Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Amy Mansue on Resilience, Innovation and Community Care

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Amy Mansue on Resilience, Innovation and Community Care · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
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  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
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  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
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  - leaders are deliberate about where they go to
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  - pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable brings
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  - together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees and nearly 400 speakers for
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  - four days built around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Laura Dierdahl with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - podcast.
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  - I'm thrilled today to be joined by Amy
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  - Mansu, chief executive officer of Inspira Health. Amy,
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  - it's a pleasure to have you on the
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  - podcast today. Thank you, Laura. I'm so grateful
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  - to be here, and I always appreciate the
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  - time with you.
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  - Absolutely. Now I think this is gonna be
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  - a great conversation. I know we're gonna spotlight
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  - some of the great things you're doing at
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  - Inspira as well as get your perspective on
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  - the future. But before we dive in, you
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  - tell us just a little bit more about
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  - yourself and the health system?
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  - Sure. As you said, I'm Amy Mansour, the
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  - CEO of Inspira Health. I've been here just
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  - over six years,
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  - and we have a
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  - very rural part of the state. We actually
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  - serve the garden state. We're a health system
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  - that's made up of, a very large teaching
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  - component, but a community based hospital. So we're
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  - very much caring for the people that we
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  - work with and live with every single day.
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  - We're very excited about bringing, additional services to
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  - our community, and we'll be glad to talk
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  - through that as we go through the podcast.
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  - Fantastic. Well, could you start off by telling
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  - us a little bit about some of the
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  - trends you're watching currently? What's top of mind
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  - for you?
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  - Well, I don't think there's a hospital CEO
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  - or health system CEO in the country that
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  - isn't thinking about the reimbursement challenges and
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  - with obviously the enactment of HR one, we
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  - know that in New Jersey there's about 6,000,000,000,
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  - six b total,
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  - that will come out of the system either
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  - through changes in the Medicaid
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  - reimbursement
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  - or through changes in the eligibility rules. And
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  - so, that'll happen, you know, possibly over the
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  - next six to eight years. And so we've
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  - already begun to think about how are we
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  - trying to,
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  - identify the services that aren't being utilized, How
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  - do we think about how we can,
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  - live on less just like everybody else's in
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  - in their own home,
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  - and really trying
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  - to meet these dynamic changes that are happening
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  - in the marketplace.
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  - We are working very collaboratively with our county
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  - government and state government to ensure
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  - that those individuals have, who are gonna need
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  - to get recertified for Medicaid or need to
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  - or where I'll be eligible for cert Medicaid
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  - to make sure they have the documents they
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  - need and get the services they need because,
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  - obviously, that's critical. And then, of course, as
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  - an Emtalah hospital, for those people who are
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  - losing insurance,
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  - we know that we'll be taking those patients
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  - in our emergency room. So really thinking about
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  - throughput and how we help people get to
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  - the right level of service at the right
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  - time,
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  - are all things that are front of mind
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  - for us.
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  - I can imagine. I think all of those
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  - things that you mentioned are certainly
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  - very important for hospitals and systems across the
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  - country. And when you look at it, especially
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  - knowing,
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  - how Medicaid likely will be impacted next year
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  - in in,
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  - bringing in more patients who are uninsured or
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  - or or need to deal with more charitable
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  - care cases. What is that those conversations like
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  - with your leadership team in in trying to,
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  - develop the right strategy so you can provide
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  - care while at the same time,
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  - understanding,
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  - you know, the financial stability of the system
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  - needs to maybe be,
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  - kind of rethought about as well and redesigned
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  - in some ways too. What are those conversations
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  - like, and how are you thinking about that?
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  - Yeah. I think it's really important to understand
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  - that there's no one part of the system
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  - that's gonna solve all those problems. Right? So
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  - even if our patients come in without care,
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  - we have to have some place safe to
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  - discharge them to. So really working with our
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  - local communities to make sure there's housing opportunities,
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  - to make sure we have food.
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  - I often say that you can't talk to
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  - somebody about their diabetes if they don't have
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  - a refrigerator or, you know, or don't have
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  - a house over their head. It's very hard
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  - to manage chronic diseases. So really trying to
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  - think about,
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  - how that entire fabric of our community is
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  - shored up as we begin to enter some
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  - of these conversations and really,
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  - how do we make sure that we're working
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  - in partnership with the federally qualified health centers
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  - and the food banks and all of those
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  - things.
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  - We've been very privileged to work with the
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  - food banks to to have two of our
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  - facilities serve,
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  - as some distribution centers so then we can
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  - link them back into the bigger opportunities.
