Publications outline Neighborhood’s workplace and community commitments toward equity
December 18, 2023 (Smithfield, RI) – Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island (Neighborhood) today released its inaugural 4Report and 4Report Scorecard. Together the documents outline Neighborhood’s organizational commitments toward equity and measure the progress of its efforts. The 4Report and Scorecard are the first of their kind publicly published by Neighborhood.
Since its establishment 30 years ago by its Community Health Center founders, Neighborhood has been advocating for access to high quality, cost-effective health care for all Rhode Islanders. It has done this through empowering its members, fostering partnerships, driving innovation, demonstrating outcomes through data, developing an exceptional workplace culture, and focusing on health equity.
“By publicly publishing and sharing these reports, Neighborhood hopes to draw attention to how it is making a difference in the lives of our members and within the communities we serve,” said Neighborhood’s President & CEO, Peter Marino. “We are testing our bench strength, holding ourselves accountable, and sharing best practices as we implement strategies to make affordable and quality healthcare available to all.”
4Report:
The 4Report is designed to define two principles and four commitments guiding the organization toward one fundamental purpose: Equity4All. The two principles are:
- Equity4People – focused on developing diversity and inclusion within Neighborhood, so its workforce can advocate for equity in the communities it serves.
- People4Equity – continuing Neighborhood’s work with its health, social, policy, and community partners to address health disparities in Rhode Island and ensure equitable access to quality, data-driven, and cost-effective health care for everyone.
Working in tandem and supporting these principles are four defined commitments to put Neighborhood’s work into action:
- Build a stronger workforce by broadening our diverse and inclusive environment.
- Ensure everyone has a seat and a voice at the table.
- Use data to advocate for equity and achieve measurable impact.
- Accelerate health equity by supporting and working in underserved communities.
4Report Scorecard:
The Scorecard is a companion document to the 4Report. It outlines specific actions aligned to the 4Report principles and commitments. It tracks progress, measures impact, and identifies future activities. It also is a platform for Neighborhood to hold itself accountable and share its actions and findings for others to join in and learn from as well.
“By broadening our diverse and inclusive work environment, our teams are better able to meet the needs of our members, providers, and communities,” said Neighborhood’s Chief Diversity Officer, Talia Brookshire. “Neighborhood is excited to introduce the 4Report as part of our commitment to improving equity. I personally hope you will follow our ever-evolving journey.”
Through these efforts, Neighborhood has:
- Restructured its Human Resources (HR) and Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into a newly established People Division under which HR reports to the Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) who reports to the CEO. This approach enables the organization to review organizational policies, procedures, and job descriptions to ensure all attributes and strengths are recognized.
- Launched ten Employee Resource Groups with a goal of maintaining between 20-25% participation; evaluated inclusivity sentiment among employees and committed to maintain or increase the 72% score based on its employee engagement survey in 2024; evaluated its pay structures and health care premiums; and revamped its tuition reimbursement program to invest in employees at the start of a course instead of reimbursing after completion.
- Merged member data from siloed databases to create broader accessibility to race and ethnicity information and analysis; begun identifying areas of focus for Health Equity Committee.
- Improved immunization rates among members and leveraged synergies with community partners.
Read Neighborhood’s 4Report and the 4Report Scorecard, which provides a glimpse of Neighborhood’s areas of focus through 2025, at nhpri.org/about-us/4-report. Learn more about Neighborhood, including its recent rating of 4.5 out of 5 in NCQA’s Medicaid Health Plan Ratings 2023 at nhpri.org.
About Neighborhood:
Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island (Neighborhood) is a not-for-profit health maintenance organization (HMO) founded in December 1993 in partnership with Rhode Island’s Community Health Centers and the state to ensure everyone in Rhode Island has access to high quality, cost-effective health care. Neighborhood serves over 230,000 members in the state with 84 percent of its membership Medicaid eligible through its ACCESS and TRUST plans and 6 percent of its membership utilizing Neighborhood’s INTEGRITY Medicare-Medicaid Plan (MMP). About 10 percent of Neighborhood’s members are individuals, families and small businesses who select one of eight Neighborhood commercial plans available through the health exchange, HealthSourceRI. Of these members, about 85 percent qualify for federal subsidies to cover a portion of their costs. Today, Neighborhood—with nearly 650 employees and $1.6 billion in revenue—serves one out of every five Rhode Islanders. Learn more at nhpri.org.
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