Navigating Healthcare Transformation at the Speed of Change
The pace of change in healthcare is accelerating. From new care-delivery models to digital-first expectations and workforce pressures, pediatric organizations are navigating complex transformation on every front.
At NRC Health’s 2026 Pediatric Collaborative, March 25–26 in Orlando, Florida, pediatric healthcare leaders will take the stage for a candid panel discussion: “Navigating Healthcare Transformation at the Speed of Change.”
Their goal: to share real-world strategies that break down silos, align priorities, and deliver better outcomes for patients, families, and staff.
The panel moves beyond high-level ideas to explore real-world practices helping pediatric organizations align outstanding clinical care with deeply human experiences.
Why This Session Matters Right Now
Pediatric care is uniquely complex. Children aren’t just smaller adults; their care journeys involve parents, caregivers, schools, and community partners. Meanwhile, leaders face operational headwinds (capacity, throughput, workforce retention), rising patient and family expectations (access, communication, digital tools), and the need to harmonize clinical quality with experience data to drive meaningful change.
This panel connects those dots, showing how collaborative leadership across clinical, operational, and experience domains can create a more resilient, responsive organization.
You’ll leave with practical insights you can apply the moment you get home.
Meet the panel
Jennifer Baron, Chief Experience Officer, NRC Health
As NRC Health’s first Chief Experience Officer, Jennifer brings more than 30 years in healthcare and a career-long focus on improving access and designing better experiences for patients, families, and clinicians. Her leadership roles include CXO at UC Davis Health and Executive Director of Experience Design at Indiana University Health. A certified patient experience professional with a communications background from Ball State University, Jennifer translates human-centered design into measurable organizational outcomes.
Matt Bennett, Assistant Vice President, Patient & Family Services & Experience, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
Matt leads system-wide patient and family experience strategy at CHOP, partnering with executive leadership and the board on performance and transformation. He sponsors enterprise initiatives across automation, digital innovation, patient-facing technology, and quality improvement, overseeing more than 350 staff and stewarding programs that have delivered over $200 million in financial and operational impact. He’s known for turning strategy into execution and building cross-functional teams that deliver measurable, sustained results.
Jon Roberts, M.D., FAAP, FCCP, Director, Pediatric Pulmonology, Driscoll Children’s Hospital
Dr. Roberts brings the clinician’s perspective with a focus on asthma, home ventilation, and complex chronic care. Since joining Driscoll Children’s Hospital in 2011, he led the creation of South Texas’s first cystic fibrosis center. He is passionate about quality improvement, medical education, and patient-centered care, and his experience bridges bedside realities with system-level change.
What You'll Learn
By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:
- Analyze how rapid shifts in healthcare, from digital adoption to workforce dynamics, are reshaping the roles of clinical leaders and patient experience partners.
- Identify collaborative strategies that enhance alignment between clinical teams and experience leaders, ensuring that both operational and human outcomes improve together.
- Apply practical insights to drive better outcomes for patients, families, and staff, from governance structures and shared metrics to frontline storytelling and real-time improvement.
Inside the conversation
From parallel efforts to shared outcomes
Too often, clinical quality, operations, and experience run on parallel tracks. The panel will explore how to unify these efforts with shared goals, shared metrics, and shared ownership—so the organization moves together, not in silos.
Real-time insights that change practice
Annual or quarterly surveys are no longer enough. Leaders are pairing real-time feedback with operational and clinical data to close the loop more quickly, coach teams, and scale what works. Expect discussion around governance models that keep signal-to-noise high and actionability front and center.
Digital front doors, human-centered care
Families want convenient access, proactive communication, and digital tools that reduce friction. But digital success hinges on human design—clarity, empathy, and continuity of care. The panel will share frameworks to balance automation with the personal touch that pediatric care requires.
Workforce well-being as a performance strategy
Burnout impacts safety, experience, and retention. Panelists will discuss interventions that support staff, such as workflow redesign, recognition systems, and behavioral signal data, that also drive better clinical and experience results.
Making innovation pragmatic
Innovation shouldn’t be a side project. Attendees will hear examples of pragmatic risk-taking, pilots with clear hypotheses, time-bound learnings, and scale paths that deliver measurable impact without overwhelming teams.
Join us in Orlando
Connect with peers, share best practices, and leave inspired to make a meaningful impact for patients, families, and staff.
Seats fill quickly. Secure your spot for the Pediatric Collaborative to learn directly from leaders who are shaping the future of pediatric care, and bring back an action plan your teams can use immediately.
