I am writing to express my support for the critical information that the Journal presented in its June issue on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender health care. As you know, this is a diverse population that has historically received inadequate, if not discriminatory, care in American medicine.
I am a pediatrician and a member of Kaiser Permanente's National Diversity Council. The Council and Kaiser Permanente's Diversity Department have made our focus the creation of educational information for providers, so that they can provide culturally competent care for the diverse populations we serve. In 1996, we published A Provider's Handbook on Culturally Competent Care: Latino Population (second edition forthcoming), and in May 1999 we published A Provider's Handbook on Culturally Competent Care: African American Population and A Provider's Handbook on Culturally Competent Care: Asian and Pacific Islander Population.
I had the great opportunity, starting in June 1999, to be the Physician Champion for A Provider's Handbook on Culturally Competent Care: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Population, which was published in June 2000. We have since worked on a plan to introduce the handbooks internally through a continuing medical education format. Late last year we mailed copies of all the currently available handbooks to every medical school in the United States for their evaluation and use. Our goals in all of these efforts is to ensure that all our members have access to good health care and to have an impact on the care provided in the community. Since we provide care to 8.1 million members, we will have a significant impact on the care given to many Americans. As a nonprofit health care delivery system, we also have a commitment to increase the quality of care to all communities. A limited number of copies of our handbooks are available to health care providers in the community. For information on how to request these, please call 510-271-6663.
Again, thank you for your efforts to improve the health care services that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals receive in this country.