JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minorities (LGBTQ+) population has long faced substantial amounts of marginalization, discrimination, and healthcare disparities compared to the cisgender, heterosexual population. As the etiology of such disparities is multifaceted, finding concrete solutions for LGBTQ+ healthcare equity is challenging. However, the Internet may offer the space to initiate an effective model.

Objective:

In an effort to make LGBTQ+ public resources and culturally-competent providers transparent, modernize medical education, and promote cultural competency, OutCare Health—a nonprofit 501(c)(3) multidisciplinary, multicenter online platform—was created.

Methods:

The organization employs a cyclic, multidimensional framework to conduct needs assessments, identify resources and providers, promote these efforts on the website, and educate the next generation of providers. LGBTQ+ public health services are identified via online, email, and word-of-mouth and added to the Public Resource Database; culturally-competent providers are recruited to the OutList directory via listservs, medical institutions, local organizations, and word-of-mouth; and mentors are invited to the Mentorship Program by emailing OutList providers. These efforts are replicated across nearly 30 states in the United States.

Results:

The organization has identified over 500 public health organizations across all states, recognized more than 2000 OutList providers across all states and 50 specialties, distributed hundreds of thousands of educational materials, received over 10000 monthly website visits (with 82.8% unique viewership), and formed nearly 30 state-specific teams. The total number of OutList providers and monthly website views have doubled every 12-18 months. Majority of OutList providers are trained in primary, first point-of-care specialties such as family medicine, infectious disease, internal medicine, mental health, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics.

Conclusions:

An online LGBTQ+ platform is a feasible, effective model to identify public health resources, culturally-competent providers, and mentors as well as provide cultural competency educational materials and education across the country. Such a platform also has the opportunity to reach self-perpetuating sustainability. The cyclic, multidisciplinary, multidimensional, multicenter framework presented here appears to be pivotal in achieving such growth and stability. Other equality organizations and medical institutions should heavily consider utilizing this framework to reach their own communities with high-quality, culturally-competent care for the LGBTQ+ population.