Mount Sinai and Guyana Ministry of Health Launch National Initiative to Strengthen Hospital Quality and Patient Safety
Collaboration supports safe, high-quality care at Guyana’s new regional hospitals
Rachel Vreeman, MD, MS, Mount Sinai’s Executive Director of the Guyana National Healthcare Initiative.
Mount Sinai Health System and the Guyana Ministry of Health today announced the launch of a national hospital quality improvement initiative aimed at strengthening patient safety and advancing high-quality care across Guyana’s newly constructed regional hospitals.
The initiative begins with a two-day leadership workshop convened by the Ministry of Health and Mount Sinai on March 26 and 27. At the workshop, clinical and administrative leaders from six new regional hospitals will collaborate with Mount Sinai experts to develop practical approaches grounded in the highest standards of care to strengthen the quality and safety of inpatient and emergency care. Mount Sinai representatives will share international best practices in quality improvement, supporting the Ministry of Health in delivering the highest-quality care possible to the Guyanese people.
The initiative supports Guyana’s broader vision to modernize health services and expand access to high-quality care nationwide. These modern, state-of-the-art regional hospitals significantly expand access to care and provide residents with advanced diagnostic, surgical, and emergency services closer to home, reducing the need for patients to travel long distances to the capital of Georgetown for specialized medical care.
Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony, Guyana’s Minister of Health, giving remarks to the workshop participants.
“This national hospital quality improvement initiative reflects the Ministry of Health’s commitment to ensuring that the highest standard of care is available close to home for communities throughout the country,” said Guyana’s Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony. “It is about keeping families safe and healthy by ensuring that the people of Guyana receive the very best care, no matter where they live.”
“Guyana has made remarkable progress in expanding access to modern health care facilities across the country,” said Rachel Vreeman, MD, MS, Mount Sinai’s Executive Director of the Guyana National Healthcare Initiative and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Health System Design at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, as well as Director of the Arnhold Institute for Global Health. “Through this collaboration with the Ministry of Health, we are proud to work alongside hospital leaders to strengthen the systems that support safe, high-quality care for patients and families throughout Guyana.”
Today’s launch is part of a broader multi-year collaboration to strengthen care quality and patient safety across Guyana’s new regional hospitals. The effort will initially focus on the six newly constructed facilities and expand to include additional regional hospitals planned for the country. The newly opened hospitals are located at Lima Sands (Region Two), De Kinderen (Region Three), Diamond and Enmore (Region Four), Bath Settlement (Region 5) and No. 75 Village (Region Six). The quality improvement program will initially target priority areas including emergency department triage, patient identification, and medication safety.
Mount Sinai experts with hospital lead at No. 75 Regional Hospital.
The collaboration aims to design tailored, context-appropriate, evidence-based processes that will significantly strengthen quality of care, such as systems to ensure that emergency physicians see the sickest patients first and medication-checking processes that help guarantee the right medicine for every patient. Over time, Mount Sinai’s patient safety and quality experts will continue to support hospital teams in developing and sustaining practical approaches that advance these and other improvements across the regional hospitals.
“Quality and safety are foundational to every health system,” said Tao Xu, MD, Medical Director of Mount Sinai International and the Mount Sinai lead of the national hospital quality improvement initiative. “Our Mount Sinai team is committed to working with local leaders to develop effective solutions that will deliver the safest, highest-quality care to patients and families in every region of the country.”
The national hospital quality improvement initiative is part of the Government of Guyana’s National Healthcare Initiative, a collaboration between the Government of Guyana, Mount Sinai, and Hess Corporation to transform Guyana’s public health system by 2030 with world-class health services accessible to all citizens. Key areas of focus include community-centered care, digital health, cancer care, capacity building and workforce development, and women’s and children’s health.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with 48,000 employees working across seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 600 research and clinical labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians and 10 free-standing joint-venture centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2025-2026.
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