The American Health Information Management Association released a set of health information management best practices for physicians providing care to patients in the LGBT community.
One of AHIMA's primary guidelines includes using EHRs to collect patient information related to preferred names and pronouns, which can be helpful when providing care for transgender patients. The organization suggests designing a patient header with preferred name and pronoun, followed by discrete fields for "gender identity," "sexual orientation," "sexual partners," "sex assigned at birth" and "organ inventory."
In the guidelines, AHIMA emphasizes how routinely using patients' preferred names and genders can help providers identify the correct health record. If providers and registrars throughout the health system do not use the same name throughout a patient's episode of care, a new patient record could unintentionally be created, fragmenting their health history.
In addition, AHIMA says ensuring patient trust and comfort with providers will lead to better health outcomes.
"It is necessary to create a healthcare environment that is nonjudgmental and welcoming to healthcare consumers with diverse backgrounds," according to a statement from AHIMA. "Patients will be more willing to share their personal information in a welcoming, respectful and confidential environment. As patients become more willing to share their information, healthcare providers will have more information to make better-informed clinical decisions."
Click here to view the full practice brief.