Quality care and patient safety
Providing award-winning, high-quality care
At NeighborHealth, we are committed to providing our patients high-quality, evidence-based care in a safe and compassionate environment. Our rigorous quality program extends to all corners of our health center and our clinical care regularly outperforms state and national community health benchmarks.
As a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), we are regulated by both federal and state agencies that require health centers to meet certain criteria to maintain accreditation and licensure. As part of this process, NeighborHealth participates in several regulatory and accreditation visits each year. In addition to these external audits, NeighborHealth quality and compliance administrators regularly conduct internal audits and closely monitor patient satisfaction – an essential component to high-quality care.
In 2024, NeighborHealth was recognized for excellence in quality care by the Department of Health and Human Services’ HRSA agency, receiving four quality badges.
These include the National Quality Leader Cancer Screening badge, awarded to the top 1% of FQHCs, and the Health Center Quality Leader Silver Badge, awarded to the top 11-20% of health centers.
We put patients first
At NeighborHealth, we believe the first step to achieving patient satisfaction is to understand our healthcare experience through our patient’s eyes. Our leadership and staff are committed to cultivating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all our patients, many of whom are newcomers to our community. Our diverse staff are empowered to bring their unique background and experience to support patients in their healthcare journey — every patient, every encounter, every time.
In addition to ongoing patient experience monitoring, NeighborHealth partners with The Crossroads Group, an external vendor, to complete an annual patient satisfaction survey. In 2023, 90.3% of NeighborHealth patients surveyed were satisfied with their care.
Following is an overview of our most recent quality performance.
| 2023 Uniform Data Set (UDS) Data | |||
|
Measure |
NeighborHealth Performance |
State |
National |
| WOMEN’S HEALTH | |||
| Breast Cancer Screening |  Exceeded State & U.S. Average |
62.3% | 52.4% |
| Early Entry into Prenatal Care | Exceeded State & U.S. Average |
79.5% | 71.0% |
| Cervical Cancer Screening | Exceeded State & U.S. Average |
62.4% | 55.0% |
| Healthy Birth Weight | Exceeded State & U.S. Average |
92.3% | 92.6% |
| PREVENTATIVE SCREENINGS | |||
| Colorectal Cancer Screening | Exceeded State & U.S. Average |
48.8% | 41.1% |
| HIV Linkage to Care | Exceeded State & U.S. Average |
82.2% | 79.7% |
|
Weight Screening and Counseling for Adults |
Exceeded State & U.S. Average |
52.1% | 67.1% |
| Statin Therapy for the Prevention and Treatment of Cardiovascular Disease | Exceeded State & U.S. Average |
77.8% | 77.3% |
| Tobacco Use: Screening and Cessation Intervention | Exceeded State Average |
79.0% | 84.9% |
| PEDIATRIC HEALTH | |||
| Childhood Immunization Status | Exceeded State & U.S. Average |
45.2% | 30.2% |
| Weight and Nutritional Assessment and Counseling for Children | Exceeded State & U.S. Average |
60.9% | 71.5% |
At NeighborHealth, some of the initiatives we are working on to bring additional resources to bear in our communities include
Expansion of Mental Health Services
NeighborHealth currently employs more than 50 behavioral health providers, 43% of whom identify as Latino. This is 30% higher than the national average of Latino representation in the behavioral health field. Later this summer, we will open a new multi-million dollar behavioral health urgent care at our 10 Gove Street location to serve the growing mental health needs of children and adults in our community.
Access to Care
We are expanding capacity for patients and improving our facility infrastructure. We have made major investments to improve and expand our 24/7 Emergency Department. We have completed a more than $16-million dollar renovation of our Pediatric and Adult Medicine exam rooms, as well as major renovations of our Emergency Department facilities at 10 Gove St where we will offer new CT scanner services. We opened a senior care center in Everett to support families farther away from our main East Boston campus. Additionally, we have multiple additional projects under review to expand senior care services in East Boston as well as significant plans to expand primary care capacity at the East Boston Campus.
Patient Experience and Feedback
We continue our regular in-person and virtual forums of community collaboration and conversation with partners, patients and families. Additionally, launched in late 2022, our new Office of the Patient Advocate offers an additional access point for patient feedback support, navigation and resolution. In our most recent annual patient satisfaction survey, conducted by a third party vendor, more than 90% of NeighborHealth patients were satisfied with their care. We are committed to forums to enable Patient Advisors to share experiences and help shape the direction of the health system for the betterment and health of our community. Our Board of Directors, most of whom are patients of NeighborHealth and leaders in our communities, is actively involved in patient care and experience initiatives. Learn more.
Language Access and Cultural Humility
Through its longstanding Department for Medical Interpreting, NeighborHealth provided more than 205,000 medical interpretations in the last year, far exceeding volume of interpretations completed at large nearby hospitals. NeighborHealth also requires cultural humility training of all its staff and offers 15 additional diversity and cultural humility trainings available to all staff.
