Leadership changes for URMC including Strong and Highland hospitals

There are some leadership changes coming to the UR Medicine Health System.

The top staffers for Strong Memorial and Highland Hospitals will have new titles and new responsibilities.

Effective July 1 Kathy Parrinello, who currently is Chief Operating Officer for Strong, will become President and CEO of that hospital, and later this year she’ll have the same titles at Highland Hospital.

Steve Goldstein, who currently is President and CEO of Strong and Highland Hospitals, will have a new role as Chief of Strategic Integration for UR Medicine.

The CEO for the University of Rochester Medical Center, Dr. David Linehan, said the idea is to better strategize how to have all the parts of the UR Medicine Health System working together.

“The main part of this is to look at ways to build programs that help each hospital because we're a system and we don't want to be a system where we're putting competing programs in different hospitals,” said Linehan. “And so we need to really think about strategy and tactics around how to best deliver care across the region.”

Goldstein has been with the UR Medical System for 28 years and he said that he looks forward to working more closely with leaders of the UR hospital affiliates “to ensure patients receive the highest quality healthcare as close to home as possible.”

Parrinello noted her new role is a homecoming of sorts for her. “Strong is where I started my career, literally as a staff nurse, and it will always have a special place in my heart.” She added that Highland is “a vibrant hospital that is critically important to our community.”

Linehan said the focus on strategy will help patients, since UR Medicine is expanding and trying to deliver specialized care closer to home for those patients, to meet the growing demand for services.

“I think this is really good news for our employees as well, because we have two strong longtime leaders who know the system very well and can help us to continue to grow in service to our ever expanding footprint of patients throughout the region,” said Linehan.

Linehan said that as baby boomers age, and the demographics of Upstate New York are changing, that is steadily increasing demand for hospitals and related services.