Amy Mansue on Resilience, Innovation and Community Care

In this episode, Amy Mansue, CEO of Inspira Health, discusses navigating reimbursement pressures, expanding access, leveraging Epic and AI to improve care, and investing in the workforce and community. She also shares how Inspira is preparing for difficult decisions while keeping patients and community needs at the center.

- There's a small circle of people who truly

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- This is Laura Dierdahl with the Becker's Healthcare

- podcast.

- I'm thrilled today to be joined by Amy

- Mansu, chief executive officer of Inspira Health. Amy,

- it's a pleasure to have you on the

- podcast today. Thank you, Laura. I'm so grateful

- to be here, and I always appreciate the

- time with you.

- Absolutely. Now I think this is gonna be

- a great conversation. I know we're gonna spotlight

- some of the great things you're doing at

- Inspira as well as get your perspective on

- the future. But before we dive in, you

- tell us just a little bit more about

- yourself and the health system?

- Sure. As you said, I'm Amy Mansour, the

- CEO of Inspira Health. I've been here just

- over six years,

- and we have a

- very rural part of the state. We actually

- serve the garden state. We're a health system

- that's made up of, a very large teaching

- component, but a community based hospital. So we're

- very much caring for the people that we

- work with and live with every single day.

- We're very excited about bringing, additional services to

- our community, and we'll be glad to talk

- through that as we go through the podcast.

- Fantastic. Well, could you start off by telling

- us a little bit about some of the

- trends you're watching currently? What's top of mind

- for you?

- Well, I don't think there's a hospital CEO

- or health system CEO in the country that

- isn't thinking about the reimbursement challenges and

- with obviously the enactment of HR one, we

- know that in New Jersey there's about 6,000,000,000,

- six b total,

- that will come out of the system either

- through changes in the Medicaid

- reimbursement

- or through changes in the eligibility rules. And

- so, that'll happen, you know, possibly over the

- next six to eight years. And so we've

- already begun to think about how are we

- trying to,

- identify the services that aren't being utilized, How

- do we think about how we can,

- live on less just like everybody else's in

- in their own home,

- and really trying

- to meet these dynamic changes that are happening

- in the marketplace.

- We are working very collaboratively with our county

- government and state government to ensure

- that those individuals have, who are gonna need

- to get recertified for Medicaid or need to

- or where I'll be eligible for cert Medicaid

- to make sure they have the documents they

- need and get the services they need because,

- obviously, that's critical. And then, of course, as

- an Emtalah hospital, for those people who are

- losing insurance,

- we know that we'll be taking those patients

- in our emergency room. So really thinking about

- throughput and how we help people get to

- the right level of service at the right

- time,

- are all things that are front of mind

- for us.

- I can imagine. I think all of those

- things that you mentioned are certainly

- very important for hospitals and systems across the

- country. And when you look at it, especially

- knowing,

- how Medicaid likely will be impacted next year

- in in,

- bringing in more patients who are uninsured or

- or or need to deal with more charitable

- care cases. What is that those conversations like

- with your leadership team in in trying to,

- develop the right strategy so you can provide

- care while at the same time,

- understanding,

- you know, the financial stability of the system

- needs to maybe be,

- kind of rethought about as well and redesigned

- in some ways too. What are those conversations

- like, and how are you thinking about that?

- Yeah. I think it's really important to understand

- that there's no one part of the system

- that's gonna solve all those problems. Right? So

- even if our patients come in without care,

- we have to have some place safe to

- discharge them to. So really working with our

- local communities to make sure there's housing opportunities,

- to make sure we have food.

- I often say that you can't talk to

- somebody about their diabetes if they don't have

- a refrigerator or, you know, or don't have

- a house over their head. It's very hard

- to manage chronic diseases. So really trying to

- think about,

- how that entire fabric of our community is

- shored up as we begin to enter some

- of these conversations and really,

- how do we make sure that we're working

- in partnership with the federally qualified health centers

- and the food banks and all of those

- things.

- We've been very privileged to work with the

- food banks to to have two of our

- facilities serve,

- as some distribution centers so then we can

- link them back into the bigger opportunities.

- And so I think it really is trying

- to look for those creative solutions, and that's

- really,

- what we're doing as a senior team. Again,

- as I identified, what are the things that,

- people aren't utilizing and, you know, we can

- beat ourselves up about why they're not utilizing

- or we can say, you know what? This

- isn't our spot in the marketplace. Let's move

- forward. And I think we will continue to

- be,

- very clear about that. In addition, though, our

- patients have also said to us that they

- want to try and get services closer to

- home. So we have

- two very important part, partnerships with our tertiary

- partner,

- the academic medical center Cooper, in both, cardiac

- and in neuro. And those have relationships have

- allowed us to bring services closer to home.

