Children’s Health Fund is a national nonprofit that delivers comprehensive pediatric healthcare to children in underserved communities through mobile clinics, school-based programs, and telehealth. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Children’s Health Fund Vice President of Technology & Innovation Jennifer Pruitt to learn more about the organization’s approach to digital health equity.
Jennifer Pruitt’s Background
When asked about her background and what has motivated her work in healthcare technology, Pruitt shared:
I’ve spent more than 20 years working at the intersection of healthcare, technology, and data, but what has always motivated me is solving problems rather than creating technology for its own sake.
Throughout my career at Children’s Health Fund, I’ve had the opportunity to develop a broad array of technologies, ranging from electronic health records and clinical information systems to digital health tools, research infrastructure, and health education technology. What has kept me here is that every project starts with the same question: “What do providers and families need that they don’t have today?” If technology can help answer that question, then it’s worth building.
I’ve also been fortunate to work alongside incredibly talented clinicians, researchers, and community partners who constantly remind me that the best ideas don’t come from sitting behind a computer. They come from listening to the people doing the work every day.
Primary Responsibilities
On her primary responsibilities at Children’s Health Fund, Pruitt said:
As Vice President of Technology & Innovation, I oversee Children’s Health Fund’s technology strategy across Information Systems & Technology, the Innovation Lab, and Research & Evaluation. My job is to make sure we’re using technology in ways that strengthen our mission and support the providers and communities we serve.
That means everything from ensuring our internal systems are secure and reliable to developing new digital tools, supporting research and data initiatives, and identifying opportunities to address gaps in health technology. Much of my work involves listening to our national network partners to understand where existing technology falls short and collaborating with clinicians, researchers, and developers to create solutions that are practical, accessible, and responsive to real-world needs.
A Memorable Mobile Clinic Experience
When asked about her favorite memory from working at Children’s Health Fund, Pruitt recalled:
One memory has stayed with me throughout my career at Children’s Health Fund. Around 2007, I was in one of our mobile clinics in Anacostia, Washington, D.C., helping the clinical team transition to a new electronic health record system. We were there to provide technical support as they learned to use it in the field.
At one point, I stepped into an exam room to help a provider pull up a young patient’s growth chart. When we showed it to her mother, I watched her face light up. She could see her daughter’s growth tracked all the way back to her very first visit as an infant. She was amazed that, from a computer inside a mobile clinic, her daughter’s doctor had immediate access to years of medical history.
What struck me wasn’t her reaction to the technology. It was what the technology in the room represented. You could tell she felt confident that her daughter was receiving the same high-quality, connected care she would expect anywhere else, even though they were receiving services at no cost on a mobile clinic. That moment has stayed with me because it reminded me that technology isn’t the goal. It’s a tool that helps build trust, improve care, and ensure every child receives the quality of healthcare they deserve.
Core Offerings
When describing Children’s Health Fund’s core offerings, Pruitt outlined:
Children’s Health Fund works to ensure every child has access to high-quality healthcare, regardless of where they live or the barriers they face. We do that by partnering with children’s hospitals, academic medical centers, and community health centers across the country to form a national network that expands access to care, advances health equity, and addresses the social and environmental factors that affect children’s health.
Technology has become an increasingly important part of that work. Alongside direct care, policy and advocacy, education, and research, we’re developing digital tools and resources that help providers deliver care more effectively and help families better understand and manage their children’s health.
Technology Evolution
When discussing how the organization’s technology has evolved, Pruitt shared:
I think people are often surprised to learn that Children’s Health Fund has been innovating in health technology for decades. Long before digital health became a buzzword, we were implementing electronic health records on mobile medical clinics, even before reliable connectivity, building customized clinical information systems, and using telehealth to connect children with specialists.
What has changed over time is the scope of what technology can do. Today, we’re still supporting providers with clinical tools, but we’re also creating resources that empower families directly, like our bilingual Family Asthma App and an online Healthy & Ready to Learn resource center.
Designing Technology Around Real Needs
When asked about recent challenges in her field and how Children’s Health Fund has addressed them, Pruitt observed:
One thing I’ve learned is that building technology is often the easy part. Building technology that people will actually use, and that actually improves their lives, is much harder.
