, Advocate Illinois Masonic was one of the first hospitals in Chicago to establish a multidisciplinary approach to HIV and AIDS treatment, culminating in one of the first dedicated AIDS care units in the country. Advocate Illinois Masonic is also a longtime supporter of the Pride Parade and a frequent partner of local nonprofit organizations that work to enable equal access to quality and compassionate care to LGBTQ patients.

Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center is a 397-bed non-profit teaching hospital located in the Lake View neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side. The medical center has a Level I Trauma Center and a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the highest designations awarded by the state of Illinois, and offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care, including cardiovascular, oncology, digestive health and neurosciences services. A recipient of numerous awards for quality and clinical excellence, Advocate Illinois Masonic has achieved Magnet designation for excellence in nursing services from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. The medical center has also been named a Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality by the Human Rights Campaign’s Healthcare Equality Index. Advocate Illinois Masonic is part of Advocate Health Care, the largest fully integrated health system in Illinois. For more information, visit www.advocatehealth.com/masonic.