Fall Conference Keynote

Health Information Technology (HIT) often appears as a largely technical endeavor. But HIT operations and policy executive Rebecca Freeman, PhD, has found that 80% of so-called technical issues can actually be traced back to culture, leadership, and human resources — the boots-on-the-ground workforce. In this talk, Rebecca will review key components that impact (and often undermine) the HIT implementation journey, including teamwork, infrastructure, analytics, training, informatics, and more.

Rebecca Freeman, PhD, is currently a HIT and change management consultant serving as Interim Chief Nursing Information Officer at the University of Vermont Health Network. Previous roles include Chief Nursing Officer at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC); Assistant Vice President of Clinical Informatics for the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA); and the Chief Nursing Information Officer and Manager of Nursing Informatics at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).

Rebecca’s work is focused primarily on EHR implementations such as clinical informatics structure development, training programs, and documentation optimization. Her ultimate goal is to enhance care, outcomes, and satisfaction for both clinicians and patients. A proud member of the 2013 cohort of the RWJF Executive Nurse Fellowship program, Rebecca is a recent inductee into the American Academy of Nursing.