Required Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Reporting by US Health Centers: First-Year Data

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 109; no. 8; pp. 1111 - 1118
• Main Authors: Grasso, Chris, Goldhammer, Hilary, Funk, Danielle, King, Dana, Reisner, Sari L, Mayer, Kenneth H, Keuroghlian, Alex S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Public Health Association 01.08.2019
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; AJPH Surveillance; Bisexuality; Bisexuality - statistics & numerical data; Data analysis; Data collection; Disclosure; Disclosure - statistics & numerical data; Electronic health records; Farmworkers; Female; Gays & lesbians; Gender aspects; Gender Identity; Health; Health care facilities; Health disparities; Health facilities; HIV; Homeless people; Homosexuality; Homosexuality, Female - statistics & numerical data; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Persons; Lesbianism; LGBTQ community; LGBTQ people; Male; Mandatory Reporting; Middle Aged; Missing data; Patients; Polls & surveys; Population; Primary care; Public health; Quality of Care; Secondary analysis; Servers; Sexual and Gender Minorities - statistics & numerical data; Sexual behavior; Sexual Behavior - statistics & numerical data; Sexual orientation; Sexuality; Surveys and Questionnaires; Transgender persons; Transgender Persons - statistics & numerical data; United States; Web portals; United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305130

To assess the performance of US health centers during the first year of required sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data reporting and to estimate the baseline proportion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients accessing health centers. We conducted a secondary analysis of SOGI data from 2016. These data were reported by 1367 US health centers caring for 25 860 296 patients in the United States and territories. SOGI data were missing for 77.1% and 62.8% of patients, respectively. Among patients with data, 3.7% identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or something else; 0.4% identified as transgender male or female; 27.5% did not disclose their sexual orientation; and 9.3% did not disclose their gender identity. Although health centers had a high percentage of missing SOGI data in the first year of reporting, among those with data, the percentages of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people were similar to national estimates, and disclosure was more than 70%. Future data collection efforts would benefit from increased training for health centers and improved messaging on the clinical benefits of SOGI data collection and reporting.