Puneet Freibott, System Chief Nursing Officer, Beth Israel Lahey Health

Summary

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Episode Summary: Puneet Freibott, System Chief Nursing Officer, Beth Israel Lahey Health

Podcast: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Host: Gracelyn Keller
Guest: Puneet Freibott, System Chief Nursing Officer, Beth Israel Lahey Health
Date: December 23, 2025
Event Context: Recorded live at the 10th Annual Health IT Digital Health and RCM Meeting

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Main Theme

This episode explores how Beth Israel Lahey Health is leveraging AI, digital tools, and data-driven solutions to advance clinical practice—especially nursing. Puneet Freibott discusses real-world use cases, governance strategies, legislative impacts, and offers practical advice for leaders aiming to balance innovation with sustainability and equity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. AI in Practice: Moving from Concept to Impact

• Freibott highlights how AI is now delivering tangible benefits, particularly via ambient listening and virtual nursing solutions.
• Notable Use Cases:
  • Ambient Listening Technology:
    • Reduces clinician documentation burden by auto-generating structured notes directly into EHRs.
    • “It’s a game changer because this allows our teams to refocus their time and attention on the patients and not on screens.” — Freibott [02:19]
  • Virtual Nursing & Patient Safety Attendants:
    • Supports assessments, care coordination, and professional development conversations in real time.
    • Enhances record accuracy and quality improvement opportunities.
• Fundamental Principle:
  • AI should enhance, not replace, the human element in care.
  • “When we thoughtfully integrate technology… we create space… to reconnect to their purpose, caring for people while building a more sustainable and joyful practice environment.” — Freibott [03:08]

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2. Balancing Innovation, Governance, and Operational Realities

• Clarity of Purpose: All new technologies should align with the mission, improve outcomes, and support clinicians rather than adding burdens.
• Comprehensive ROI Approach: Consider financial, psychological, and workload benefits.
• Strong Interdisciplinary Governance:
  • Early engagement of clinicians, IT, operations, compliance, and patient experience teams in decision making.
  • Emphasize workflow integration and equity at every stage.
  • “The voice of the bedside teams and patients must shape adoption… [they] should not be at the end of the of the adoption process, but really at the beginning.” — Freibott [04:18]
• Practical Example:
  • Remote patient monitoring program for chronic disease:
    • Started with a small pilot focused on high-risk populations.
    • Integrated data with EHR and adjusted staffing to support care follow-up.
    • “This measured approach allowed us to demonstrate value, build trust, and scale sustainably.” — Freibott [05:13]

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3. Legislation’s Influence on IT & Operational Strategy

• Legislation is driving greater data transparency, interoperability, and equitable access.
• Responding to new mandates:
  • Strengthened governance and readiness for compliance.
  • Creation of a Digital Health Council (with nursing involvement) focused on safety, ethical AI use, and evidence-based practice.
• Digital health tools are being used to close equity gaps, especially for remote and underserved populations.
• “Legislation often brings challenges, but also opportunities to accelerate transformation when we align our strategies.” — Freibott [06:36]

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4. Advice for Healthcare Leaders: Preparing for Future Demands

• Lead with People, Not Products:
  • Keep focus on improving human experience for patients, families, and the workforce.
  • Foster digital literacy, empowerment, and curiosity.
• Practical Steps:
  • Invest in change management and education.
  • Embed clinical voices at every stage of design and adoption.
  • Maintain equity as a central principle.
  • “Technology should never widen the disparities.” — Freibott [07:22]
  • Pilot thoughtfully, measure outcomes, and scale what works.
• Key Success Factor:
  • Balance agility with accountability—ensuring every tech advancement drives value, safety, and joy in practice.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On AI’s Impact: “It’s a game changer… [AI] allows our teams to refocus their time and attention on the patients and not on screens.” — Puneet Freibott [02:19]
• On Inclusive Adoption: “The voice of the bedside teams and patients must shape adoption… at the beginning of it.” — Puneet Freibott [04:18]
• On Legislation as Opportunity: “Legislation often brings challenges, but also opportunities to accelerate transformation when we align our strategies.” — Puneet Freibott [06:36]
• Top Advice for Leaders: “Lead with people and not products… Leaders should foster a culture of digital literacy and curiosity… Technology should never widen the disparities.” — Puneet Freibott [07:01–07:22]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:49 – 01:23: Freibott introduces her background in nursing & outlook on leadership
• 01:44 – 03:21: AI use cases and cultural/philosophical impact within clinical care
• 03:40 – 05:17: Governance, implementation advice, and the remote monitoring pilot example
• 05:29 – 06:43: Impact of recent legislation and evolving compliance strategy
• 06:55 – 08:02: Freibott’s guiding advice for tech-integrating healthcare leaders

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Tone & Style

Puneet Freibott speaks with clarity, pragmatism, and deep respect for frontline clinical voices. She continually emphasizes the importance of leadership inclusivity, operational discipline, and ethical stewardship in health IT. Innovation is framed not merely as technology implementation, but as a human-centered journey.

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For listeners seeking actionable insights into how real-world healthcare leaders navigate the intersections of technology, regulation, and clinical practice—with a special focus on nursing—this episode provides a concise and compelling roadmap.

Transcript

[A]

Philips is a health tech leader focused on innovation that improves the health and well being of people. Our healthcare technology and informatics solutions help care teams diagnose, treat and manage more patients with greater precision, speed and confidence. Across the care journey with Philips, clinicians are empowered with streamlined insights in the moments that matter for every patient. Better care for more people Philips.

