December 2024 Common Ground Newsletter

Dear friends,

We are excited to announce to you today that Common Ground Health, our region’s health planning entity, and the Rochester Regional Health Information Organization (RRHIO), which operates the region’s health and social determinants information exchange, are combining.

As we become stronger together, we believe this new entity will benefit our area by improving health outcomes and advancing health innovation. It will do this by combining the RRHIO’s expertise providing a secure and quality ensured health and social determinant information exchange with Common Ground’s data analysis, convening and community engagement expertise.

The respective boards of Common Ground and the RRHIO asked us to serve as co-CEOs of the combined organization because our unique skill sets complement each other and are both needed to deliver the vision of the new organization.

Staff reductions are not anticipated as our organizations are already quite lean. Joining forces will increase our ability to innovate. It will also help us achieve a more sustainable future and maintain local oversight of data gathered throughout our region.

Through this combination, we will be better able to coordinate strategy and share investment in high-cost resources. We also hope to have a greater ability to promote health equity by accessing new funding opportunities and advancing initiatives designed with and guided by the community.

Over the next few months, we will be working on creating a shared new identity, which we will release in the spring. But for now, don’t expect to see big changes. We will continue doing business as usual under our own respective names.

Behind the scenes, we will be working to build the bridge between data and action.

We invite you to come along on that journey.

Thank you,

Marlene Bessette and Wade Norwood

Co-CEOs of the combined RRHIO and Common Ground Health