LGBTQ Clinic Earns Recognition From Trust Practice Challenge

The ABIM Foundation recently recognized eight organizations for substantial contributions to building trust within patient, physician and health care system relationships. UnityPoint Health was recognized in part because of its LGBTQ clinic that opened in Cedar Falls in January 2018.

Winners of the ABIM Foundation’s Trust Practice Challenge include:

• UnityPoint Health – Kyle Christiason, MD, for creating a dedicated clinic program focused on primary care and special health care needs of the LGBTQ community.
• Duke University Department of Medicine – Anton Zuiker, for building greater understanding through a listening booth and podcast to facilitate conversations among clinicians, medical students, residents, staff and patients.
• Hawai’i Pacific Health – Melinda Ashton, MD, for development of an open nomination process to identify practices and processes that should be eliminated or modified in its EHR system.
• Johns Hopkins School of Medicine – Robert Shochet, MD, for development of the Colleges Advisory Program to model positive mentoring relationships between students and faculty.
• Mayo Clinic, Institute for Healthcare Improvement – Stephen Swensen, MD, for creating a Leader Index to evaluate five key leader behaviors among clinical staff that affect performance.
• Oregon Health & Science University – Brian Park, MD, for building trust across teams through a learning collaborative focused on a relational approach to leadership.
• University of Chicago School of Medicine – Lolita Alkureishi, MD, for use of a graphic medicine comic strip to foster better patient-physician interaction involving electronic health records.
• Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality – Chris Queram, for creation of a data-sharing consortium of nine health systems to improve clinical performance through transparency and public reporting.

Nominations for the recognition focused on strategies or approaches to support stronger health care leadership, improved transparency and greater consideration of patient views in the design or practice settings. Winners were selected by a nationally recognized panel of clinicians, advocates, academics and senior executives with extensive experience in health care delivery.