{"id":39295,"date":"2024-09-04T11:09:10","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T15:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/?page_id=39295"},"modified":"2025-09-29T11:37:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T15:37:55","slug":"empowering-health-care-organizations-to-improve-care-for-lgbtq-populations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/empowering-health-care-organizations-to-improve-care-for-lgbtq-populations\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering Health Care Organizations to Improve Care for LGBTQ+ Populations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column grid-item-1 is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:80%\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>HIPAA Protections for Responsible SOGI Data Stewardship<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>LGBTQ+ individuals, like all people, deserve comprehensive, accessible, high-quality health care delivered by practitioners and providers they can trust. Accurate and trustworthy SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identify) data\u2014along with other demographic data such as race, ethnicity and primary language\u2014is the cornerstone of efforts to innovate and improve care delivery, identify and overcome barriers to equity, train service providers, evaluate the effectiveness of interventions and participate in research that improves both population health and individual patient outcomes.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This issue brief discusses long-standing protections for patient or member data, including SOGI data, provided by HIPAA and a 2024 final rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services clarifying health care and health insurance nondiscrimination protections. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading mb-1\">The issue brief covers:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The regulations outlined in the 2024 final rule from HHS.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Why understanding these regulations is important for health care organizations.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How health care organizations can act to better serve the LGBTQ+ community.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Resources to further understanding of the new rule and other relevant legislation.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.ncqa.org\/www-prod\/NCQA-Whitman-Walker-SOGI-Issue-Brief-Final.pdf\" class=\"btn  btn--blue \" target=\"_blank\">Download the Issue Brief<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"mt-2\">This issue brief was jointly developed by NCQA and Whitman-Walker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"81\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.ncqa.org\/www-prod\/Whitman-Walker-Logo-400x81.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-39298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Whitman-Walker-Logo-400x81.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Whitman-Walker-Logo-1540x313.jpg 1540w, https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Whitman-Walker-Logo-768x156.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Whitman-Walker-Logo-1536x312.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Whitman-Walker-Logo.jpg 1871w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column grid-item-2 is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HIPAA Protections for Responsible SOGI Data Stewardship LGBTQ+ individuals, like all people, deserve comprehensive, accessible, high-quality health care delivered by practitioners and providers they can trust. Accurate and trustworthy SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identify) data\u2014along with other demographic data such as race, ethnicity and primary language\u2014is the cornerstone of efforts to innovate and improve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":39300,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-marketing-landing-columns.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-39295","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Empowering Health Care Organizations to Improve Care for LGBTQ+ Populations - NCQA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"LGBTQ+ individuals, like all people, deserve comprehensive, accessible, high-quality health care delivered by practitioners and providers they can trust.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/empowering-health-care-organizations-to-improve-care-for-lgbtq-populations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Empowering Health Care Organizations to Improve Care for LGBTQ+ Populations - 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