When a patient walks into a doctor’s office for the first time, they’re typically asked to fill out a patient intake form that asks questions like what surgeries they’ve had in the past, what medications they’re on, and details of their family medical history.

Missing from many intake forms are detailed questions about a patient’s sexual orientation and gender identity, known as SOGI data. Yet SOGI data is important in providing comprehensive patient care, Elizabeth Moore, director of health services research and evaluation at HealthHIV, who also works as a nurse practitioner, told Healthcare Brew. HealthHIV is a national nonprofit that advocates for equitable healthcare for LGBTQ+ patients, and provides education and training to healthcare organizations.

SOGI data includes whether a patient identifies as straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or other; what sex they were assigned at birth; and what gender they identify with.

SOGI data “can help us address health disparities and improve outcomes for people,” Moore said. “Also importantly, it just acknowledges and affirms LGBTQ people. It’s part of asking who you are, and that’s a really important part of healthcare.”

There are sometimes concerns from LGBTQ patients on how their SOGI data could be used, Scott Bertani, director of public policy at HealthHIV, said. So it’s important providers know exactly what the data they’re collecting is used for and to communicate that clearly to the patients.

“We want to understand how that data is being used so that the community can also feel comfortable,” Bertani said.

Moore said that as a provider, she wants to know everything related to a patient’s gender identity, expression, and sexuality, “because that really helps form comprehensive care.”

But there’s no agreed-upon standard for what SOGI metrics healthcare practices should collect, Moore said.

Keep reading here.—MA

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Maia at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Maia for her number on Signal.

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When Dan Hurry first started working in healthcare supply chains in 2010, he said it was rare to see a chief supply chain officer (CSCO) at a hospital because the role had not been “strategically positioned.”

Now president of both Cincinnati-based Advantus Health Partners and chief supply chain officer of Bon Secours Mercy Health, Hurry might be in good company.

The Covid-19 pandemic thrust the role of CSCO into the spotlight when it exposed vulnerabilities in the healthcare supply chain, better known as the process to get medical supplies and medication from manufacturers to patients. It’s a CSCO’s job to ensure the process is efficient and cost-effective.

“Your supply chain is a strategic relationship that you should have,” Hurry told Healthcare Brew. “It’s a discipline that should be end-to-end within your organization, and elevate that role.”

Supply chain challenges. Even before the pandemic caused issues such as personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages, supply chains faced ongoing challenges.

“On any given day, we are managing 65 to 70 different drug shortages—and that’s pre-pandemic, post-pandemic, [and] during [the] pandemic,” Hurry said.

One of the largest problems is that healthcare supply chains lack a standardized system to identify and track products and demand across health systems, Hurry said.

Universal product codes (UPCs)—barcodes with 12 numbers—are common across other industries. They help CSCOs track demand and monitor where these products move and when.

“Our industry does not use a universal language, which essentially is the foundation to all of the supply chain challenges we have,” Hurry said. “The lack of ability to communicate in an effective and efficient way really hinders our supply chain as a whole.”

Keep reading here.—KW

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Kristine at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Kristine for her number on Signal.

Permanent tattoos could soon be a thing of the past for cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy, thanks to early research backing the safety and efficacy of biodegradable ink used for medical markings.

Ephemeral Tattoo plans to make its made-to-fade tattoo ink—which is composed of FDA-approved ingredients—available later this year. It will serve as an alternative to the more permanent ink used to mark the skin of cancer patients to ensure radiation therapy is accurately delivered. The company is “finalizing the initial group of providers” with whom it will collaborate.

“Radiotherapy patients already have countless considerations and worries in mapping out a successful treatment journey, and the reality of an unwanted permanent tattoo is yet another added weight,” Ephemeral Tattoo co-founder Brennal Pierre told Healthcare Brew. “We’re proud of Ephemeral for medical markings, which is specifically designed to meet treatment requirements.”

The announcement follows a study in which Henry Ford Health researchers, in conjunction with Ephemeral, gave a total of 44 semipermanent tattoos to 15 patients set to undergo radiation therapy.

Eric Schaff, a Henry Ford Health radiation oncology resident who worked on the study with principal investigator Farzan Siddiqui and research engineer Marissa Gilbert, said the initial safety data “is promising” with “no adverse effects”—like pain or rashes—reported yet by participants.

The tattoo ink is applied similar to a traditional tattoo: via a needle into the skin. However, the ink breaks down and disappears over several weeks—longer than other nonpermanent options, like henna, that don’t last the six to eight weeks required for some radiation courses.

Keep reading here.—SY

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Shannon at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Shannon for her number on Signal.

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: Nearly one in five Atlanta residents lacks car access, making it harder to keep doctor appointments. (Axios)

Quote: “We are very concerned kids are missing school and aren’t really learning the way they should because they have to take so many days off.”—Paulina Lopez, executive director of the Duwamish River Community Coalition, on the high rates of childhood asthma in Seattle (Seattle Times)

Read: The Mayo Clinic dangled $4 billion in new hospital investments in front of Minnesota lawmakers as a bargaining chip to kill a health affordability bill. (Politico)

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