The Health Equity Roundtable (“Roundtable”) is a program of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, designed to help Harvard Pilgrim and the health care industry tackle some of the important health disparities by soliciting input from those individuals most directly impacted by disparities in health and health status. The goal of the Roundtable is to improve health care by seeking the input of representatives of the communities impacted, uncovering new information, exploring the ways in which a particular community makes meaning of important ideas, and facilitating the transfer of knowledge from communities to the health care professionals who are tasked with creating solutions. The findings are reported back to Harvard Pilgrim and are then reported more broadly through a variety of outlets.
The first Roundtable was held in Boston in March 2016 to explore the transgender community’s experiences regarding access to and coverage of gender affirming care. The meeting was hosted by Dimock Community Health, a neutral, easy-to-access site located in a diverse community. A total of 33 men, women, youth, parents, advocates, and clinicians attended the Roundtable and contributed to the data collected. Based on participant feedback, 10 themes were identified.
Download the executive summary or the full report.