Bettina Tweardy Riveros, J.D.
Chief Public Affairs Officer and Chief Health Equity Officer | ChristianaCare
Wilmington, DE, UNITED STATES
Leads health equity and government affairs strategies to advance ChristianaCare's vision and mission to serve the community.
Spotlight
Biography
Bettina Tweardy Riveros, J.D., is chief public affairs officer and chief health equity officer for ChristianaCare. As chief public affairs officer, Riveros leads ChristianaCare’s comprehensive public affairs activities, building on the health system’s strong community relationships, reputation, brand and nonprofit mission to serve our neighbors as respectful, expert, caring partners in their health. She oversees all aspects of ChristianaCare’s external relations, marketing, communications, brand and reputation, government and community affairs, health policy, community benefit and investment and philanthropy, across the ChristianaCare enterprise.
As chief health equity officer, Riveros leads the Office of Health Equity and advances organization-wide initiatives to create equitable systems of care. In this role, she oversees initiatives to achieve health equity, address disparities in health care and health outcomes, ensure culturally and linguistically appropriate care, advocate for policies to improve health equity and advance an integrated social care framework to improve the health of every person in all the communities ChristianaCare serves.
Areas of Expertise (6)
Community Engagement
Health Policy
Strategy
Vision
Government Affairs
Health Equity
Education (2)
Villanova University School of Law, VIllanova, PA: J.D., Law 1988
Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA: B.S. 1985
Multimedia
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Links and Image Galleries (1)
Media Appearances (5)
ChristianaCare Earns National Award for Equity of Care from American Hospital Association
Christina Care News online
2021-05-24
“At ChristianaCare, we are committed to improving health for everyone—in all of the communities we serve,” said Bettina Tweardy Riveros, chief health equity officer at ChristianaCare.
ChristianaCare Connects with Community Partners to Address Social Determinants of Health in Delaware
Strategic Health Care Marketing online
2020-11-17
When Bettina Tweardy Riveros joined ChristianaCare as chief health equity officer in 2016, she assumed responsibility for engaging community stakeholders in partnerships that advance ChristianaCare’s vision for a healthy Delaware. According to Riveros, the guiding principles of building strong community partnerships can be summed up in the phrase “nothing about us, without us.” This method of engaging community partners entails active listening. “We reached out to community partners, actively listened to them, and spent time assuring them that we understood their community needs, and that we planned to include that in our framework,” she says. In 2019, ChristianaCare ushered in its first “community investment fund,” a unique strategic initiative based on collaboration with community partners to solve the social, behavioral, and environmental factors that amplify adverse health outcomes. Using its “bio-psycho-social” model of care, ChristianaCare works to address the conditions people grow, live, and play in, known as the social determinants of health.
Christiana Care to review health care in Delaware prisons
Delaware Public Media
2019-08-22
Bettina Tweardy Riveros is Christiana Care's chief health equity officer and senior vice president for government affairs and community engagement. She is working with the clinical team on the new initiative. She says the team does not include experts on prison health care, but will concentrate on the clinical arena. “We’ll be looking at care delivery structure and methods, some clinical workflow, how people are transferred for acute care, how medical staff take advantage of clinical data and analytics and clinical health records,” said Riveros.
Department Of Correction Initiates Review Of Correctional Healthcare System
1st State Update
2019-08-22
“At Christiana Care, we serve our neighbors as respectful, expert, caring partners in their health. We are especially focused on working with partners throughout our community to meet the physical and behavioral health needs of our most vulnerable populations,” said Bettina Tweardy Riveros, Christiana Care chief health equity officer and senior vice president, government affairs and community engagement. “We are glad to provide our health care expertise to the Department of Correction, and we hope that our recommendations will enable the DOC to ensure the delivery of quality care in its facilities and make a positive impact on the health of our community.”...
ChristianaCare partners with Las Americas ASPIRA Academy
Hockessin Community News online
2018-12-24
“We want the ASPIRA students to have the tools they need to learn and stay healthy, and we are looking forward to what we hope will be a lasting partnership,” said Bettina Tweardy Riveros, chief health equity officer and senior vice president of government affairs and community engagement at Christiana Care.
Selected Papers and Publications (2)
Why CEnR Matters for Health Equity
Delaware Journal of Public Health2018 Community-Engaged Research (CEnR) has become the talk of the town in translational research. The National Institute of Health (NIH), the predominant funder of research in the United States, has made translational research a priority, and emphasizes community engagement in as a necessary component of translational research.
Closing the Gap in Health Disparities with Systems Engineering Techniques – One Language at a Time
AcademyHealth2018-06-25
Previous studies showed that patients of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) experience health disparities and are at risk of poor quality healthcare, decreased satisfaction with care, adverse events and chronic and acute complications due to language barriers with their providers.
Selected Honors & Awards (1)
Honored for Service to Delaware Health Care Commission
2014
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