Kate Freeman

Kate Freeman is a trusted advisor to federal and state leaders, health care organizations, and strategic partners navigating payment reform, health policy, and value-based care transformation. With more than 15 years of experience across federal, state, association, and private-sector environments, she helps clients make sense of complex policy and translate ambitious reform efforts into practical implementation strategies that deliver meaningful, real-world change.

As Partner and Government & Policy Practice Lead at Coral Health Advisors, Kate leads the firm's Government & Policy practice, overseeing client delivery, mentoring consultants, cultivating strategic partnerships, and driving growth across Coral's work with federal and state agencies, associations, and policy organizations. She advises federal contractors, policy organizations, professional associations, state leaders, and health care organizations on payment model design, technical assistance, stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, and implementation. Her federal experience includes supporting CMS Innovation Center initiatives such as AHEAD, TMaH, and LEAD, helping clients navigate evolving payment models, implementation challenges, and organizational change.

Before joining Coral, Kate served as the value-based payment lead at the American Academy of Family Physicians, where she led private-sector advocacy and engagement strategies, convened national stakeholders, and helped shape consensus policy positions supporting sustainable payment and delivery reform. She is a frequent contributor to national learning collaboratives, conference presentations, stakeholder convenings, and strategic initiatives advancing value-based care and health policy transformation.

Kate is known for helping teams move confidently through complex work, avoiding both panic and perfectionism. She has a remarkable ability to right-size challenges, build trust across diverse stakeholders, and keep people making meaningful progress without creating unnecessary complexity or losing momentum. Clients value her steady judgment, collaborative leadership, and ability to turn complex issues into clear, actionable next steps.

Kate holds a Master of Public Health from DePaul University's College of Science and Health.