On March 21, The MediSys Health Network had the honor of welcoming a very special guest conduct a grand rounds presentation for staff at Jamaica and Flushing Hospital.

Dr. Cara James, Director of Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) Office of Minority Health as well as the co-chair of the CMS Rural Health Council shared a very valuable presentation entitled “Achieving Health Equity through Increased Understanding, Sustainable Solutions, and Collective Action.” The purpose of the presentation was to educate the audience that healthcare disparities can occur due to many different factors including race, ethnicity, age, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or disability.

Understanding and addressing these disparities is very important for the MediSys Health Network, as Jamaica and Flushing Hospital serve a very diverse patient population. According to Dr. Sabiha Raoof, Chief Medical Officer of the MediSys Health Network, “Dr. James’ presentation helped our staff understand what healthcare disparities are, what their causes are, and what kind of education and training we can provide for our staff to begin our health equity and disparity reduction journey.”

There were over 100 attendees for the grand rounds presentation at Jamaica Hospital and an additional crowd who viewed it from Flushing Hospital via a live webcast. The audience was genuinely interested in the topic and asked many questions. Dr. James was even gracious enough to stay after her presentation to participate in a “brain storming” session with hospital leadership.

Everyone involved greatly appreciated Dr. James’ presentation and we look forward to her coming back in the future.