1. East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership
two medical students looking at computer

Clinical Operations and Student Leadership

Clinical Operations

The East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership (EHHOP) functions as a primary care clinic where students serve in clinical teams composed of a senior and a junior clinician, clinic manager, lab personnel, patient advocates, and several other positions necessary to maintain a functioning clinic. The clinic is staffed each week with more than 20 Icahn Mount Sinai medical students from all class years, in addition to two or more volunteer attending physicians.

Students see patients under the supervision of faculty from the Division of General Internal Medicine and the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Psychiatry, and Ophthalmology. Our staff also includes social workers who provide screenings for insurance eligibility, psychosocial counseling, and referrals to other agencies, as well as nutritionists and nurse practitioners. 

Steering Committee

The East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership’s steering committee is a group of highly motivated medical and graduate students who further strengthen the clinic’s mission of providing robust care to the uninsured residents of East Harlem. Each student member is tasked with managing one aspect of clinic operations or patient care. Together, the group defines the future direction of the clinic and collaborates on projects and initiatives to help improve clinic efforts.

Executive Committee

The executive committee is the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership’s senior leadership body. Five of the steering committee members are also appointed to the executive committee: the second-year clinic co-chair, the fourth-year clinic co-chair, the chief clinic manager and chair of clinic management, the chief teaching senior and chair of clinical care, and the operations chair. The program director, medical director, director of nursing education, and head social worker comprise the rest of the executive committee.

Coordinator Positions

The coordinators are students dedicated to leadership in a specific, defined area within the organization, such as our Spanish Interpreter Program. Coordinators do not sit on the steering committee or executive committee, but rather collaborate extensively with a designated member of the steering committee, to whom they report directly.

Subcommittees

East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership subcommittees are comprised of first- and second-year medical students with an interest in becoming more involved in the clinic. These positions are generally filled in the fall, in an effort to open the experience to as many students as possible.

The Quality Improvement Council

The Quality Improvement Council was created to provide a formalized structure in which students at East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership could work in teams of four to five and conduct rigorous analyses of problems associated with quality of care, and test solutions for improvement of these issues. The Council’s teams have tackled challenges including referrals, patient no-shows, physician recruitment, and clinic manager use of the interpreter phone.

Faculty Involvement

Icahn Mount Sinai physicians are critical to our success. Attending physicians staff the clinic each week, providing instruction to students and care for patients. Physicians also provide specialty care and assist in recruiting colleagues and other service providers. They share their enthusiasm for advocacy with students and teach them the value of providing high-quality, evidence-based care for vulnerable populations.

Physicians who volunteer several times throughout the year may fulfill departmental service requirements. If you are an attending physician or fellow interested in volunteering, please contact our Physician Recruitment Chair at EHHOPphysicians@mssm.edu.