A Paradigm Shift in Health Care Delivery

Medical Treatment at Home

An innovative program being run by the Mount Sinai Health System has shown that certain acute-care patients who choose to be treated at home rather than in a hospital are not only more satisfied with their care but also have lower medical costs and fewer medical complications.

These findings come amid the halfway point of a three-year plan that was launched by Mount Sinai in November 2014 after receiving a $9.6 million Health Care Innovation Award from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to create a unique “hospital at home” program.

Known as the Mobile Acute Care Team (MACT), the program illustrates Mount Sinai’s commitment to being on the cutting edge of the way medicine will be practiced and creating an innovative health care system for the future, one that emphasizes outpatient, ambulatory, and home-based care with remote monitoring capabilities. The award further highlights Mount Sinai’s role as a pioneer in developing a new clinical and financial reimbursement model for patients with acute illnesses. (more…)

Mount Sinai Vascular Surgeons Among First in Nation To Treat Complex Aortic Aneurysm With New Device

Dr Rami Tadros, Michael Marin- head of surgery, James McKinsey 98 W, 15th Fl

From left: Rami O. Tadros, MD, FACS; James F. McKinsey, MD, FACS; and Michael L. Marin, MD, FACS, are using a new-generation implantable device to treat complex thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms.

Physicians at The Mount Sinai Hospital were among the first in the nation to implant an investigational device, a fabric and metal mesh tube known as a stent graft, as part of a clinical trial to treat aneurysms located in the thoracic/abdominal area of the aorta. Mount Sinai is one of only six institutions in the nation granted approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to test the safety and initial feasibility of the device in patients.

The stent graft is used to strengthen the inner lining of the aorta—the main artery that carries blood from the heart to organs—in patients where the aortic walls have weakened and caused a balloon-type bulge known as an aneurysm to grow. Once implanted, the device serves to direct blood flow away from the aneurysm, causing it to shrink in size. If not repaired, the aneurysm can rupture and result in life-threatening internal bleeding. (more…)

Nutrition and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

ilana kersch headshot

Guest post by Ilana Kersch, MS RD CDN, Senior Dietitian at the Mount Sinai Hospital.  Ilana works as part of the inpatient liver transplant team in conjunction with the Recanati Miller Transplant Institute, and provides nutrition care for patients pre- and post-hepatobiliary surgery.

In recent decades, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become an important cause of liver disease in the US due to its association with rising prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes.  It is estimated that approximately 30% of the US population now has some degree of non-alcoholic fatty liver, and ~2- 5% of the population have fatty liver which has progressed to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).  If untreated, NAFLD and NASH can progress to liver cirrhosis and malignancy, and is quickly becoming a major indication for listing for liver transplant. (more…)

Researchers Discover New Clues in the Development of Transplantable Stem Cells for Blood Disorders

Kateri Moore, DVM, left, with graduate students Andreia Gomes and Jeffrey Bernitz

Kateri Moore, DVM, left, with graduate students Andreia Gomes and Jeffrey Bernitz

For scientists who study stem cells, the ability to produce hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) in the lab and then transplant them into patients with blood disorders has been a long-sought-after goal. Recently, the field took a step closer to that milestone when researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai identified cells in the embryos and placentas of mice that are actually precursors to HSPCs. Hematopoiesis is the daily process by which the human body generates all of the different types of cells found in the blood and immunological system. (more…)

Physical Fitness in Late Adolescence May Reduce The Risk of Developing Adult-Onset Diabetes

Casey Crump, MD, PhD

Casey Crump, MD, PhD

Physical fitness in late adolescence may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life, according to a new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai that appeared online in the March 8, 2016, issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers—led by Casey Crump, MD, PhD, Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai—evaluated data on the aerobic capacity of 1.5 million males who were military conscripts in Sweden between 1969 and 1997. The scientists then compared the men’s aerobic capacity to their medical diagnoses that were made between 1987 and 2012, when the men were a maximum age of 62. (more…)