Since 2012, Liz has worked as an advocate and on a variety of professional development and policy projects for healthcare organizations in Western New York and across the state.
BUFFALO, NY, February 01, 2024 /24-7PressRelease/ — Elizabeth “Liz” Urbanski-Farrell, MBA, MSc, has been included in Marquis Who’s Who. As in all Marquis Who’s Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
With more than a decade of excellence in healthcare advocacy and project management, Ms. Urbanski-Farrell has earned distinction as a senior fellow for the New York State Public Health Corps (NYSPHC) at the Erie County Department of Health in Buffalo, NY and The Rural Outreach Center in East Aurora, NY, under contract with Public Consulting Group/SSO.
Within the coming years, Ms. Urbanski-Farrell is particularly interested in using her experience and expertise in healthcare strategy, administration, and policy, working with government, public and private organizations to innovate new strategies and organizational models to solve persistent healthcare challenges.
Since 2012, Liz has worked as an advocate and on a variety of professional development and policy projects for healthcare organizations in Western New York and across the state. A former director of member services and government relations with the Western New York Healthcare Association–a regional affiliate of the Healthcare Association of New York State–she supported 25 healthcare organizations across eight counties, managing several projects including a $17 million financial program for hospitals in Erie and Niagara counties. She served as a registered state and federal lobbyist and ran membership programs including annual surveys and professional development committees. As part of an effort to support value-based purchasing and hospital quality initiatives, Liz re-organized and reinvigorated the work of a regional, interdisciplinary quality and patient safety committee, began a committee on nursing, and managed professional support and programming for healthcare compliance, finance, and human resources committees.
In her current position as a senior public health fellow at The Rural Outreach Center in East Aurora, NY, Liz oversees the work of two NYSPHC fellows to analyze and publish results and relevant data comparisons resulting from The Rural Outreach Center’s 2022 Rural Community Health Survey while supporting regulatory work, grant applications, service delivery and process models. The survey aims to compare resident-reported data to target and improve services to residents of Allegany, Wyoming, Genesee, Cattaraugus, and southern Erie counties. Liz also managed the creation of a rural development hub pilot model to expand regional services to Western Southern Tier communities based on identified needs.
In 2022, Liz coordinated and managed the 2024 community health assessment report process for the Erie County Department of Health, overseeing the work of three NYSPHC fellows conducting secondary research and survey data analysis and assisting with community health partner communication and collaboration. In 2023, she created and ran a successful program to encourage physician practices to refer qualified patients to chronic disease self-management programs in Erie County census tracts with the highest rate of chronic disease and health disparities, with a 91% conversion rate among decision-makers. In this project she worked collaboratively with several area healthcare partner organizations including Western New York Integrated Care Collaborative, YMCA, and Jewish Community Centers; Erie County Department of Senior Services, the American Heart Association, Catholic Health System and Kaleida Health.
In December 2023, Liz presented a well-received workshop on her work to address chronic health disparities to a statewide gathering of New York State Public Health Corps colleagues, government health officials, educators, and health-related non-profit leaders at the New York State Public Health Corps (NYSPHC) Summit in Albany, NY. She is one of eight fellows selected to present her work. There are more than 550 NYSPHC fellows.
Since 2018, Liz has served as a board member for Healthy Community Alliance, a rural health network serving southern Erie, Chautauqua, and Cattaraugus counties, since 2018; and is a member of the policy committee for the New York State Association for Rural Health (NYSARH). She has served as a regional representative member on the Healthcare Financial Management Association of Western New York Board of Directors and of the Statewide Steering Committee on Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety and participated in and led numerous cross-functional teams and projects supporting the delivery of healthcare services in Western New York’s eight counties.
Prior to her current roles, Ms. Urbanski-Farrell served as a board member and member relations chair for the Women’s Press Club of New York State and was an adjunct communications professor for Buffalo State College. Liz continually relies on her instincts and communication skills developed in her first career as a journalist, assistant night city editor, business section editor and freelance writer for Buffalo Business First, The Buffalo News, AP and CNS Wire Services and other specialty publications.
Ms. Urbanski-Farrell continued her career as an executive assistant for the Western New York Healthcare Association in 2008 and was promoted to the director of member services and government relations in 2015. She then served as the interim chief executive officer and interim president for Community Care of Western NY and its subsidiaries, Home Care and Hospice of WNY and Total Senior Care, in 2021. From 2020-2022, she was a chairman for the board of managers with the CBO Consortium of Upstate New York.
Among her professional accomplishments, Ms. Urbanski-Farrell has a prior career as an award-winning journalist and public relations communicator, honored with a Top Enterprise Article and Well-Done Award from the Gannett Corporation and won first place for a feature story from the New York Press Association. She also won first place for Best News Reporting, State or Local Matter, by the North American chapter of the Catholic Press Association and was honored with an Admissions Marketing Report Award in the external publications category.
Prior to embarking on her professional journey, Ms. Urbanski-Farrell earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism cum laude with minor concentrations in fine arts and psychology from Buffalo State University. Following this achievement, she attained a Master of Science in healthcare policy and research from the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences in 2021, where she was selected for a merit scholarship, simultaneously earning a Master of Business Administration in healthcare leadership from Cornell University the same year, earning an overall GPA in the dual-degree program of 3.68 while working full-time. She also served as a content editor for the Cornell Healthcare Review student journal in fall 2019. Eminently qualified in her field, she holds numerous certifications in nutrition and healthy living, project management, leadership, and public speaking. She also received a certificate in paralegal studies from the Center for Legal Studies in 2006.
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