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  - And so I think it really is trying
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  - to look for those creative solutions, and that's
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  - really,
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  - what we're doing as a senior team. Again,
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  - as I identified, what are the things that,
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  - people aren't utilizing and, you know, we can
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  - beat ourselves up about why they're not utilizing
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  - or we can say, you know what? This
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  - isn't our spot in the marketplace. Let's move
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  - forward. And I think we will continue to
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  - be,
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  - very clear about that. In addition, though, our
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  - patients have also said to us that they
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  - want to try and get services closer to
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  - home. So we have
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  - two very important part, partnerships with our tertiary
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  - partner,
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  - the academic medical center Cooper, in both, cardiac
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  - and in neuro. And those have relationships have
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  - allowed us to bring services closer to home.
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  - So, again, really thinking about how do we
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  - do two folds, you know, try and grow
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  - the services that are important where people need
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  - that close proximity to home,
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  - but, again, not doing things that we don't
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  - need to be doing if indeed they can
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  - be done either in the community or at
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  - the academic center, you know, in a in
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  - a more,
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  - expeditious way for people.
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  - That makes a lot of sense. Thank you
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  - so much for sharing your thoughts on that.
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  - I know it's an incredibly complex topic.
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  - So a lot of moving parts into your
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  - point. You know, no one solution that really
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  - fixes all of it, but, certainly, having alignment
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  - around, as you mentioned, you know, the the
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  - bigger goal of being able to provide care,
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  - makes a big difference.
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  - I also would just mention that, you know,
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  - I've now reached that age that I'm old
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  - enough to remember some of these,
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  - milestone points in time. And I remember when
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  - Medicare changed,
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  - to
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  - they were gonna provide they had provided thirty
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  - days of inpatient rehab for somebody who had
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  - a hip surgery or a knee surgery. And
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  - so when we went from 30 to seven,
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  - everybody thought the world was gonna come to
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  - an end and there would be no way
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  - to accommodate. And somehow, both of the changes
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  - in technology and the changes in how care
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  - delivery happened, we were able to accommodate those
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  - things. And so while I don't see a
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  - clear path forward and I can't tell you
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  - what a, b, and c look like right
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  - now, I'm very confident in the health care
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  - system that we will continue to make those
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  - changes and modifications as necessary for our patients.
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  - Absolutely. That's such an important reminder and great
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  - perspective as things
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  - that you're proud of from the last six
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  - to eighteen months or so? Can you tell
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  - us about what's been going on at Inspira?
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  - Sure. I'd be glad to. I first always
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  - have to start with the most important asset
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  - that we have, which is our team.
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  - You know, our folks have show up every
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  - single day to be able to meet the
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  - needs of our patients and regardless of how
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  - difficult that is or how challenging those moments
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  - in time are because we continue to see
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  - sicker patients coming in the door. We continue
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  - to see people who are just frustrated with
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  - life and and, you know, we see all
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  - of that roll into your hospitals and into
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  - your doctor's offices. So regardless of that, everybody
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  - shows up every day doing their best, and
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  - I think that that continues to be,
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  - any health system's greatest asset, but certainly here
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  - in ours as well. I'm very proud that
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  - we are now three weeks from go live.
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  - We just went live with our new Epic
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  - system. We're very excited.
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  - Again, I am grateful for our board of
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  - trustees who saw that as a critical investment
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  - to make, really driven by our academic partner.
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  - We have these complex cardiac and neuro cases,
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  - and they said, look, we need to be
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  - able to see real time what's going on.
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  - And so that move and investment in Epic
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  - is something that was really important for our
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  - patients as well as,
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  - as for our, health system to be able
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  - to better coordinate. You know, when patients come
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  - in the door, even though we have 8,000
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  - employees and we're, you know, spread over lots
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  - of geography and, you know, we are the
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  - reason this New Jersey is called the Garden
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  - State, so there are lots of farmlands down
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  - here. Patients expect us to be talking to
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  - each other real time about their care and,
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  - you know, want to be able to see,
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  - you know, what happened at the doctor's office
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  - or what was that latest slide that you
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  - just had. And so having all of that
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  - on one platform is really very exciting. It's
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  - obviously, you know, a huge undertaking for for
• 8:24
  - the staff,
• 8:25
  - to be able to learn, you know, build
• 8:27
  - a new system, learn a new system, but
• 8:29
  - they've been so excited and so just really,
• 8:32
  - as always, they've risen to the occasion. And,
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  - I certainly saw that during COVID, and I
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  - see it again just no matter what, you
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  - know, what the challenge or opportunity is, they
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  - step up and move forward. So I'm I'm
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  - very grateful for that. And then, actually, today,
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  - we just delivered our first baby in our
• 8:47
  - new, overbuild of our Mullica Hill Hospital. So
• 8:50
  - we knew that our facility,
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  - needed to be expanded and so we're going
• 8:54
  - through an expansion process, but our maternity was
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  - the first,
• 8:58
  - L and D was the first expansion that
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  - opened and it's the first moment it was
• 9:02
  - open we had a delivery come in. So,
• 9:05
  - that was really exciting too. And, again, I
• 9:07
  - think that's a a testament to, you know,
• 9:09
  - making those tough decisions and saying, you know
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  - what? There are things we have to grow,
• 9:12
  - there are things we have to shrink, but
• 9:13
  - we have to, you know, do what's best
• 9:15
  - overall based upon the utilization from the community.
