Selected Bulletins in 2022

Health care disparities, like those made clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, spurred Mount Sinai to establish the Institute for Health Equity Research in May 2020. The Institute’s mission is to better understand and address the health issues—including but not limited to COVID-19—that plague our most vulnerable communities. The Institute is led by Carol R. Horowitz, MD, MPH, Dean for Gender Equity in Science and Medicine, and Lynne D. Richardson, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine, and Population Health Science and Policy.

• To find out more about various Diversity Councils and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), visit here

• To find upcoming events from the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, visit here

• Send an email at RoadMap@mountsinai.org to suggest a topic, highlight a coworker, or provide some feedback. Past Bulletins can be viewed here

• To find out about the upcoming Chats for Change schedule, visit here.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, more and more states are moving to restrict people’s right to abortion access. Studies show abortion bans have specific, disproportionate impacts on under-resourced, marginalized groups, an added burden during a well-documented Black maternal mortality and morbidity crisis.

While the right to safe and legal abortion is protected in New York State, Mount Sinai is working to help expand access for those who need abortion care, including those coming from out of state for care, with the Division of Complex Family Planning (CFP) leading the charge. Monica Dragoman, MD, MPH, Director of Complex Family Planning, and other CFP leaders have been working with colleagues across the Health System and external stakeholders, like government officials and community organizations, to identify how Mount Sinai can best contribute to existing efforts.

Monica Dragoman, MD, MPH

There is a not-so-obvious link between medical records and racial discrimination. Medical records are intended to document objective observations. However, when biased language—such as using quotation marks to communicate sarcasm or question a patient's sincerity—is included, it may impact care by sending an incorrect signal to future clinicians about a patient.

The Mount Sinai Health System is educating staff to ensure that race and ethnicity data are collected in an inclusive, accurate manner, and has taken action to ensure clinicians use standardized language when writing on patients’ charts. Bruce Darrow, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Information Officer for the Health System, says the overarching idea is that “patients are owners of their medical records,” which helps clinicians think holistically about what they are writing down and ensures they are not unintentionally using biased language.

In a further effort to close health disparities, a team at Mount Sinai developed the Race/

Ethnicity/Language Capture Dashboard to track progress in collecting patients’ race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, and language preferences. A team of experts, including Lyndia Hayden, MS, Director of Disparities and Data Analytics, and Jefri Mesa, are working closely with practices to help improve their performance. And the Health System has been reaching its goal of recording this information 90 percent of the time.