285.000 SEXUAL HARASSMENT/RACIAL/GENDER/DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION

285.979            Rise in Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia/Anti-Middle Eastern Sentiment

MSSNY recognizes the harm, both upon our members, our colleagues, and our patients, of the rise in anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Middle Eastern discrimination that have arisen around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. MSSNY will identify proper emotional support for New York physicians who have been affected by ongoing traumatic conflicts. (HOD 2024 – Emergency resolution G)

285.980           Opposing Violence, Terrorism, Discrimination, and Hate Speech

MSSNY strongly condemns all acts of violence, terrorism, discrimination, and hate speech against any group or individual, regardless of race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, cultural affiliation, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or other factor.

MSSNY affirms its commitment to promoting dialogue, empathy, and mutual respect among diverse communities, recognizing the importance of fostering understanding and reconciliation,

MSSNY recognizes the importance of commemorating and honoring the victims of tragedies throughout human history, in a manner that respects the dignity and sensitivities of all affected communities.

MSSNY encourages initiatives that promote education, awareness, and solidarity to prevent future acts of violence and promote social cohesion.

MSSNY acknowledges the diverse perspectives and experiences within its membership and commits to facilitating constructive dialogue and engagement on sensitive and polarizing issues.

MSSNY calls for continued collaboration and partnership with organizations representing diverse communities.
A copy of this resolution will be transmitted to the AMA for adoption to promote physicians’ commitment to fostering peace, tolerance, and solidarity across our country. (HOD 2024 – Emergency resolution E)

285.981           Islamophobia in Medicine

MSSNY opposes all acts of Islamophobic terrorism, violence and hate speech. (MSSNY HOD 2024 – Emergency resolution D)

285.982           Elimination of Race-Correction in Medical Testing

The Medical Society of the State of New York recognizes that the false conflation of race with inherent biological or genetic traits leads to inadequate examination of true underlying disease risk factors, which exacerbates existing health inequities.

MSSNY encourages characterizing race as a social construct, rather than an inherent biological trait, and recognizes that when race is described as a risk factor, it is more likely to be a proxy for influences including structural racism than a proxy for genetics.

MSSNY will support legislative or regulations that eliminate raced based testing in medical tests and algorithms in New York State. (HOD 2023-159)

285.983           DEI Weight Bias

The Medical Society of the State of New York recognizes weight in its policies against discrimination and supports legislation and regulations that combat weight discrimination at the local and federal levels. (HOD 2022-207)

285.984           Opposition to Discriminatory Treatment of Haitian Asylum Seekers

MSSNY opposes discrimination of Haitian asylum seekers which denies them the same opportunity to attain asylum status as individuals from other nations. A resolution will also be forwarded to the AMA seeking adoption of similar policy. .(Adopted by Council 11/4/2021)

285.985           Support Physicians Providing Gender Affirming Care for Youth

The Medical Society of the State of New York supports physicians in New York who provide gender-affirming care to people including transgender and non-binary youth. MSSNY opposes the criminalization of providing gender-affirming care for youth. (HOD 2021-157)

285.986           Racism and Intersectionality in Medicine

MSSNY affirms that racism is a public health crisis.

MSSNY will evaluate its mission statement to be clear that it supports equity in all aspects of its work.

MSSNY will systematically evaluate its policies and procedures to be clear that it supports equity in all aspects of its work, in both existing and in future policies and procedures, and that record of this process be visible to all members.

MSSNY encourages all county societies to affirm that racism is a public health crisis.

MSSNY will work with all county medical societies to ensure that their mission statements are inclusive of the needs of underrepresented minority patients and physicians.

MSSNY encourages all county societies to systematically evaluate their policies and procedures to be clear that they support equity in all aspects of their work, in both existing and in future policies and procedures, and that records of this process be visible to all members.

MSSNY will work collaboratively with all county medical societies to develop a strategic plan to improve recruitment, retention, support, and mentoring of members who are Black and Latinx, people of color (POC), indigenous people, Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), people with disabilities and/or sexual and gender minorities.

MSSNY will work with medical schools in New York to ensure that underrepresented minority students are successfully recruited and supported to reinforce the pipeline of physicians and physician leaders to be representative of the population we serve.

