NYC Health + Hospitals President & CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz Named to City & State ‘The Power of Diversity: Pride 100’ List
Dr. Katz is recognized for creating a safe haven for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers seeking health care that meets their specific needs
Jun 26, 2023
New York, NY
NYC Health + Hospitals today announced that its President and CEO Mitchell Katz,MD was named to City & State New York’s ‘The 2023 Power of Diversity: Pride 100’ list for his work safeguarding the rights of New York’s LGBTQ+ community. Ranked fifth on the list, Dr. Katz is recognized for helming the nation’s largest municipal health care system. Under his leadership, NYC Health + Hospitals has expanded services to meet the special health care needs and concerns of LGBTQ+ New Yorkers. The health system has seven Pride Health Centers where patients receive high-quality, comprehensive, and culturally-appropriate care in a safe and welcoming environment. Services include primary care, behavioral health, HIV testing and treatment, and gender-affirming surgery at Metropolitan and Lincoln. For a full list of services offered, visit our LGBTQ+ Health Care services page.
“Thank you to City & State New York for recognizing me alongside so many LGBTQ+ champions,” said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD. “I am so proud to lead a health care system that welcomes patients from all walks of life. We don’t turn people away because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We instead foster an environment that is safe, compassionate, and respectful. Thank you to our 43,000-strong workforce for their service to ALL New Yorkers.”
All 18 of NYC Health + Hospitals’ eligible facilities earned the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s “Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality” designation last year – a recognition the health system has received every year since 2015. To earn this, facilities must train staff in LGBTQ+ health care, have LGBTQ+ responsive policies, and make those policies available to the public and staff.
The health system’s long-term care facilities also participated in the first edition of the Long-Term Care Equality Index (LEI) in 2021, a joint project of SAGE and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, designed to promote equitable and inclusive care for LGBTQ+ older adults in residential long-term care communities.
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Dr. Katz was appointed President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals in January 2018. During this time, Dr. Katz has focused on advancing the transformation of the public health care system with numerous new initiatives to expand access to primary care services, reduce administrative costs, invest in more frontline clinical staff, and build financial stability. In September 2020, NYC Care, a healthcare access program for New Yorkers who are not eligible for or cannot afford health insurance, went live citywide four months ahead of schedule under Dr. Katz’s stewardship.
Dr. Katz’s initial transformation strategy helped set the groundwork for the public health care system to combat the challenges of the unprecedented global health crisis, COVID-19. During the pandemic, the system was able to more than triple its ICU capacity, stand up a COVID-19-dedicated hotline to help mitigate dangerous overcrowding in the system’s emergency departments, transition nearly all existing ambulatory care appointments to telemedicine, and help establish the city’s Test & Trace Corps. The public health care system is now also providing critical support to facilitate the City’s rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and boosters to those who are eligible.
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About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 43,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.