- So, again, really thinking about how do we

- do two folds, you know, try and grow

- the services that are important where people need

- that close proximity to home,

- but, again, not doing things that we don't

- need to be doing if indeed they can

- be done either in the community or at

- the academic center, you know, in a in

- a more,

- expeditious way for people.

- That makes a lot of sense. Thank you

- so much for sharing your thoughts on that.

- I know it's an incredibly complex topic.

- So a lot of moving parts into your

- point. You know, no one solution that really

- fixes all of it, but, certainly, having alignment

- around, as you mentioned, you know, the the

- bigger goal of being able to provide care,

- makes a big difference.

- I also would just mention that, you know,

- I've now reached that age that I'm old

- enough to remember some of these,

- milestone points in time. And I remember when

- Medicare changed,

- to

- they were gonna provide they had provided thirty

- days of inpatient rehab for somebody who had

- a hip surgery or a knee surgery. And

- so when we went from 30 to seven,

- everybody thought the world was gonna come to

- an end and there would be no way

- to accommodate. And somehow, both of the changes

- in technology and the changes in how care

- delivery happened, we were able to accommodate those

- things. And so while I don't see a

- clear path forward and I can't tell you

- what a, b, and c look like right

- now, I'm very confident in the health care

- system that we will continue to make those

- changes and modifications as necessary for our patients.

- Absolutely. That's such an important reminder and great

- perspective as things

- that you're proud of from the last six

- to eighteen months or so? Can you tell

- us about what's been going on at Inspira?

- Sure. I'd be glad to. I first always

- have to start with the most important asset

- that we have, which is our team.

- You know, our folks have show up every

- single day to be able to meet the

- needs of our patients and regardless of how

- difficult that is or how challenging those moments

- in time are because we continue to see

- sicker patients coming in the door. We continue

- to see people who are just frustrated with

- life and and, you know, we see all

- of that roll into your hospitals and into

- your doctor's offices. So regardless of that, everybody

- shows up every day doing their best, and

- I think that that continues to be,

- any health system's greatest asset, but certainly here

- in ours as well. I'm very proud that

- we are now three weeks from go live.

- We just went live with our new Epic

- system. We're very excited.

- Again, I am grateful for our board of

- trustees who saw that as a critical investment

- to make, really driven by our academic partner.

- We have these complex cardiac and neuro cases,

- and they said, look, we need to be

- able to see real time what's going on.

- And so that move and investment in Epic

- is something that was really important for our

- patients as well as,

- as for our, health system to be able

- to better coordinate. You know, when patients come

- in the door, even though we have 8,000

- employees and we're, you know, spread over lots

- of geography and, you know, we are the

- reason this New Jersey is called the Garden

- State, so there are lots of farmlands down

- here. Patients expect us to be talking to

- each other real time about their care and,

- you know, want to be able to see,

- you know, what happened at the doctor's office

- or what was that latest slide that you

- just had. And so having all of that

- on one platform is really very exciting. It's

- obviously, you know, a huge undertaking for for

- the staff,

- to be able to learn, you know, build

- a new system, learn a new system, but

- they've been so excited and so just really,

- as always, they've risen to the occasion. And,

- I certainly saw that during COVID, and I

- see it again just no matter what, you

- know, what the challenge or opportunity is, they

- step up and move forward. So I'm I'm

- very grateful for that. And then, actually, today,

- we just delivered our first baby in our

- new, overbuild of our Mullica Hill Hospital. So

- we knew that our facility,

- needed to be expanded and so we're going

- through an expansion process, but our maternity was

- the first,

- L and D was the first expansion that

- opened and it's the first moment it was

- open we had a delivery come in. So,

- that was really exciting too. And, again, I

- think that's a a testament to, you know,

- making those tough decisions and saying, you know

- what? There are things we have to grow,

- there are things we have to shrink, but

- we have to, you know, do what's best

- overall based upon the utilization from the community.

- That's

- great to hear. And, you know, really incredible

- to have that opportunity to be expanding, especially

- in when you think about labor and delivery

- when so many other places are having to

- contract that service, and so critical to communities

- and and families. So,

- that's great to hear. And I think to

- your point, being able to have those wins

- and success stories makes a big difference for

- the team,

- and the pride that they have in how

- they're working, with within an organization that really

- truly cares for the community.

- When you think about that culture, what are

- you really excited about and focused on for

- the future? How do you, see the workforce

- and everything else you're trying to do at

- Inspira Health continue to evolve?