MSSNY will seek that all medical schools in New York will utilize appropriate culturally relevant curricula that does not propagate race-based medicine, understanding that race is a social construct and not a biological one.

MSSNY, through its Committee on Health Equity will seek to:

• increase awareness of how discrimination based on factors such as racism, classism, cisgenderism, heterosexism, ableism, patriarchy, and xenophobia contributes to both societal and health inequities and to ensure that all New Yorkers receive the best care possible and can achieve the best health possible;
• work with the AMA, specialty societies, Albany leadership, community groups, and other stakeholders to eliminate inequities, particularly those inequities that adversely impact the health and well-being and access to and quality of care for persons who are from historically disadvantaged populations;
• Prevent and manage diseases that are prevalent in historically disinvested populations burdened with the worse disease outcomes, including diabetes, hypertension, and cancer, through educational programming for physicians and other stakeholders;
• Reverse the troubling increases in race/ethnic-based health inequities such as maternal mortality; and
• Promote expanded funding for programs that attract a more diversified physician workforce, increasing the number of minority faculty including Black, Latinx, Native American, female, LGBTQ faculty, and faculty with disabilities teaching in medical schools and expanding medical school pipeline programs in rural and urban areas to address the shortage of physicians in medically underserved areas of New York

MSSNY will request that all New York medical specialty organizations, medical schools, non-physician healthcare organizations and hospitals adopt similar resolutions.

MSSNY stands firmly against harassment and violence against any group based on their identity, such as the recent attacks on the Asian community. (Adopted, Council 6/3/21)

285.987           MSSNY Policy on Gender Equity in Medicine

MSSNY supports institutional, departmental and practice policies that promote transparency in defining the criteria for initial and subsequent physician compensation; and will advocate for pay structures based on objective, gender-neutral criteria.  MSSNY will encourage a specified approach, sufficient to identify gender disparity, to oversight of compensation models, metrics, and actual total compensation for all employed physicians; promote training to identify and mitigate implicit bias in compensation determination; recommend elimination of the question of prior salary information from job applications for physician recruitment in academic and private practice.

MSSNY will create an awareness campaign to inform physicians about their rights under the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and Equal Pay Act, which took effect in 2009, restoring protection against pay discrimination, establish educational programs to help empower all genders to negotiate equitable compensation. (HOD 2019-217)  

285.988           Advancing Gender Equity in Medicine

MSSNY will promote pay structures based on objective, gender-neutral criteria; and/or develop educational programs to help empower physicians of all genders to negotiate equitable compensation.  It will advocate for training to identify and mitigate implicit bias in compensation decision making for those in positions to determine salary and bonuses, with a focus on how subtle differences in the evaluation of physicians of different genders may impede compensation and career advancement.

MSSNY will collect and analyze comprehensive demographic data and produce a report on gender equity, including, but not limited to, membership; representation in the House of Delegates; reference committee makeup; and leadership positions within MSSNY, and disseminate this report to the House of Delegates and the MSSNY membership beginning with the Annual Meeting in 2020 and continuing yearly thereafter, with recommendations to support ongoing gender equity efforts.  (HOD 2019-216)

285.989           Discriminatory Policies that Create Inequities in Health Care

The Medical Society of the State of New York opposes policies that are discriminatory and create greater health disparities in medicine.  MSSNY will be a voice for New York’s most vulnerable populations, including sexual, gender, racial and ethnic minorities, who suffer the most under such policies, and which further widen the gaps that exist in health and wellness in our nation.  (HOD 2018-155)

285.990           Reinstate the AMA Commission to Eliminate Health Care Disparities

The Medical Society of the State of New York will urge the American Medical Association to reinstate the Commission to Eliminate Health Care Disparities, with the inclusion of goals and objectives, and Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time Related (SMART) metrics.  This resolution will be sent to the AMA for its consideration at the 2017 Annual AMA House of Delegates.  (HOD 2017-166)

285.991           Development and Utilization of Clinical Decision Support Systems to Reduce Gender Disparities and Bias in Healthcare

MSSNY will support implementation of clinical decision support systems designed to mitigate gender bias in diagnosis and treatment.  (HOD 2017-165)

285.992:          Specialty Society Committees to Eliminate Health Care Disparities

