About the Division of General Internal Medicine

The Mount Sinai Division of General Internal Medicine encompasses much more than outstanding clinical care. Continuous quality-improvement efforts, innovative care models, dynamic educational programs, and health services research characterize the Division. A personal and interdisciplinary approach involving colleagues and services in nursing, social work, medical and surgical subspecialties, psychiatry, and rehabilitation is often used to diagnose, treat, manage, and heal the whole patient. The Division of General Internal Medicine is able to make referrals and coordinate care with a vast array of outstanding specialty services, and collaborate with them to create new models of care.

Faculty members are consistently championing population health initiatives, an important step in the evolution of health care delivery. The Division is using information technology and data systems to tailor entire clinical programs that better manage chronic illnesses and preventive care efforts, thereby improving patients’ overall health and decreasing health care costs.

Over the last year, Internal Medicine Associates (IMA) has continued to focus on refining team-based care processes for chronic disease management, as well as improving medication adherence rates, adherence to age-appropriate cancer screening, and transitions of care.

For diabetes, IMA continues to use a team-based model of care involving Certified Diabetes Educators and a dedicated high-A1c clinic staffed by our internal medicine interns with faculty oversight. In August 2022, our A1c >9% control rate reached 13.5 percent, which is below the goal of less than 15 percent. We have continued to meet or exceed that goal since then.

Among patients with hypertension, the IMA is increasing the control rate from 60 percent to 70 percent with a goal of 75 percent. A robust management guideline includes home blood pressure monitoring. The Division improved its home blood pressure monitor access via a partnership with Integra (a benefits manager that is responsible for providing home cuffs for patients) by creating a closed-loop feedback process to track orders. In 2021, fulfillment was 50-60 percent and it is now at 80-90 percent. IMA continues to work with its population health teams on outreach efforts to connect value-based contract patients to these programs.

System Chief: Juan Wisnivesky, MD, DrPH
Drs. Richard and Mortimer Bader Professor of Medicine