• 9:17
  - That's
• 9:19
  - great to hear. And, you know, really incredible
• 9:21
  - to have that opportunity to be expanding, especially
• 9:23
  - in when you think about labor and delivery
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  - when so many other places are having to
• 9:27
  - contract that service, and so critical to communities
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  - and and families. So,
• 9:32
  - that's great to hear. And I think to
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  - your point, being able to have those wins
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  - and success stories makes a big difference for
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  - the team,
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  - and the pride that they have in how
• 9:42
  - they're working, with within an organization that really
• 9:45
  - truly cares for the community.
• 9:47
  - When you think about that culture, what are
• 9:49
  - you really excited about and focused on for
• 9:51
  - the future? How do you, see the workforce
• 9:54
  - and everything else you're trying to do at
• 9:55
  - Inspira Health continue to evolve?
• 9:57
  - Yeah. You know, one of the major moves
• 9:59
  - for us with Epic is, to try and
• 10:01
  - help people have the tools that they need
• 10:03
  - so they can spend less time behind the
• 10:05
  - computer and more time with the patients. And
• 10:07
  - there are so many different,
• 10:09
  - opportunities and,
• 10:11
  - and tools within Epic that will just make
• 10:13
  - their life easier. I mean, even, you know,
• 10:15
  - week three, which, you know, anytime you try
• 10:17
  - something new, it's you're nervous about it. Even
• 10:18
  - if you buy a new car, you're still
• 10:20
  - looking for the buttons that are in the
• 10:21
  - same spot and you want to go back
• 10:22
  - to what you had.
• 10:24
  - But I have really been just so excited
• 10:26
  - about the staff and how they've embraced it
• 10:28
  - and they really have embraced it for twofold.
• 10:30
  - One, they know the technology will help them
• 10:32
  - be able to deliver safer, better care. And
• 10:34
  - then two, there are,
• 10:36
  - there are things like ambient listening for our
• 10:38
  - physicians
• 10:39
  - that we know will just make such a
• 10:41
  - big difference for them not to have to
• 10:43
  - be worried about typing in a computer or
• 10:44
  - or what we call pajama time, which is
• 10:46
  - when they're doing their charts after hours.
• 10:48
  - We want them to be able to have
• 10:50
  - real time, be able to have to, be
• 10:52
  - able to know that that session is over
• 10:53
  - and they can move to the next, and
• 10:55
  - most importantly, that they have that downtime that
• 10:56
  - they so desperately need,
• 10:58
  - to be able to refresh themselves. So I
• 11:00
  - would say that, you know, that continues to
• 11:03
  - be,
• 11:04
  - just such an excitement and such a great
• 11:06
  - opportunity.
• 11:07
  - Also, making use of the AI technologies that
• 11:09
  - are available. We certainly have seen a, a
• 11:12
  - dramatic drop in our, sepsis rate given that,
• 11:15
  - we have put that on in the front
• 11:17
  - end on the,
• 11:18
  - on the emergency department so we can see
• 11:20
  - an early detection. So we make sure we
• 11:22
  - get those things in. We're seeing drops in,
• 11:24
  - reference to our, our stroke cases, being able
• 11:28
  - to identify those issues earlier and be able
• 11:30
  - to get people the meds they need, all
• 11:31
  - of those things. You know, I know that
• 11:33
  - there are there are mixed reviews. Right? And
• 11:35
  - people are nervous about AI, but I really
• 11:37
  - believe,
• 11:38
  - if we figure out ways to help, the
• 11:40
  - team members, especially nursing,
• 11:42
  - just be able to validate what their instincts
• 11:44
  - are. And if indeed they disagree with it,
• 11:46
  - there's a process that you can use to
• 11:48
  - override that. But at least they don't feel
• 11:50
  - like they're on their own all the time,
• 11:52
  - you know, they're they're doing their best, but,
• 11:53
  - you know, just having that little guide on
• 11:55
  - you to say, you know, did you really
• 11:56
  - spell that right? Or is that what you
• 11:58
  - really want to see? Or, you know, maybe
• 11:59
  - there's something else to look at here, I
• 12:01
  - think is a tremendous guide. At the end
• 12:02
  - of the day, nothing is going to replace
• 12:04
  - that clinical expertise, not for a physician, not
• 12:06
  - for a nurse, not for anybody.
