Insurance plan champions diversity

Hudson Health Plan is the winner of this year's Diversity in the Workplace Award given by the Poughkeepsie Journal.


 

Reprinted from the Poughkeepsie Journal   

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

By Craig Wolf
Poughkeepsie Journal

 

The health-maintenance organization is a nonprofit, but one with a strong business plan for taking health-care insurance coverage to those who have no other access than the government programs it offers.
"The Poughkeepsie Journal, as an employer, is strongly committed to having a diverse staff and serving a diverse community," Journal Publisher Barry Rothfeld said. "It's wonderful to see that Hudson Health Plan shares that same commitment."

Hudson Health's mission works best when its staff reflects the broader community, said Sylvia Wright, regional marketing director for Hudson Health's upstate area that includes Dutchess, Ulster, Orange and Sullivan counties.

And the uninsured are not necessarily who you think they are. "There was a time when you could look at someone and say, you don't have health care. That time is past," Wright said. Today, many middle-class people have fallen into that situation as jobs disappeared. And a big surprise to many is that self-employed entrepreneurs often can't afford to buy a health plan for themselves, let alone their employees, if any.

Hudson Health has enrolled 2,759 Dutchess residents; 1,199 in Ulster and 4,461 in Orange County, Wright said. Based in Tarrytown, Westchester County, it pushed north into Dutchess about four years ago and then into Ulster. It has offices in Poughkeepsie, New Windsor, Monticello and Mount Vernon.
Its growth is rapid: 207 people signed up in Dutchess in April alone. It offers New York state's Child Health Plus and Family Health Plus as well as Medicaid managed care plans.

Wright is recruiting four more staffers to handle the work in Dutchess. The ideal candidate is half salesperson and half social worker, she said.

Hudson Health was tops among several entries received this year to win the eighth annual diversity award from the Poughkeepsie Journal. Review and selection was made by a panel of newsroom staff members and three from readers in the community.

Margaret White, a community panelist, said of Hudson Health, "What struck me as positive is that overall they seemed to be doing a good job in terms of diversity in their workplace environment."
Wright said Hudson Health staff member Andrea Karpel showed her the article soliciting nominations and suggested applying.

Robert Vivolo, an analyst at Hudson Health, said in the nomination statement he prepared that diversity is one of the organization's core values, with the others being respect, responsibility, excellence and community.

Margot Velez, who supervises Hudson Health's Poughkeepsie office, said the Dutchess market had already been penetrated by competitors when her group entered.
"A very diverse staff allowed us to go into the community and reach out," she said.
The award will be given at a June 13 luncheon at Dutchess Community College along with the Poughkeepsie Journal's Businessperson of the Year Award.