A heart built for service

PURPOSEFUL SUCCESS: Shantha Diaz, chief operating officer of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, has taken an approach to solving challenges that has helped the health insurer succeed despite more than doubling its member count in the last four years. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
PURPOSEFUL SUCCESS: Shantha Diaz, chief operating officer of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, has taken an approach to solving challenges that has helped the health insurer succeed despite more than doubling its member count in the last four years. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Shantha Diaz balances high energy and motivation with a calm and focused approach to goals. The chief operating officer of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island follows several philosophies she attributes to her upbringing and Indian culture.

Diaz calls it the Three Ps: prayer, perseverance and patience.

“Life happens,” Diaz said. “Things come about, but you have to make sure that you navigate through all of these things and come out successful.”

Diaz’s life exemplifies perseverance and success.

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She started her career as a typist for Air India in the late ’70s. She worked her way up, teaching herself programming to computerize calculations. Her airline work led to her earning a post-graduate diploma in computer applications, which opened more doors for her, including immigration to the United States.

Once here, Diaz held positions at International Data Group, Humana, then Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield in Louisville, Ky. At each post, she worked her way into management.

As staff vice president of medical business solutions, Diaz helped Anthem develop a clinical implementation platform that replaced four medical management systems. The project had a budget of $19.5 million with an estimated savings of $350 million by 2014. Diaz also oversaw the migration of 2.5 million members and more than 250 users – on time and on budget.

When the COO position at Neighborhood opened up, Diaz was ready, despite feeling like she was “almost like starting from scratch,” moving to Rhode Island after 21 years in Kentucky.

“I’m all about building relationships, getting to know people for them to get to know me. If … they start trusting you, people will become your friends and you start building your support network,” Diaz said.

Diaz has overseen an explosion of growth at Neighborhood, due to the Affordable Care Act and efforts by Rhode Island to get more residents insured. When she arrived, the system had 90,000 members, built up over 20 years. Four years later, that number has more than doubled, and the number of available providers jumped 74 percent between 2013 and 2016.

To help manage the growth, Diaz implemented the COO Scorecard, a monthly report that provides real feedback on departments’ performance.

Other achievements include streamlining the claims process, implementing new ways to gauge expectations and maintaining an administrative cost level of 6-8 percent for the past three years, while growing her staff from 125 to 270.

“Shantha is a driven leader with a calm and purposeful style,” said Neighborhood CEO Peter M. Marino. “She is a strong advocate for her team, but she also consistently promotes an enterprise-wide perspective for Neighborhood. Shantha is always on the lookout for a better way to serve our 185,000 members.”

Such major growth means occasional rocky phases, Diaz said, but again, perseverance is key. She looks at what needs to be done, and what process will get it there.

Process is woven throughout Diaz’s life, including her passion – working with the American Heart Association. Diaz lost both of her parents and her brother to heart attacks, but was surprised when a doctor said she was “a walking, ticking time bomb” herself. She made changes and saw a dramatic improvement in her heart health within weeks. She has since made it her mission to inform as many people as possible that heart disease is preventable.

“That’s kind of my quest,” Diaz said.

She is a member of the executive leadership team of Southern New England’s Go Red for Women Campaign and encouraged Neighborhood’s corporate sponsorship of its 2016 luncheon. Diaz chaired the record-breaking event, which saw more than 650 attendees and $300,000 raised.

Also a partner for Year-UP, Diaz mentors and coaches underprivileged young adults through education and internships, many of which have been at Neighborhood.

“I look forward to what is to come,” said Renee Aloisio of LGC+D LLP, who met Diaz through Go Red for Women. “With Shantha, there is always more. She is truly a servant leader who gives not only to her organization, she gives to her community, her contemporaries and is an advocate and supporter of emerging leaders.”

“When I look at it in a broader perspective, it’s not all about working and earning more,” Diaz said. “I want to make sure that in this part of my life, I’m being useful, I’m sharing my talents, my resources.” •

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