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LGBT Forum Chair
Dan Gentry, PhD
ACHE LGBT Forum Chairman
Clinical Professor and MHA Program Director
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
Greetings Fellow ACHE LGBT Forum Members.
I hope you have had a wonderful summer. I’ve just recently returned from a one-week summer camp I attend each July. It’s a group of approximately 100 members of the medicine, nursing, and health administration academic and professional communities. The formal title is “Health Professions Education Summer Symposium.” It was started 26 years ago by Paul Batalden, MD, professor emeritus of Pediatrics, Community and Family Medicine and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College; and by Don Berwick, MD, president emeritus and senior fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
I’ve been attending since 2009. The locale is amazing—a lodge on Lake Morey, Vt. (think “Dirty Dancing,” but much more informal). Most participants bring their families. The morning consists of learning sessions for participants only; and lunches, afternoon activities, dinners and evening activities include everyone. My husband, Patrick, has accompanied me about every other year, which is the right balance for him in terms of spending a week with a bunch of academics.
Our focus this year was on working across multiple generations (the most ever in the U.S. workforce) to improve quality in healthcare and health professions education. Like every year, the morning multidisciplinary teaching teams were amazing.
I now lead this community, along with wonderful colleagues in medicine from Dartmouth and in nursing from Oregon Health and Science University. In the weeks leading up to our 2019 Summer Camp, we were almost certain about our topic for 2020, but it had not been announced. The Wednesday session at the camp, probably my favorite, focused on diversity, which clinched it for us. Our theme for summer 2020 will be: “How Might We Teach and Lead to Improve Health Equity?” The community is so excited about this topic and our explicit plans to ensure we cover diversity, equity and inclusion.
My nearly 30 years of work in academic medical centers and leading four health administration graduate programs have led me to the firm belief that an emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion is necessary to make timely, significant progress and to access the synergies that occur across the three. I am not only committed to the conceptual strategies but also to “really getting good stuff done” for diversity, equity and inclusion. They are separate, important efforts and goals, but are likely not fully achievable without a comprehensive approach across all three.
I hope that our forum will have an opportunity to explore the trifecta of diversity, equity and inclusion in a webinar later this year, next year or at the annual ACHE Congress on Healthcare Leadership in March 2020.
ACHE LGBT Forum Executive Profile
Amanda S. Tufano
CEO, Genevive
Minneapolis
Q. What inspired you to pursue a career in healthcare administration?
A. When I was an intern at the University of Texas’ student health center, I once listened to the vice president of the center speak and I thought she was incredibly inspiring. I spent a few years looking into the healthcare administration career path and then came to the University of Minnesota for my MHA degree. I have very fond memories of that vice president becoming one of my first mentors in the field.
Q. What have been the hallmarks of your career in healthcare leadership?
A. I’ve enjoyed all of my experiences in healthcare so far, but I have most enjoyed the last couple of years as COO and now CEO of Genevive, a geriatric medical practice and care management organization. I’ve had the privilege of building my team and expanding our reach to Minnesota’s aging population. I absolutely love what I do and the team I serve every day.
Q. Do you believe that being a member of the LGBT community or an LGBT champion affects career advancement for healthcare leaders?
A. I absolutely think being part of the community has an impact on career advancement. I’ve experienced some adversity along the way, but on the flip side, I’ve been fortunate to have mentors and sponsors (both queer and straight) who have thrown their full support behind me. As someone who cannot pass as straight, I decided early on that I would express exactly who I am and find my true authentic leadership style. I believe that regardless of your diversity, if you lean into your differences and find your true self, you will be a better leader and more opportunities will begin to appear. I don’t want to skim over the negative aspects of being out in healthcare, but I have a lot of hope for our future as a healthcare community as we learn to embrace our differences.
Q. What would be your advice to LGBT individuals pursuing careers in healthcare management?
A. I think healthcare is a wonderful career to pursue. It’s challenging, altruistic and full of opportunities. The need for a strong, efficient and fair health system transcends sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sexuality. Unfortunately, the practice of healthcare doesn’t yet break down all of these barriers in all areas of our country. There is still a need for strong and proud individuals to make a difference in healthcare. My advice is the same to everyone thinking about healthcare as a career: Be hungry for more. The opportunities are there.
Q. Why did you decide to join the ACHE LGBT Forum, and what do you feel is the value added by this group?
A. I joined the ACHE LGBT Forum to find a community of leaders like me. I’m interested in promoting and supporting the queer community. I think it’s important that our patient population is reflected in our leadership teams, including all of the beautiful diversity that individuals bring to our teams. I’ve found a wonderful home in the forum, and I hope others continue to join to show our relevance within the healthcare administration community and bring new ideas to the table.
