Keynotes
Morning Keynote Speaker:
Olga F. Jarrín Montaner, PhD, RN, FAAN
Hunterdon Professor of Nursing Research
Associate Professor, Division of Nursing Science
Rutgers Health School of Nursing
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Advancing Upstream Approaches: Designing a Home Health System Aligned with What Matters Most
Drawing on more than a decade of research, this keynote tells a story of systems—and how they shape lives in their final chapters. It begins upstream, with the home health workforce: early studies that linked supportive work environments to reduced hospitalizations. It moves through midstream failures in access: revealing who gets referred to home health care, who gets left out, and how those gaps reflect structural inequities in our health system. And it arrives at the downstream outcomes that matter most: new evidence showing that earlier, sustained home care use among people living with dementia is associated with more days at home, greater use of hospice, and a more dignified death.
But this is not just a story of research—it’s a story of responsibility. What happens before a nurse knocks on the door—and what echoes long after they leave—is shaped by decisions made across this room. For the care innovators, informaticians, clinicians, and policy architects at H3IT, the message is clear: you are building the future of home-based care. Every dashboard, pathway, algorithm, and regulation contributes to the hidden infrastructure that determines whether older adults are seen, supported, and surrounded with dignity. This keynote invites you to advance the upstream approaches that will shape downstream outcomes—not just improving what is, but designing a home health system aligned with what matters most to the people we serve.
Brief biosketch:
Olga F. Jarrín Montaner, PhD, RN, FAAN is the Hunterdon Professor of Nursing Research at Rutgers University and an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. A nationally and internationally recognized home care researcher, her work focuses on improving access to and outcomes of home-based services for older adults, including those living with dementia. Her NIH-funded program of research leverages real-world data to examine the home health care workforce, care delivery, and late-life outcomes to inform person-centered, policy-relevant models of care.
Industry Keynote Speaker:
Beau Sorensen
First Choice, Director of Operations,
Administrator
CFO, and COO.
The Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence in Post-Acute Care
Post-acute care is characterized by intermittent encounters, heterogeneous data, decentralized teams, and constrained resources. These conditions magnify both the potential benefits of AI and the hazards from over-reliance, bias, and workflow misfit. Consequently, post-acute care faces simultaneous promise and peril from rapid AI adoption. For example, while AI can accelerate documentation, improve accuracy, and surface deeper clinical and operational insights, unguarded use risks cognitive off-loading (loss of human reasoning and critical thinking), automation bias, inequity amplification, privacy exposure, and unclear regulatory accountability.
This talk will introduce a translational framework Data → Model → Workflow → Governance, which can be useful for AI implementation. Organizations report reduced documentation time, improved coding/QA accuracy, and earlier detection of risk signals when AI is tightly integrated with workflow. Without safeguards, teams exhibit cognitive off-loading, increased acceptance of erroneous outputs, inequitable performance across subgroups, and hidden workload from poor integration.
Brief biosketch:
Beau has more than 25 years of experience in hospice and home care, with leadership roles spanning operations, finance, and administration. As a former senior executive at First Choice, he led initiatives that dramatically improved clinical outcomes, cut costs by over $1 million annually, and helped pioneer electronic medical record adoption in partnership with Allscripts. He currently serves as COO of Visionbound International and remains an active leader in national and state associations, including NAHC and HHFMA.
A frequent national speaker, Beau presents on healthcare innovation, AI, organizational culture, and change management. He also consults with organizations on EMR optimization, data analytics, and process improvement. His contributions have earned him multiple awards, including recognition from Microsoft, OnBase, and Allscripts.