- Yeah. You know, one of the major moves

- for us with Epic is, to try and

- help people have the tools that they need

- so they can spend less time behind the

- computer and more time with the patients. And

- there are so many different,

- opportunities and,

- and tools within Epic that will just make

- their life easier. I mean, even, you know,

- week three, which, you know, anytime you try

- something new, it's you're nervous about it. Even

- if you buy a new car, you're still

- looking for the buttons that are in the

- same spot and you want to go back

- to what you had.

- But I have really been just so excited

- about the staff and how they've embraced it

- and they really have embraced it for twofold.

- One, they know the technology will help them

- be able to deliver safer, better care. And

- then two, there are,

- there are things like ambient listening for our

- physicians

- that we know will just make such a

- big difference for them not to have to

- be worried about typing in a computer or

- or what we call pajama time, which is

- when they're doing their charts after hours.

- We want them to be able to have

- real time, be able to have to, be

- able to know that that session is over

- and they can move to the next, and

- most importantly, that they have that downtime that

- they so desperately need,

- to be able to refresh themselves. So I

- would say that, you know, that continues to

- be,

- just such an excitement and such a great

- opportunity.

- Also, making use of the AI technologies that

- are available. We certainly have seen a, a

- dramatic drop in our, sepsis rate given that,

- we have put that on in the front

- end on the,

- on the emergency department so we can see

- an early detection. So we make sure we

- get those things in. We're seeing drops in,

- reference to our, our stroke cases, being able

- to identify those issues earlier and be able

- to get people the meds they need, all

- of those things. You know, I know that

- there are there are mixed reviews. Right? And

- people are nervous about AI, but I really

- believe,

- if we figure out ways to help, the

- team members, especially nursing,

- just be able to validate what their instincts

- are. And if indeed they disagree with it,

- there's a process that you can use to

- override that. But at least they don't feel

- like they're on their own all the time,

- you know, they're they're doing their best, but,

- you know, just having that little guide on

- you to say, you know, did you really

- spell that right? Or is that what you

- really want to see? Or, you know, maybe

- there's something else to look at here, I

- think is a tremendous guide. At the end

- of the day, nothing is going to replace

- that clinical expertise, not for a physician, not

- for a nurse, not for anybody.

- You know, all my friends who, you know,

- end up with diagnoses or with something wrong,

- they immediately go to the web and, you

- know, they just you can't trust that completely.

- It could be a good learning, but then

- you have to make sure you're actually seeing

- a clinician,

- to be able to validate and using that

- expertise.

- And so I I think we're gonna be

- seeing more and more of that.

- Also, there's a lot of routine,

- just, you know,

- rude stuff that we make people do every

- day that if we can automate that, it'll

- just make their lives so much easier. And

- so, you know, Epic, it really is intuitive

- and it thinks with you and for you,

- and so I'm really excited about the opportunity,

- to see how it's gonna really impact the

- lives of our not only our patients, but

- also our staff.

- That is very exciting. And and having that

- reality of technology supports what they're doing, it

- can actually,

- provide the more information,

- getting to better patient care and better outcomes

- too,

- makes a big difference. And to your point,

- you know, there there's a lot out there

- on AI, but as you're beginning to incorporate

- it into the system,

- how do you make sure that everyone sees

- those benefits and is able to

- incorporate it smartly and excited about that potential.

- Yeah. So part of the technology that we

- have within the EPIC system is that they

- actually,

- will share with you an optimization

- view by department, by unit. You You can

- even go down to the individual where, you

- know, you could say, look. I can see,

- you know, you're having trouble closing out your

- charts or your med rec isn't med reconciliation

- isn't happening.

- You know, let me show you these tools.

- And so we especially early on in that

- session,

- we can, you know, sort of teach those

- habits right up front and there's nothing like

- that one on one. But what I see

- happening that's so exciting, Laura, is I see

- colleagues

- teaching each other, you know, let me show

- you this template I knew. Or wait a

- minute, there's a shortcut, you don't have to

- go through all that trouble. And they're you

- know, again, part of the the spirit that

- we have here at Inspira is that we

- have each other's back. Right? You're not gonna

- watch somebody, you know, struggle. You're gonna go

- over and try and help if you have

- that expertise.

- Many of the folks who work here actually

- have been at other Epic shops. So they're,

- you know, sort of being what we have

- a little,

- a little designation as a pro, PRO,

- that will allow, you know, people to say,

- oh, okay. You you had this extra training

- or you're a super user. Then we can

- go ahead and make sure that they know,

- okay. I'm free to ask you and so

- you you don't mind giving me that extra

- help. And again, I think that's, you know,

- that just is acknowledging right up front. Nobody

- expects you to be perfect the first month.