• 12:08
  - You know, all my friends who, you know,
• 12:10
  - end up with diagnoses or with something wrong,
• 12:12
  - they immediately go to the web and, you
• 12:14
  - know, they just you can't trust that completely.
• 12:16
  - It could be a good learning, but then
• 12:18
  - you have to make sure you're actually seeing
• 12:20
  - a clinician,
• 12:21
  - to be able to validate and using that
• 12:24
  - expertise.
• 12:25
  - And so I I think we're gonna be
• 12:26
  - seeing more and more of that.
• 12:28
  - Also, there's a lot of routine,
• 12:31
  - just, you know,
• 12:32
  - rude stuff that we make people do every
• 12:34
  - day that if we can automate that, it'll
• 12:36
  - just make their lives so much easier. And
• 12:38
  - so, you know, Epic, it really is intuitive
• 12:40
  - and it thinks with you and for you,
• 12:42
  - and so I'm really excited about the opportunity,
• 12:45
  - to see how it's gonna really impact the
• 12:47
  - lives of our not only our patients, but
• 12:49
  - also our staff.
• 12:51
  - That is very exciting. And and having that
• 12:53
  - reality of technology supports what they're doing, it
• 12:56
  - can actually,
• 12:57
  - provide the more information,
• 13:00
  - getting to better patient care and better outcomes
• 13:02
  - too,
• 13:03
  - makes a big difference. And to your point,
• 13:05
  - you know, there there's a lot out there
• 13:07
  - on AI, but as you're beginning to incorporate
• 13:09
  - it into the system,
• 13:11
  - how do you make sure that everyone sees
• 13:14
  - those benefits and is able to
• 13:16
  - incorporate it smartly and excited about that potential.
• 13:20
  - Yeah. So part of the technology that we
• 13:21
  - have within the EPIC system is that they
• 13:24
  - actually,
• 13:25
  - will share with you an optimization
• 13:27
  - view by department, by unit. You You can
• 13:30
  - even go down to the individual where, you
• 13:31
  - know, you could say, look. I can see,
• 13:33
  - you know, you're having trouble closing out your
• 13:34
  - charts or your med rec isn't med reconciliation
• 13:37
  - isn't happening.
• 13:38
  - You know, let me show you these tools.
• 13:40
  - And so we especially early on in that
• 13:42
  - session,
• 13:43
  - we can, you know, sort of teach those
• 13:44
  - habits right up front and there's nothing like
• 13:46
  - that one on one. But what I see
• 13:48
  - happening that's so exciting, Laura, is I see
• 13:50
  - colleagues
• 13:52
  - teaching each other, you know, let me show
• 13:54
  - you this template I knew. Or wait a
• 13:55
  - minute, there's a shortcut, you don't have to
• 13:57
  - go through all that trouble. And they're you
• 13:58
  - know, again, part of the the spirit that
• 14:01
  - we have here at Inspira is that we
• 14:03
  - have each other's back. Right? You're not gonna
• 14:05
  - watch somebody, you know, struggle. You're gonna go
• 14:07
  - over and try and help if you have
• 14:09
  - that expertise.
• 14:10
  - Many of the folks who work here actually
• 14:11
  - have been at other Epic shops. So they're,
• 14:14
  - you know, sort of being what we have
• 14:15
  - a little,
• 14:16
  - a little designation as a pro, PRO,
• 14:19
  - that will allow, you know, people to say,
• 14:20
  - oh, okay. You you had this extra training
• 14:23
  - or you're a super user. Then we can
• 14:25
  - go ahead and make sure that they know,
• 14:26
  - okay. I'm free to ask you and so
• 14:28
  - you you don't mind giving me that extra
• 14:30
  - help. And again, I think that's, you know,
• 14:32
  - that just is acknowledging right up front. Nobody
• 14:33
  - expects you to be perfect the first month.
• 14:35
  - We know we're gonna have bumps and bruises
• 14:37
  - along the way,
• 14:38
  - but again, it's that camaraderie and it's that
• 14:41
  - spirit of cooperation, whether it be within the
• 14:44
  - hospital or in the medical
• 14:45
  - offices
• 14:46
  - or most importantly for our patients as well.