MSSNY strongly encourages all state specialty medical societies to form a Committee on Health Equity, and these committees should share ideas and work together with MSSNY’s Committee on Health Equity as a coalition. MSSNY also strongly encourages all state specialty medical societies to incorporate, within their CME courses, lectures and other academic activities, relevant information about access to care, health literacy, cultural competency, workforce diversity, management options, compliance, outcomes, and the social determinants of health that relate to healthcare disparities in their respective specialties, including race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity. (HOD 2013-163; Modified and Reaffirmed HOD 2023)

285.993           Discrimination in Child Custody Cases Against Parents with Disabilities:

MSSNY will support legislative efforts to change the New York State Social Services statutes to remove discriminatory disability language in child custody and parental termination cases.  (HOD 2009-164; Reaffirmed HOD 2019)

285.994           Eliminating Religious Discrimination from Residency Programs:

MSSNY encourages the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) to require that all residency programs become aware of and make an effort to ensure that residents be allowed to practice in a manner that does not interfere with their religious convictions, including observance of religious holidays and observances, assuming that patient care is not compromised; and that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the American Medical Association for consideration at its House of Delegates.  (HOD 2005-157; Reaffirmed HOD 2015)

285.995           Affirming the Right of Medical Student Interest Groups to Promote Medical Education in a Non-Discriminatory Manner: 

MSSNY opposes any discrimination based on an individual’s sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability, ethnic origin, national origin or age. MSSNY supports the right of medical student interest groups to organize and congregate for the purpose of furthering their medical education or enhancing patient care by improving their knowledge and understanding of various communities – without regard to their sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability, ethnic origin, national origin or age.

MSSNY opposes all acts of terrorism, violence and hate speech, and condemns antisemitism in all forms. (HOD 2005-156; Reaffirmed HOD 2015; Reaffirmed and amended HOD 2024-emergency resolution F)

285.996         Improving Sexual History Curriculum in Medical Schools: 

MSSNY encourage all medical schools in the state of New York to train medical students to be able to take a thorough and non-judgmental sexual history in a manner that is sensitive to the personal attitudes and behaviors of patients in order to decrease anxiety and personal difficulty with sexual aspects of health care; and that our American Medical Association support the creation of a public service announcement that encourages patients to discuss concerns related to sexual health with their physician and reinforces its commitment to helping patients maintain sexual health and well-being. (HOD 2005-155; Reaffirmed HOD 2015)

285.997           Sexual Assault Legislation: Sunset HOD 2011

285.998          Equality in the Provision of Quality Health Care:

The Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) reaffirms its longstanding principle that it is unequivocally opposed to any form of discrimination in the provision of quality medical care to any individual because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, national origin, gender identity, abilities, or underlying disease process.  The Society calls upon all component county medical societies as well as its entire membership to:  a) be vigilant as to the existence of any such discrimination in the provision of health care in their respective areas; b) expend every effort towards eliminating such discriminatory practices wherever they may exist, regardless of the settings in which the health care is delivered.

It is the position of MSSNY that the withholding of the best available care to any individual on a discriminatory basis is abhorrent to the Society, its membership, and the medical profession at large. The Society, therefore, vigorously affirms that equality of medical care should be scrupulously and compassionately afforded across the entire patient community, without exception.

MSSNY’s Committee on Health Equity will continue to work with the AMA’s Health Equity Center to encourage other State Medical Societies and Specialty Societies to establish standing committees to help eliminate inequities wherever they exist.   (Council 1/20/00; Reaffirmed HOD 2004-174; Reaffirmed Council 9/9/04; Revised and reaffirmed HOD 2014; Modified and reaffirmed HOD 2024).

285.999           Sexual Harassment Policy: 

The rights, privileges and responsibilities of all members of the medical profession must be commensurate with the individual’s capabilities and ethical character and based solely on standards which promote optimum patient care and welfare.  Discrimination in any form (race, sex, creed, color, national origin) as well as sexual harassment are totally unacceptable to the medical profession.  For the purposes of this policy, sexual harassment is character­ized by unwelcome or unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature where:  (1)  Submission to or rejection of this conduct by an individual is used explicitly or implicitly as a condition or factor in decisions affecting an individual’s employment or academic success; or  (2)  This conduct interferes with an individual’s work or academic performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work or academic environment.  (Council 11/4/93; Reaffirmed HOD 2014)