New York State Occupational Health Clinic Network

The New York State Occupational Health Clinic Network (OHCN) is recognized as the first partially publicly funded, statewide, public health-based network offering clinical and preventive occupational disease services. We were created to address the need for specialized regional occupational health centers open to all state residents for the diagnosis and treatment of occupational diseases following a report by researchers from Mount Sinai and other institutions on the problem of occupational disease in New York State. The report concluded that the state’s resources, both in clinical facilities and professionals trained in occupational health, were inadequate to meet the public health need. 

Today, the network has 11 clinical centers around the state, and the New York State Department of Health has general oversight responsibility. Staffed by physicians with a specialty in occupational medicine and with expertise in epidemiology and toxicology, these clinical centers serve as regional centers of excellence in occupational medicine. Network clinical centers develop strong linkages with health care providers in the community in order to provide high quality, integrated and coordinated occupational medicine care and to contribute to the public health of workers in New York State.