Mount Sinai implements Own the Bone® program for fragility fracture patients

Program provides fracture liaison service to better document, track, and benchmark individualized care

New York, NY (July 8, 2025) – The Leni and Peter W. May Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has implemented the American Orthopaedic Association’s Own the Bone® program, joining more than 300 health care institutions nationwide to help better identify, evaluate, and treat patients who experience an osteoporosis- or low bone density-related fractures.

The program brings attention to the severe health implications of fragility fractures (broken bones that result from a fall from standing height or less) and the multi-faceted approach hospitals or clinics can incorporate to ensure these patients receive the most comprehensive care.

According to the Bone Health & Osteoporosis Foundation, up to 50 percent of all women and 25 percent of men over 50 will sustain a fragility fracture at some point in their lives. Studies show that patients who have had a fragility fracture are two to four times more likely to experience another fracture than those who have never had a fracture, yet fewer than 50 percent of Medicare patients receive recommended osteoporosis care following a fragility fracture.

Through the Own the Bone® program and its national web-based quality improvement registry, Mount Sinai now offers a fracture liaison service to help document, track, and benchmark care of fragility fracture patients. Through the service, a care coordinator such as a nurse or physician’s assistant will ensure that fragility fracture patients are identified, evaluated, and treated according to their specific needs.

Mount Sinai has also incorporated Own the Bone’s 10 prevention measures to improve patient care, including nutrition, physical activity and lifestyle counseling, pharmacotherapy recommendation and initiation (when appropriate), bone mineral density testing recommendation and initiation, and communication regarding patient risk factors and recommendations via physician referral and patient education letters.

“The Own the Bone program is a tremendous opportunity to better service our patients with a more individualized approach to fracture care,” Leesa M. Galatz, MD, Mount Sinai Professor and Chair, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said. “The department is proud to add yet another means of providing superior orthopedic care to our community by offering an extraordinary, personalized experience for individuals suffering from fragility fractures.”

“Wellness, independence, and quality of life are so closely tied to bone health, and unfortunately osteoporosis is often not appropriately addressed,” Own the Bone Program Coordinator Phoebe Ke, PA-C, MHA, CCD, said. “We have a wonderful opportunity to help patients work towards bone health and prevent fractures through our Own the Bone program, and I am honored to be part of our patients' bone health journeys.”

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 11 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 2024-2025.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.

About the AOA

The American Orthopaedic Association, founded in 1887, is the oldest national orthopaedic association in the world. The AOA’s mission is to identify, develop, engage and recognize leadership to further the art and science of orthopaedics. For additional information about the AOA, visit www.aoassn.org. For additional information about Own the Bone, visit www.ownthebone.org.

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