In healthcare, especially when you’re working with historically under-resourced communities, it’s important not to assume that the newest technology is automatically the best solution. We spend a lot of time listening, testing ideas, and incorporating feedback from providers and families throughout the process. That approach takes longer, but it consistently leads to better tools because they’re designed around real experiences rather than perceived needs.
Major Technology Milestones
When asked about Children’s Health Fund’s most significant technological milestones, Pruitt highlighted:
Children’s Health Fund has reached a number of technology milestones over the years. Early on, we were among the pioneers in implementing electronic health records on mobile medical clinics with no connectivity and developing customized clinical content focused on the needs of underserved children and families. We later expanded into telehealth, online learning, and clinical information systems that supported public health initiatives across the country.
More recently, the launch of the Innovation Lab in 2023 marked an important milestone because it formalized our long tradition of innovation and established a dedicated process for identifying technology gaps and developing new solutions. It gives us a focused way to create practical technology that addresses barriers to care and helps advance our mission of improving the health and well-being of children and families.
Family Asthma App
When invited to share a success story demonstrating the impact of the organization’s technology, Pruitt detailed:
One of the most exciting success stories is the launch of the CHF Family Asthma App. It builds on decades of experience creating trusted, low-literacy, culturally appropriate health education materials and transforms them into an interactive resource that families can access whenever they need, not just during a clinic visit.
For parents and caregivers, that means having reliable, easy-to-understand asthma information available whenever they need it. They can learn about what causes asthma, identify common triggers, and use the app to better understand when symptoms can be managed at home and when medical care is needed. During a clinic visit, providers can personalize the app with patient-specific information, such as medications, triggers, and asthma action plans, so families leave with guidance that’s tailored to their child’s needs. And because that information lives on a device families already carry every day, it’s much less likely to get lost or thrown away.
What’s especially exciting is that the Family Asthma App is just the beginning. It was designed as the first in a broader series of health education apps. Our next app, focused on early childhood, is already in development and will provide parents and caregivers guidance on developmental milestones, nutrition, sleep, social-emotional development, safety, and more. We see tremendous potential in continuing to expand this series, making trusted, evidence-based health information more accessible to families wherever they are.
Children’s Health Fund’s Differentiators
When asked what differentiates Children’s Health Fund from similar organizations, Pruitt emphasized:
What makes Children’s Health Fund different is that our technology isn’t developed in isolation. It’s shaped by decades of experience providing care in medically underserved communities and by continuous input from our national network of frontline providers across the country.
We don’t start by asking, “What technology should we build?” We start by asking, “What problem are families and providers trying to solve?” That perspective has led us to create solutions that are practical, accessible, and designed for the realities of the communities we serve. Whether it’s low-literacy health education, bilingual digital tools, or clinical resources tailored to underserved populations, our goal is always to remove barriers rather than add complexity.
Technology Goals
When discussing Children’s Health Fund’s future technology goals, Pruitt outlined:
One of CHF’s biggest goals is to continue expanding technology that improves access to health information and supports providers caring for underserved children and families. That includes growing our series of bilingual health education apps, expanding online learning opportunities, strengthening data and research infrastructure, and developing new tools that help communities collaborate and share resources.
More broadly, we want to continue identifying gaps where existing technology isn’t meeting the needs of children and families and develop solutions that are practical, equitable, and scalable. As technology continues to evolve, we want to ensure that innovation helps reduce disparities in care rather than widen them.
Measuring The Impact Of Innovation
When invited to share an additional perspective on healthcare innovation, Pruitt concluded:
One thing I’d love for people to understand is that innovation isn’t just about creating something new. Sometimes it’s about recognizing that an existing resource could reach many more people if it were delivered differently.
That’s really the philosophy behind much of our work today. Children’s Health Fund has decades of trusted expertise, and technology gives us new ways to share that knowledge with providers, parents, caregivers, and communities across the country.
At the end of the day, I don’t measure success by the number of tools we build. I measure it by whether those tools improve healthcare for children and families who need it most.
