Dr. Russell brings more than 20 years’ experience in healthcare leadership, including health equity, innovation, and analytics
September 14, 2023 (Smithfield, RI) – Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island (Neighborhood) today announced that Kristin Russell, MD, MBA, has been appointed chief medical officer. In her role, Dr. Russell will lead Neighborhood’s efforts to ensure access to high quality care, improve health outcomes, and reduce health disparities.
“Neighborhood has an obligation to stay on the leading edge of health care so that we can maintain access to high quality, affordable care for all Rhode Islanders,” said President and CEO Peter Marino. “We’re excited about the extensive experience Dr. Russell brings in developing evidence-based programs focused on providing members across Medicare and Medicaid with effective, comprehensive, coordinated care.”
Dr. Russell comes to Neighborhood having served in key leadership roles with some of the nation’s leading health care institutions, including most recently as Associate Vice President of Enterprise Outcomes Management at Humana. While there, Dr. Russell’s primary responsibility was managing medical costs while improving quality for the company’s Medicare Advantage members. She was also instrumental in advancing the organization’s behavioral health capabilities, leading the Covid clinical response, and developing a new health equity measurement approach that received national recognition.
Previously, Dr. Russell spent ten years as a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and an attending psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to teaching medical students and residents, she treated adults and children with behavioral health conditions and counseled parents with advanced cancer about communicating with their children.
Dr. Russell is also an experienced entrepreneur with a passion for innovation and technology. She has held leadership positions at startups focused on clinical analytics and behavioral health and has advised numerous digital health companies. She enjoys mentoring student entrepreneurs at Harvard and MIT and judging startup competitions.
“I’m thrilled to be joining such a wonderful organization, and one that has served as a national benchmark for high quality, affordable health care,” said Dr. Russell. “I believe deeply in the values that guide Neighborhood, and I look forward to helping the organization continuously improve the ways in which it collaborates with its network of providers and community-based partners to better serve its members.”
Dr. Russell holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, a medical degree from Columbia University, and a Master of Business Administration from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She completed her residency at Brigham & Women’s and Beth Israel Deaconess Hospitals and her fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is board-certified in both psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry, and has served on several national committees with oversight over U.S. healthcare quality including the NCQA Committee on Performance Measurement.
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 221,000 members in the state with 82 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 12 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 over 600 employees and $1.5 billion in revenue—serves one out of every five Rhode Islanders. Learn more at nhpri.org.