EqualityMD’s Digital Health Platform Is Changing How the LGBTQ+ Community Perceives & Receives Care

Founder Justin Ayars is building on more than a decade of LGBTQ+ advocacy, business development, and entrepreneurial work to create a virtual-first digital health platform that matches LGBTQ+ patients (and allies) with culturally-competent providers who are trained to create safe spaces where patients can be their authentic selves.

Origin

Justin Ayars has a unique background. His godfather was Liberace, his father was a renowned musician who worked with Elvis and Barbra Streisand, and his grandfather worked for the CIA since the agency was created in 1947. Presented with these unusual paths, he instead chose to become a trial lawyer. As fate would have it, he ended up in the courtroom defending health insurance companies and large corporations throughout the DC region. His experience on the “dark side” of the healthcare litigation table showed him the imbalances of power and systemic inequities that plague the nation’s healthcare system. He wanted to fight for the oppressed but felt like there was nothing he could do as a corporate/insurance defense attorney. When layoffs trickled through law firms during the great recession, Ayars saw his as a blessing in disguise and vowed never to return to healthcare.

In the early years of the great recession, Ayars moved to Richmond, Virginia, and began a 13-year journey as a serial entrepreneur. He started a coffee business, a restaurant/nightclub, a marketing/media company, and a consumer behavioral data analytics company. The common thread through each endeavor was Ayars’ desire to create safe havens where the LGBTQ+ community could connect, be heard, and feel valued. Over time, Ayars became a highly sought-after educator/speaker, influencer, and award-winning LGBTQ+ leader. In 2012, he established a LGBTQ+ chamber of commerce in Richmond, and in 2019 he spoke about the economics of equality at the Lincoln Center in NYC during World Pride.

In 2019, Ayars created Equality Rewards, a consumer behavioral data analytics platform that helped consumers find LGBTQ+ inclusive companies and helped companies understand how to authentically engage the $1.4 trillion LGBTQ+ consumer market. But it turned out that this product was just a warm up. Ayars realized that general consumer behavior wasn’t the deeper problem he wanted to solve.

The one question he’d been asked by LGBTQ+ individuals throughout his years was, “Where can I find a doctor who makes me feel safe?” As healthcare became top-of-mind for everyone during the height of the pandemic, Ayars saw a business opportunity to create a new healthtech product that connected LGBTQ+ patients with inclusive providers on a secure platform where providers conducted telehealth sessions. Ayars’ hope was that this new product would bridge decades of health equity and data gaps which have prevented the LGBTQ+ community from experiencing inclusive healthcare.

In September of 2020, Ayars tested his theory by participating in a weekend hackathon sponsored by StartOut (a nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs) and created a fictitious company called “Pride Doctor” that matched LGBTQ+ patients with inclusive providers. Pride Doctor was a hit and created incredible buzz throughout Ayars’ various networks. After swearing never to return to healthcare, in December 2020 he transformed Equality Rewards into equalityMD and began a new mission: Changing how the LGBTQ+ community perceives and receives healthcare.

Challenge

In 2016, the NIH declared the LGBTQ+ community to be a “health disparity population” due to unique healthcare concerns and an historic lack of access to care. For Justin Ayars, while the NIH declaration was validating, it was something he already knew from experience.

This type of discrimination takes many forms, says Ayars. It exists from the waiting room to the emergency room and at every touchpoint in-between. A key factor, Ayars adds, is that discrimination can exist at the earliest interactions people have when seeking medical care: the intake form, the receptionist, even the layout and design of the waiting room. If a patient does not feel seen, heard, and accepted in a medical setting, they won’t feel comfortable, safe, or welcome to be their authentic self. When patients aren’t their authentic selves with medical providers, they will not get the full spectrum of care they may require. Seemingly small acts, omissions, and behaviors healthcare providers exhibit can be perceived as microaggressions that deter LGBTQ+ patients from coming out to their providers or even seeking the care they need.

That lack of care is a major problem. 56% of LGBTQ+ patients report experiencing discrimination from within the healthcare system, ranging from providers and pharmacists to hospitals and insurance companies. It’s estimated that 28% of the LGBTQ+ community chooses not to seek care, even in dire circumstances, which causes health and wellness issues that affect entire communities and forces an undue economic burden on corporations, nonprofits, and families. This avoidance of care translates into a loss of 1% of the US GDP per year due to illness, absences, and even death.

Today, the LGBTQ+ community is forced to rely on word-of-mouth to find healthcare providers who understand and appreciate their intersectional identities and care for them with the dignity and respect every patient deserves. EqualityMD is changing that.

Under the Hood

EqualityMD is an online subscription service that utilizes a machine learning algorithm to match providers with patients. The platform calculates a patient’s personal preferences to create a custom list of providers tailored to their needs. Every provider on the platform has completed evidence-based LGBTQ+ cultural-competency training so they know how to create safe spaces where patients can be their authentic selves.

