In April, Kaleida Health and its affiliates introduced a new integrated service line strategy to ensure a more streamlined approach to care delivery.
Integrated service lines will allow us to plan and operate our clinical services holistically across the system. The new model, which is coordinated across Kaleida Health, our affiliates and partners, aligns best practices, leverages economies of scale, improves the patient experience and enhances connection across the network.
As the next phase of this strategy, we are excited to announce new service line leaders for our cardiovascular and women's health service lines.
Katrina Karas, who joined Kaleida Health in April from Rochester Regional Health (RRH) as the first service line leader, will oversee the cardiovascular and neurosciences service lines.
Karas previously served as vice president of the Sands-Constellation Heart Institute at RRH. She also served as associate vice president of cardiac services as well as operations director of cardiology at RRH. Karas was previously director of ambulatory, transplant and renal services at ECMC as well.
She has a bachelor’s degree from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania and a Master of Health Administration from The Ohio State University. Karas is a member of Premier Inc., Cardiovascular Sourcing Committee and American College of Healthcare Executives. In addition, she is a Leadership Buffalo graduate.
Jessica Zakrzewski, MSN, RN, has been named the service line leader for women's health. Zakrzewski most recently served as the clinical director of women's services for General Physician, PC (GPPC). Prior to that, she was the clinical quality program manager for Amerigroup, Anthem Health. Previous roles include manager of case management at Independent Health Association and case and utilization management at Healthnow.
Zakrzewski received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing from Daemen University.
These initial service line leaders will work with various entity leadership to create structures that make sense for each service line.
Stay tuned for more details as we hire additional service line leaders to move this effort forward.