LGBT Forum Organizational Profile
LGBTQ+ Initiatives and Care at University of California Davis Health Q&A with Chao-Yin Chen, PhD, and Edward J. Callahan, PhD
Pictured: University of California Davis Health, Sacramento, Calif.
A. UC Davis Health formally began focusing on improving quality of care for LGBTQ+* patients in 2009 when it formed its Task Force for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the EHR. The group’s founding principle was that unless providers know their patients’ sexual orientation and gender identity, clinicians cannot adequately address or reduce the well-documented health disparities of the LGBTQ+ community.
Initially seen as a short-term technical fix, the task force quickly embraced a larger mission: to establish a truly inclusive care environment for LGBTQ+ patients. That goal required improving healthcare education within the health system by creating and encouraging a safe learning environment for students, staff and faculty. It also meant developing better quality-of-care measures and outcome metrics to evaluate progress and success.
By 2013, UC Davis Health had become the first academic health center in the nation to incorporate sexual orientation and gender identity into its EHR.
Q. How has the organization engaged LGBT patients and/or the local LGBT community?
A. UC Davis Health begins by acknowledging that variability of sexual orientation and gender identity are normal human phenomena, not indices of pathology. Our goal is to change the narrative—to celebrate the normal and healthy diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity. An example of changing that narrative is a rainbow flag sticker that many health system staff and faculty affix to their identification badges. It tells patients and visitors that LGBTQ+ people are supported regardless of the person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The stickers are given to everyone who completes the health system’s LGBTQ+ training.
Q. How has the organization advanced inclusion for healthcare professionals and leaders?
A. As a national leader in LGBTQ+ care and education, we are proud to share our experiences and knowledge with other academic health centers that hope to incorporate sexual orientation and gender identity questions into their own EHR. We found that a key to ensuring success came from educating staff and patients about the importance of having providers ask about sexual orientation and gender identity.
Our original task force for this initiative included faculty, staff, students and patients who identified as either LGBT, heterosexual or not identifying with a binary gender divide. When the sexual orientation and gender identity questions were developed, we sought advice from members of the LGBTQ+ community (patients and caregivers serving LGBTQ+ patients) regarding the terms we planned to use and how best to ask questions.
Those inclusive efforts also were reflected this year when more than 300 health system employees and their families marched in Sacramento’s Gay Pride Parade. Among the participants were members of the leadership team, including our vice chancellor and the interim CEO for UC Davis Medical Center.
Q. How has the organization worked to advance health and clinical outcomes for the LGBT population?
We established an LGBTQ+ Advisory Council in 2014. Among its activities is the annual Improving OUTcomes conference, which educates community and regional healthcare providers. It includes an emphasis on how to become welcoming clinicians for LGBTQ+ patients.
Another major effort is strategically enhancing and coordinating care for transgender patients. It includes training primary care physicians to prescribe and monitor the use of gender-confirming hormones and related care.
UC Davis Health is committed to building its capacity as an excellent and welcoming home for all patients, including gender and sexual minorities. Even with nine consecutive years as a human rights campaign leader in LGBT healthcare, we certainly know that there is still much work to be done.
Chao-Yin Chen, PhD, is chair of the Vice Chancellor’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Council at UC Davis Health, and Edward J. Callahan, PhD, is the council’s founding and past chair.
*LGBTQ+ signifies lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and other groups who identify as sexual and gender minorities. It does not formally identify intersex people because many are heterosexual and/or cisgender. UC Davis Health is committed to improving care for intersex people, from the moment ambiguous genitalia are noted in the delivery room, or at the point of identification of conditions at puberty when some developmental issues are first apparent.
Feature Article
Breaking Down Barriers With Social Identity Mentoring
By Jessica D. Squazzo
Healthcare leaders at all career stages are aware of the priceless benefits and opportunities that mentoring partnerships can provide. Effective mentor-mentee relationships are built on good communication and trust. In underrepresented groups, such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, these relationships can be even more valuable, especially when the individuals within the mentoring partnership share the same social identity.
Social identity mentoring is a relationship between two individuals who share a social identity, such as the same sexual orientation, which can help break down barriers.
Robert S. Chaloner, FACHE, chief administrative officer, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital in New York, has worked as a healthcare executive for more than 35 years and participated in several mentoring partnerships, including serving as mentor to two individuals who share his identity as a gay man.
“What’s interesting to me about social identity mentoring, compared to traditional mentoring partnerships, is that the social identity part of it creates an instant bridge,” he says. “It gives you a shared experience and allows you to start a conversation that moves faster than it would if you didn’t have any other kind of connection other than both being health administrators.”