Patients sign up for a subscription plan and then create a profile that asks them inclusive questions and provider preferences. Providers complete similar profiles after they’ve completed equalityMD’s required LGBTQ+ cultural-competency training. Patients are then matched with several medical professionals based on their profile preferences (much like a dating app). Patients handpick the provider they want to see and then schedule a telehealth appointment. If a patient is happy with their chosen provider, they can make that person their preferred provider for continuity of care. If a patient prefers to explore working with other providers, they can select whomever they would like to see. At all times, patients are in control of the patient-provider relationship.

EqualityMD’s national network of providers are mostly primary care physicians and mental health professionals. 72% of LGBTQ+ patients say that mental health is their primary healthcare concern. Providers receive CME credits for participating in equalityMD’s cultural-competency training sessions.

Should a patient and provider need to meet in person, equalityMD helps patients find LGBTQ+ trained professionals near them so they can have inclusive in-person consultations and/or treatments.

The initial version of the platform was a two-sided marketplace that required equalityMD to build a network of patients and providers. They trained providers through a third-party LGBTQ+ cultural-competency program (non-CME granting), then matched patients with providers through a machine learning matching algorithm the team built in-house. Users handpicked their preferred matched providers and completed telehealth sessions. Even in its earliest iteration, equalityMD’s platform dug deep into who each patient was as a person (accounting for SDOH, intersectionality of identities, unique lived experiences) to create value-based, patient-centric care. Patients loved that equalityMD gave them reliable, safe spaces where they felt comfortable being their authentic selves on day one. Providers enjoyed being able to authentically treat this underserved patient population and having those patients directed to their digital doorsteps.

The next version of equalityMD includes working with a white-label telehealth partner that has a national network of providers ready to undergo cultural-competency training. This new iteration also has equalityMD transitioning from a direct-to-consumer platform — although they still offer this service to those who want it — to a B2B model to utilize their strongest go-to-market partner: The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). The NGLCC has 53 “affiliate” chambers across the country, with each representing between 200 to 1,400 business members. Ayars sits on the NGLCC’s national mentorship committee that works with 438 corporate partners who support the organization.

EqualityMD will launch its new platform this summer in Southern California where there are four LGBTQ+ regional chambers and the largest LGBTQ+ organization in the world: The Los Angeles LGBT Center. EqualityMD is working with the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), and has two pilot programs with two major health insurers, as well as two enterprise clients (medtech and pharmaceutical), in their pipeline. They’re also working to secure a relationship with one of the nation’s largest health systems.

Working with a white-label telehealth partner makes it possible to demonstrate traction and product-market-fit faster; that said, equalityMD is continuing to build a stand-alone virtual-first healthcare solution that will be informed by feedback from users on its white-label platform.

From a business perspective, the company’s biggest asset is the new patient journey data they’ll collect. The LGBTQ+ community is a dramatically under-measured patient population. EqualityMD will address that data gap with anonymously-aggregated HIPAA-compliant data that’s translated into actionable insights and sold as an additional SaaS revenue stream to health systems and payors. The goal, says Ayars, is to help these clients authentically engage with and treat an invisible patient population. As this community grows (up to 20% of Millennials & 31% of Gen Z self-identify as LGBTQ+) providers, health systems, and payors need as much data as possible to understand this population and mobilize cultural intelligence to influence health communication and patient/member behavior, as this could have a deep impact on health outcomes over the long term. EqualityMD can deliver actionable insights to bridge existing data gaps about the LGBTQ+ patient population.

EqualityMD’s new data analytics can also be sold to corporations seeking ways to accomplish their DEI, supplier diversity, HR, and market positioning objectives. 81% of companies are increasing their DEI budgets and 72% are looking for inclusive healthcare options. EqualityMD — both its virtual first healthcare platform and unique data insights — can help employers create a more diverse talent pipeline, reduce employee churn, enhance brand image, increase customer loyalty, and help companies remain both competitive and relevant in an ever-changing cultural and economic landscape.

Big Picture

At StartUp Health we believe that every single person deserves access to high-quality care, the kind of care that will allow them to thrive. EqualityMD is creating a safe space for LGBTQ+ patients (and their allies) to get the medical attention they need on their terms with providers who understand and support them. The LGBTQ+ community now has a confidential and secure resource at their fingertips where they can enjoy agency, dignity, and respect as they become the superheroes of their own healthcare stories.

On the business side, the market opportunity is extraordinary. The LGBTQ+ community boasts a $1.4 trillion purchasing power and represents a burgeoning $216 billion healthcare market that’s rapidly growing. Many healthcare providers, health systems, and payors are hungry for an opportunity to authentically engage this untapped market. By working within equalityMD’s platform, providers become credentialed to care for a diverse, underserved community and enjoy having a large (and growing) invisible patient population ushered to their digital front doors without expending any marketing dollars.

Justin Ayars has the track record, networks, and mindset necessary to take on this significant challenge, and we’re excited to welcome him and his team into the StartUp Health community.

→ Learn more and connect with the equalityMD team.

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EqualityMD’s Digital Health Platform Is Changing How the LGBTQ+ Community Perceives & Receives Care was originally published in StartUp Health on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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