Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island has chosen Mark Reynolds, a health care consultant and expert in Medicaid reform, as its new CEO, succeeding Christopher F. Koller, who stepped down in March to become state health insurance commissioner.
Founded in 1993 by the state’s community health centers, Neighborhood Health covers about 75,000 people, including 18 percent of all children in Rhode Island, on contract with the state. It has gained praise at the national level, including “Top 10” recognition among Medicare and Medicaid plans by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
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In January, before Koller’s departure, Neighborhood Health launched a national search for his replacement, with a committee led by Joseph Nagle, chairman and CEO of Delta Dental of Rhode Island and a Neighborhood Health board member, and aided by E. Catlin Donnelly & Associates.
On Tuesday, the HMO’s board of directors confirmed the group’s choice of Reynolds for the job. He will be Neighborhood Health’s second CEO ever; Koller had served since 1996.
“We benefited from a highly competitive pool of applicants,” said Ernest A. Balasco, chair of the board, interim CEO, and executive director of Wood River Health Services. “Mark’s combination of public and private sector experience, combined with his track record in Medicaid innovation, made him the stand-out choice.”
Reynolds has extensive Medicaid experience. He served as deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts Division of Medical Assistance, which runs the state Medicaid program and some other state-financed health insurance programs, and as acting commissioner, then spent two years as director of TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid program.
More recently, he served as a special assistant to Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, developing Boston’s policy on pharmaceutical purchasing, managing the search for a new police commissioner, and working to improve customer relations in the departments of transportation and public works.
A news release about Reynolds’ new appointment quotes Menino, calling him “an innovative and industrious policy-thinker who can find creative answers to complicated problems.”
Dr. Robert Master, president and CEO of Commonwealth Care Alliance, a nonprofit that provides coordinated community-based care for clients who are chronically ill or elderly, called Reynolds “a sophisticated leader with in-depth knowledge of Medicaid and the families it serves” and a “progressive vision” of Medicaid managed care’s potential.
Reynolds himself said he’s “very excited” to be joining Neighborhood Health, which he said “has a reputation as a quality-oriented health plan that has worked as a partner with the state to improve health care delivery to Medicaid participants.”
Reynolds will begin on Oct. 3, after completing some consulting engagements in the Boston area.