One of the biggest benefits of social identity mentoring is that it can provide a safe environment that encourages LGBTQ healthcare leaders to feel comfortable expressing their authentic selves at work. Amanda Tufano, CEO of Genevive in Minneapolis, experienced this early in her career as a mentee.
“I was not exactly sure how to express my identity, and I think having someone who shared my social identity—as a soft butch lesbian—gave me unwritten permission to tap into my authenticity without fear,” says Tufano. “It made me fundamentally a better leader, and I don’t know if I would have gotten there as quickly had I not seen someone like me living a successful healthcare administration professional life.”
For Chaloner, serving as a mentor provides a dual benefit. There’s the benefit of giving back to the field, but also the learning experience that comes from mentoring leaders from younger generations.
“I feel like it’s helping me stay abreast of the way the world is changing,” Chaloner says. “I’m certainly not ready for retirement, and I’m eager to stay vital and on top of things. Having that exposure to young professionals—what they’re thinking and what their concerns and challenges are—is just invaluable.”
For healthcare leaders interested in forming a social identity mentoring partnership, the LGBT Forum is a good place to start. Tufano, who has also served as a mentor, recommends LGBTQ chambers of commerce in cities around the country and state-level LGBTQ advocacy organizations as other potential places to seek mentorships.
Chaloner hopes more LGBTQ leaders will step forward to serve as mentors to benefit the healthcare management field overall. “We as healthcare leaders should be doing everything we can to encourage the diversity of our leadership and our boards, not just from the perspective of the color of someone’s skin or their sexual orientation or gender, but even just diversity of thought,” he says. “We end up with a stronger, healthier health system if diversity is inherent in all we do.”
Editor’s note: Watch this LGBT member-exclusive webinar to learn more about the benefits of social identity. Find out more information about mentoring through the LGBT Forum.
Jessica D. Squazzo is a Chicago-area-based writer and editor.
ACHE Diversity & Inclusion Events and Opportunities
“Better Together” Breakfast and Panel Discussion on Diversity and Inclusion
ACHE of Middle Tennessee
Oct. 18, 2019
Franklin, Tenn.
EDCN: Insights and Inspiration from Diverse Healthcare Leaders
The Executive Diversity Career Navigator is a resource for healthcare leaders from underrepresented groups to help them successfully navigate their career path to senior-level positions. The career navigator features articles from diverse healthcare leaders, such as Kenneth R. White, PhD, FACHE, who provide their insights and inspiration. They discuss aspects of leadership related to being an openly gay healthcare executive. Go to edcnavigator.org to learn more, including how you can become an EDCN content contributor.
Refer New Members and Be Rewarded
Attracting new members to ACHE creates inherent benefits for our members and increases the overall impact and competitive edge of our organization. Through the Leader-to-Leader Rewards Program, you can be recognized for the tremendous influence you carry as a respected healthcare leader and receive rewards for doing it. Click here to learn more. You can also use this referral form to share this opportunity with your nonmember colleagues.
2019-2020 Committee Members
Chair
Daniel Gentry, PhD
The University of Iowa College of Public Health
Professor and MHA Program Director
Iowa City, Iowa
Leslie E. Burnside, FACHE
System VP of Network Affiliations & Development
UNC Health Care
Chapel Hill, N.C.
Timothy M. Carrigan, PhD, RN, FACHE
Rush University Medical Center
Chief Administrative Officer
Chicago
Robert S. Chaloner, FACHE
(Immediate Past Chairman)
Chief Administrative Officer
Stony Brook Southampton Hospital
Southampton, N.Y.
Stephan Davis, DNP, FACHE
Founder/Principal
Illuminant
Atlanta
Amir Farooqi, FACHE
Associate Director (COO)
Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center (VISN 7)
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
LTC Charlotte L. Hildebrand, PhD, FACHE
Army-Baylor University
Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army
San Antonio
Jake P. Reyna-Casanova
Senior Development Associate
CommuniCare Health Centers
San Antonio
Amanda S. Tufano
CEO
Genevive
Minneapolis, Minn.
STAFF CONTACT
Cie Armstead
Director of Diversity and Inclusion
American College of Healthcare Executives
300 S. Riverside Plaza, Suite 1900
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 424-9306
carmstead@ache.org
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Tell a Colleague About the LGBT Forum
As one of the nearly 200 members of ACHE’s LGBT Forum, you have helped to create a vibrant community of LGBT healthcare leaders and allies exchanging ideas to further your career and advance the forum’s mission. Now continue the growth of the forum and expand its diversity by encouraging your fellow ACHE colleagues to join the LGBT Forum. Invite them to join today at ache.org/LGBT.
Please note that any views or opinions presented in this online newsletter are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of ACHE.