- We know we're gonna have bumps and bruises

- along the way,

- but again, it's that camaraderie and it's that

- spirit of cooperation, whether it be within the

- hospital or in the medical

- offices

- or most importantly for our patients as well.

- We now have a project that we're starting

- in Salem County,

- which is one of our smallest counties in

- the state but has tremendous

- pockets of poverty

- And so really looking at,

- setting up a food pharmacy within one of

- our hospitals,

- there. So that would again provide another place

- where people can go to get that what

- they need,

- before they can get their distribution from the

- from the large food bank. And so just

- just trying to look for those little avenues

- where we can, you know, fill that spot.

- And, again, you could say, well, that's not

- really health care, and I would argue that,

- you know, what you put in your body

- is determines your health just as much as

- anything else. And so really being, partnered with

- the local food banks and, and with the

- community to make sure that they're helping us,

- you know, secure food and be able to

- distribute it, it makes a huge difference. Our

- community health workers just are frontline and center

- and there is just one after another story

- of how they are

- working to make sure that they're helping people,

- receive care and also the investments that we

- make in some of our nonprofits,

- do the same type of work.

- There's this great story about,

- you know, three gentlemen who who had be

- had become friends, were homeless together,

- and, together, they went through the process to

- end up to to be able to secure

- housing. And now there's they're living together, and

- they're stable. And, you know, that's just the

- kind of stuff that, you know, that small

- donation that we're making it to the right

- agency can do that kind of great work.

- Wow. That sounds like such an excellent example

- of illustrating everything you've been talking about in

- terms of how you can

- continue to grow and expand the services in

- the ways that you care for the community

- and then,

- provide excellent health care as well. Now before

- we wrap up here, I'm curious.

- I wanna talk a little bit about leadership.

- What advice would you give emerging leaders and

- involving leaders today, especially given how quickly health

- care industry is transforming?

- Yeah.

- I I think that, you

- know, at the end of the day,

- it's really about your people. You know, you

- can have all the tools and have all

- those things bells and whistles, but if you

- can't hire, if you can't bring people in,

- if you can't,

- help teach them that technology, then there's, you

- know, you you really are at a loss.

- And so for us, we've really made the

- investment in our people by saying, look, come

- in and work at Inspira. You can start

- in one job, but we wanna be with

- you on your education career journey. So we

- have a tuition reimbursement program,

- that within a partnership with our local county

- colleges that say if if you are an

- employer employee and you enroll,

- we will give you tuition free. We want

- to be helping people go back to school.

- We have, 20 or so nurses that are

- going on to get their advanced degrees in

- nursing, and there's a whole group of mentors

- that are mentoring them. We had, you know,

- one unit that,

- that did close, and so we were looking

- to move those people to other jobs. And

- so they had mentors in those jobs that

- then are helping them and they got to

- select the jobs they wanted to go to.

- And so I think that health care is

- gonna change so fast and so what we

- want to basically say to people is we're

- gonna be on that journey with you. Right?

- We may not look I I did orientation

- this morning, and so I say the same

- thing every Monday at orientation.

- In 1899,

- when we got together, the group of Bridgeton

- was the first hospital that was built, and,

- those folks came together because they care deeply

- about the community.

- In 2026,

- we don't look anything like we did one

- hundred and twenty seven years ago, but the

- reality is we are still,

- motivated by the same things. This health care

- system in the next five years is going

- to change just like every health care system

- in the country, But we're gonna be in

- it together, we're gonna be learning it together,

- we're gonna be figuring it out, and I

- think with their knowledge that we're all in

- this together, all learning, all trying to face

- these issues and and talking about them. Right?

- Not being afraid to say, look, this is

- you know, there are gonna be some really

- hard decisions left that have to be made.

- I I I say often at the senior

- team, there are no easy decisions left. Any

- easy decision we've made already.

- And as you're looking down the nose of,

- you know, $6,000,000,000

- in New Jersey that's gonna come out, there

- are nothing left but hard decisions. But we're

- in it together,

- our patients need us, and we need to

- figure it out. And, one thing I do

- know about us is that we are a

- resilient group of people and that we will

- absolutely always

- rally for the occasion, rally for our patients,

- and most importantly, do what's best for our

- communities.

- I love that. Amy, thank you so much

- for joining us on the podcast today. This

- has been such a fun conversation, really truly

- inspiring

- to think about what you're doing in Inspira

- Health, and I look forward to connecting with

- you again soon. Thank you, Laura. I always

- appreciate your time, and thank you for all

- the great things that you were doing, the

- education that you all provide. We all learn

- from each other and we, you know, we

- steal shamelessly because when there are great things

- that are happening, we wanna replicate them. So

- thank you for the role you play in

- that.