Mount Sinai’s ‘grow our own’ diversity model bears fruit
Despite projections by the U.S. Census Bureau that more than half of the total population will belong to a racial minority group by 2044, healthcare currently is fairly racially homogenous.
African-Americans account for more than 13% of the total population yet make up only 5% of active physicians, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Latinos represent nearly a fifth of the total population in the U.S., but only account for 5.8% of all active physicians.
Healthcare’s lack of diversity can result in biases and miscommunication, and gaps in care.
Black and Latino adults in 2016 were less likely than white adults to receive regular care and were less likely to have had a medical visit over the previous 12 months, according to a 2018 research brief by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The Affordable Care Act attempted to abate this disparity by supporting several key programs.
The National Health Service Corps received up to $4 billion from 2010 to 2015. The Corps provides scholarships and loan repayment help to healthcare professionals who serve for a period in medically underserved areas. Racial and ethnic minorities make up approximately one-third of program participants.
The ACA also reauthorized the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Health Careers Opportunity Program and gave it $60 million from 2011 to 2014. Established in 1972, the program helps students from economically or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds enter and graduate from health professional schools.
That program bolstered institutions like the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, which received $3.2 million over five years.
“We needed to make sure that our high school and college students understand how different the world of medicine might be when they’re ready to practice medicine,” said Dr. Gary Butts, chief diversity and inclusion officer at Mount Sinai Health System and senior associate dean for diversity programs for the Icahn school.
But Mount Sinai’s effort began around 1998 when the medical school dean at the time felt a desire for the student body to better reflect the surrounding community of East Harlem. The school ended up producing relatively few minority medical graduates to employ at the system since competition for them was tight.
Butts said it became clear that the way forward was to implement what he called the ‘grow our own’ model. The approach called for investing in a pipeline to increase the number of minority students who matriculate into medical school.
In 2008, Mount Sinai formed the Northeast Regional Alliance MedPrep Scholars Program along with partners Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine at Hofstra University to provide free preparatory training to 150 New York City and New Jersey residents from underrepresented groups.
MedPrep provides students in grades 7-12 a free six-week curriculum during the summer in science and math for three years. Butts said all high school students who have graduated from the MedPrep program have gone to college, with an estimated 85% of them studying in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics field.
A second curriculum preps college students for the Medical College Admission Test and provides assistance applying to medical school, mentorship and help with prep course work. Butts said around 80% of the college students who have completed the program have applied to medical school, with at least 60% each year getting accepted.
Over the past 11 years, Butts said 260 students in the program went to medical school with 60 graduating.
“It’s a long-term solution rather than a short-term fix,” Butts said. ●