[B]

This is Gracelyn Keller with the Beckers Healthcare Podcast and we are recording live at the 10th annual Health IT Digital Health and RCM meeting. I'm currently joined by Puneet Freibt who is the System Chief Nurse Officer at Beth Israel Leahy Health. Puneet, thanks for being here. Let's start off by having you introduce yourself and share a little bit more about your work in healthcare.

[C]

Thank you. It's a pleasure being here. So I have been a nurse for almost 30 years, so three decades in this space and from being at a bedside and transforming healthcare in that space all the way to being Assistant Chief Nursing Officer, I do believe that nursing leadership as a part of the interdisciplinary team has the power to truly transform healthcare. And over the years I've had the opportunity to work across many areas which has really shaped how I think about care, people and innovation.

[B]

Wonderful. Well, thanks for being here and let's start our conversation talking about AI, as nearly half of medical practices reported using AI in some capacity in the past year and it obviously remains a key topic for health IT leaders. So from your perspective, what are the use cases that are making a difference right now and how are you leveraging them in your organization?

[C]

That's such a great question and I think what's exciting about AI right now is that we're starting to see it move from concept to meaningful real world impact. One of the clearest examples of that in our organization is ambient listening technology, some virtual nursing, patient safety, attendance, and we're using it both across our medical and nursing workflows. For our clinicians, it's helping us reduce our documentation burden and more importantly the psychological burden by automatically capturing conversations and generating structured notes directly into the electronic healthcare record. It's a game changer because this allows our teams to refocus their time and attention on the patients and not on screens. For nursing, we're starting to see tremendous value in using ambient tools to document assessments, care coordination and capturing one on one professional development conversations in real time, which not only saves time but also improves accuracy and completeness of the record. It's also giving us a better insight into what's happening at bedside so we can identify opportunities for quality improvement and care redesign at its core, AI should never replace human element. We all know that, we're all trying to strive towards that, but it should really enhance the caregiver experience. What we're learning is that when we thoughtfully integrate technology like ambient listening and virtual nursing, we create space for our clinicians to reconnect to their purpose, caring for people while building a more sustainable and joyful practice environment.

[B]

And as virtual care expands from AI enabled tools and remote monitoring to broader digital health platforms, introducing new technologies often brings challenges. So what advice do you have for leaders navigating everything from governance to patient engagement? And can you share an example of how your organization has balanced innovation with operational constraints?

[C]

Yeah, absolutely. Introducing new technology in healthcare must start with clarity of purpose. Ensuring every innovation aligns with our mission, improves patient outcomes and supports our clinicians rather than adding the burden. So really understanding that ROI in all sense, not just financial but also psychological and workload. My advice for leaders is to establish strong interdisciplinary governance early, bringing together your clinicians, IT operations, compliance and patient experience leaders to evaluate not only for functionality but also for clinical relevance, workflow integration and equity from nursing lens. Engagement at the point of care is so critical, the voice of the bedside teams and patients must shape adoption. They should not be at the end of the of the adoption process, but really at the beginning of it. Because what we've learned that when clinicians are co designers, implementation is smoother and technology is embraced as an enabler rather than an imposition. For example, in our system we recently implemented a remote patient monitoring program for chronic disease management. We balance innovation with operational constraints by starting with a small pilot with high risk populations, integrating data directly into the EHR and aligning staffing models to support follow up care. This measured approach allowed us to demonstrate value, build trust and scale sustainably.

[B]

And how are you seeing recent legislation, both state and federal, affect healthcare organizations and healthcare IT specifically. And have you adjusted any strategies in response?

[C]

Yeah, this is a loaded question, but yes, I'll try to definitely answer this. So recent legislation has underscored an importance of data transparency, interoperability and equitable access for both state and federal levels. Mandates across price transparency, health information exchange, AI governance and patient privacy have required health systems to take a more integrated approach to digital strategy from a clinical operational perspective. We have adjusted by strengthening our government structure to ensure compliance and proactive readiness. For example, as regulatory expectations around AI and digital health evolve, our system established a Digital Health Council committee with nursing representation to ensure clinical safety, ethical use and alignment with evidence based practice we're also leveraging legislation momentum to advance health equity using digital tools to close the gap in access and outcomes, especially for those remote and underserved population. Legislation often brings challenges, but also opportunities to accelerate transformation when we align our strategies.

[B]

Early and final question as we wrap our conversation up what is your top piece of advice for healthcare leaders as they prepare for further advancements in tech and rising demands for care?

[C]

My top advice is to lead with people and not products. Technology will continue to evolve rapidly, but our enduring focus must be on how it improves the human experience for our patients, our families and our workforce. Leaders should foster a culture of digital literacy and curiosity, ensuring that teams feel empowered and capable of leveraging tools that enhance care delivery rather than being overwhelmed by them. Invest in change management and education, embed nursing and your other clinical frontline voices in every stage of design and adoption and keep equity at the forefront. Technology should never widen the disparities. Finally, pair innovation with operational design and discipline. Pilot thoughtfully measure outcomes and scale that works. The most successful organizations will be the ones that balance agility with accountability, ensuring every advancement drives, value, safety and joy in practice.

[B]

Wonderful. Well Puneet, thanks so much for joining me today on the Beckers Healthcare Podcast and sharing these thoughts again. We are recording live at the 10th annual Health IT Digital Health and RCM meeting.

[C]

Thanks for having me here.