Finger Lakes Performing Provider System (FLPPS) and Common Ground Health-Greater Rochester Regional Health Information Organization (Rochester RHIO) are combining operations, the organizations announced today. The boards of both entities have selected current FLPPS CEO Carol Tegas to serve as CEO of the new combined organization. The finalization of this combination and Carol’s appointment is planned for April 1.
The new organization will build on the strengths and experience of each entity. These include FLPPS’ skills improving healthcare delivery and health outcomes through collaborative partnerships. These strengths also include Rochester RHIO’s expertise providing a secure, quality-ensured health and social determinant information exchange and Common Ground’s data analysis, convening and community-engagement experience. Rochester RHIO and Common Ground combined in 2024.
Kathy Parrinello, FLPPS board co-chair and Strong Memorial Hospital/Highland Hospital president and CEO, said, “FLPPS is a valuable partner to clinicians and communities, working collaboratively to enhance healthcare delivery in our region. By joining forces with Common Ground Health-Rochester RHIO, these nonprofit entities will be stronger together. They will be better aligned and well-positioned to meet the evolving healthcare needs of the partners and communities we serve.”
Melissa Gardner, Common Ground Health-Rochester RHIO board chair and president and COO of the Rochester Regional Health Clinically Integrated Network, said, “This is an exciting time in healthcare in our region, as FLPPS and Common Ground Health-Rochester RHIO come together to improve our health delivery system. Our two boards of directors could not have made a better choice to lead this organization into the future than Carol Tegas.”
“I am honored and humbled that the boards of directors have chosen me to lead this combined organization,” Tegas said. “Each of these organizations is integral to improving healthcare across the Finger Lakes region. Together, we will be in an even stronger position to further transform health delivery. I look forward to building on the tremendous work that Common Ground-Rochester RHIO leaders – including Marlene Bessette and former co-CEO Wade Norwood – have done before me.”
Bessette is retiring as Common Ground Health-Rochester RHIO CEO in March.
“Carol and I have worked closely for years, and this merger of all three legacy organizations has been underway since 2024,” Bessette said. “She can expertly lead a team to scale interventions that address costly and preventable health conditions across our region. She is able to adapt approaches to rural and underserved communities, and she is committed to breaking down barriers, so people can live their healthiest lives.”
“Carol is the right choice to be the CEO of this new combined organization,” said Norwood, who transitioned from co-CEO to Chief Advancement and Government Relations Officer for Common Ground Health-Rochester RHIO Jan. 1. “Carol has boundless energy, embraces challenges and has a keen auditor’s eye for details. From the moment we met, almost twenty years ago, I’ve known her to be a friend and a community visionary that shares my love for our region and its children and families.”
Carol Tegas: More than three decades of experience
As CEO of FLPPS since its inception over a decade ago, Tegas has been responsible for working with clinical and community partners across the Finger Lakes region, implementing large-scale healthcare system transformation initiatives and innovative programs to improve health outcomes. These efforts include the five-year $565 million NYS Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) Program, the Greater Rochester Health Home Network Medicaid care management program, and most recently, the new $118 million NYS Career Pathways Training Program under their Workforce Investment Organization (WIO).
An accomplished, visionary healthcare executive, Tegas has more than 35 years of experience in healthcare and nonprofit strategic planning and governance, including previously serving as executive director of Rochester Community IPA, a network of over 3,000 physicians and providers.
Active in the community, Tegas serves on the boards of the Rochester Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative, Council of Agency Executives, Hillside Family of Agencies, Coordinated Care Services, Ronald McDonald House, and NorthStar Network Healthcare Business Academy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from St. John Fisher College and past credentials as a certified public accountant and certified internal auditor.
“Carol has led FLPPS through times of great change while staying focused on supporting health and health care organizations,” said Jennifer Eslinger, co-chair of FLPPS’ board of directors and president of healthcare operations and COO at Rochester Regional Health. “She is the right choice to help the combined organization realize its vision.”
“Through Carol’s leadership and the organization’s combined work, knowledge base and resources, we can make an even greater impact on the region’s health,” said Ann Marie Cook, vice chair of Common Ground Health/Rochester RHIO and president and CEO of Lifespan. “This allows us to be innovative, financially responsible and focused on our collective mission to improve health outcomes in our community.”
About the legacy organizations:
Common Ground Health is the nonprofit health research and planning organization for the Rochester-Finger Lakes region. It brings together community members and leaders from healthcare, education, business, government and other sectors to find common ground on health challenges.
The Rochester Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) is a nonprofit providing a secure health information exchange to the healthcare community in 14 counties of the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier. Its primary goal is to share patient healthcare information in a secure environment to improve patient care and reduce system inefficiencies.
Finger Lakes Performing Provider System (FLPPS) is a network of clinical and community-based providers working together across the 13-county Finger Lakes region to transform healthcare delivery, advance system transformation and population health, close gaps in care, and support high-risk individuals and populations. FLPPS is a NYS-designated Workforce Investment Organization (WIO) selected by the NYS Department of Health to support regional management of the CPT Program. The FLPPS WIO is focused on strengthening the healthcare workforce through programs and services that diversify the healthcare workforce pipeline and provide opportunities for those who may not otherwise have them, while supporting the community’s economic mobility.