Buoy Health Leverages New Grant, Marketplace to Advance LGBTQ+ Accessibility & Inclusion

Dedicated health equity funding, inclusive models of care, and a new slate of top-tier care solutions for diverse health needs demonstrate Buoy's commitment to bringing inclusivity to digital health

Buoy invites leaders and innovators in LGBTQ+ care and health services to expand their reach and impact through its healthcare marketplace

BOSTON, June 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In recognition of LGBTQ+ Pride this month, AI-powered health platform Buoy Health (Buoy) today announces several exciting updates to its ongoing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts, including a recently-awarded grant from the AWS Health Equity Initiative. These developments further underscore Buoy's mission to create more inclusive and accessible health solutions for everyone—especially those in underserved groups—by crafting personalized, holistic paths to care.

Launched through the AWS for Health initiative at Amazon Web Services (AWS), the AWS Health Equity Initiative is a $40 million, three-year commitment that seeks to energize cloud technology innovations to tackle lingering health disparities around the globe. Buoy was recently selected to participate in this grant program to build out its data and product capabilities for users identifying as transgender or gender diverse—allowing Buoy's teams to improve their demographic data collection, enhance their medical database and AI algorithms, and develop new product options that are instrumented with inclusivity by design.

"Patients that identify as LGBTQ+ often face significant gaps and disparate outcomes across the US healthcare system that fail to account for the unique barriers, care considerations and clinical presentations in this community," said  Adrienne McFadden, MD, JD, and Chief Medical Officer at Buoy Health. "The AWS Health Equity Initiative is one more resource we can use to deploy these vital resources toward stronger clinical guidance and more informed data sets as we work to create more equitable health systems and outcomes."

Buoy's involvement with the AWS Health Equity Initiative augments the recent launch of its healthcare marketplace, which currently connects users with a wide range of care solutions across physical, mental, and specialized health needs. Working through Buoy's signature AI-driven symptom checker, users can navigate through Buoy for personalized guidance and access a tailored marketplace experience that matches them to the solution that works best for them by aligning with their unique health histories and any current healthcare plans or coverage. This focus on personalization and a wider range of choices remains core to Buoy's focus and ethos as the company seeks to drive better care solutions at more cost-effective rates for LGBTQ+ users and other historically underserved or marginalized groups.

Rather than operate in siloed chains with preferred healthcare partners, Buoy seeks to offer a range of inclusive solutions through specialized providers and services, including those that are dedicated to LGBTQ+ flourishing, accessibility, and the advancement of health equity more broadly. As of today, these tailored care solutions include Health in Her HUE, Spora Health, and VitalXchange, among others.

"Digital health solutions that center health equity are the future," said Ashlee Wisdom, Chief Executive Officer at Health in Her HUE. "Buoy Health is leading, not just with words, but in how it builds its technology to help patients find healthcare services and solutions that can meet their specific needs. Buoy is modeling how digital health companies can and should be leading the way in making health equity the new status quo for digital health and the larger healthcare ecosystem."

McFadden added: "At a time when so many health equity innovators are looking to provide more touchpoints and access to high-quality healthcare for a diverse swathe of patients, Buoy's efforts geared toward creating an inclusive marketplace model offers a key piece to the puzzle. Now, more than ever, organizations committed to delivering quality care to underserved groups are empowered to expand their services in an environment that prioritizes the end-result for the patient and enhances patient-provider relationships across the healthcare system. We are proud to see Buoy's marketplace make such important inroads with these important health equity initiatives and look forward to growing our family of solutions on behalf of all our users."

Care solutions interested in joining Buoy's marketplace can reach out here for more information.

Buoy is a Boston-based digital health company that provides personalized clinical guidance the moment an individual has a health concern and matching to covered care options. Developed out of the Harvard Innovation Labs by a team of doctors and data scientists, Buoy navigates people through to the healthcare they need, delivering triage at scale, and connecting them with the right care endpoints at the right time based on self-reported symptoms. Buoy works with employers, health plans, and health solutions to simplify and streamline discovery and access to the right covered care options. For more information, please visit www.buoy.com.

Media contact:
Finley Hines
[email protected]

SOURCE Buoy Health, Inc.