• 14:49
  - We now have a project that we're starting
• 14:51
  - in Salem County,
• 14:53
  - which is one of our smallest counties in
• 14:54
  - the state but has tremendous
• 14:56
  - pockets of poverty
• 14:58
  - And so really looking at,
• 15:00
  - setting up a food pharmacy within one of
• 15:03
  - our hospitals,
• 15:04
  - there. So that would again provide another place
• 15:06
  - where people can go to get that what
• 15:08
  - they need,
• 15:09
  - before they can get their distribution from the
• 15:12
  - from the large food bank. And so just
• 15:13
  - just trying to look for those little avenues
• 15:15
  - where we can, you know, fill that spot.
• 15:17
  - And, again, you could say, well, that's not
• 15:19
  - really health care, and I would argue that,
• 15:20
  - you know, what you put in your body
• 15:22
  - is determines your health just as much as
• 15:24
  - anything else. And so really being, partnered with
• 15:27
  - the local food banks and, and with the
• 15:29
  - community to make sure that they're helping us,
• 15:31
  - you know, secure food and be able to
• 15:33
  - distribute it, it makes a huge difference. Our
• 15:36
  - community health workers just are frontline and center
• 15:40
  - and there is just one after another story
• 15:42
  - of how they are
• 15:43
  - working to make sure that they're helping people,
• 15:46
  - receive care and also the investments that we
• 15:48
  - make in some of our nonprofits,
• 15:49
  - do the same type of work.
• 15:51
  - There's this great story about,
• 15:53
  - you know, three gentlemen who who had be
• 15:56
  - had become friends, were homeless together,
• 15:59
  - and, together, they went through the process to
• 16:00
  - end up to to be able to secure
• 16:02
  - housing. And now there's they're living together, and
• 16:04
  - they're stable. And, you know, that's just the
• 16:07
  - kind of stuff that, you know, that small
• 16:08
  - donation that we're making it to the right
• 16:10
  - agency can do that kind of great work.
• 16:14
  - Wow. That sounds like such an excellent example
• 16:16
  - of illustrating everything you've been talking about in
• 16:18
  - terms of how you can
• 16:20
  - continue to grow and expand the services in
• 16:23
  - the ways that you care for the community
• 16:24
  - and then,
• 16:25
  - provide excellent health care as well. Now before
• 16:28
  - we wrap up here, I'm curious.
• 16:31
  - I wanna talk a little bit about leadership.
• 16:32
  - What advice would you give emerging leaders and
• 16:35
  - involving leaders today, especially given how quickly health
• 16:39
  - care industry is transforming?
• 16:41
  - Yeah.
• 16:42
  - I I think that, you
• 16:44
  - know, at the end of the day,
• 16:45
  - it's really about your people. You know, you
• 16:47
  - can have all the tools and have all
• 16:49
  - those things bells and whistles, but if you
• 16:51
  - can't hire, if you can't bring people in,
• 16:53
  - if you can't,
• 16:54
  - help teach them that technology, then there's, you
• 16:56
  - know, you you really are at a loss.
• 16:59
  - And so for us, we've really made the
• 17:00
  - investment in our people by saying, look, come
• 17:02
  - in and work at Inspira. You can start
• 17:04
  - in one job, but we wanna be with
• 17:06
  - you on your education career journey. So we
• 17:09
  - have a tuition reimbursement program,
• 17:11
  - that within a partnership with our local county
• 17:13
  - colleges that say if if you are an
• 17:15
  - employer employee and you enroll,
• 17:17
  - we will give you tuition free. We want
• 17:20
  - to be helping people go back to school.
• 17:22
  - We have, 20 or so nurses that are
• 17:24
  - going on to get their advanced degrees in
• 17:26
  - nursing, and there's a whole group of mentors
• 17:29
  - that are mentoring them. We had, you know,
• 17:32
  - one unit that,
• 17:33
  - that did close, and so we were looking
• 17:35
  - to move those people to other jobs. And
• 17:37
  - so they had mentors in those jobs that
• 17:39
  - then are helping them and they got to
• 17:41
  - select the jobs they wanted to go to.
• 17:42
  - And so I think that health care is
• 17:44
  - gonna change so fast and so what we
• 17:46
  - want to basically say to people is we're
• 17:48
  - gonna be on that journey with you. Right?
• 17:50
  - We may not look I I did orientation
• 17:52
  - this morning, and so I say the same
• 17:54
  - thing every Monday at orientation.
• 17:55
  - In 1899,
• 17:56
  - when we got together, the group of Bridgeton
• 17:58
  - was the first hospital that was built, and,
• 18:01
  - those folks came together because they care deeply
• 18:03
  - about the community.
• 18:04
  - In 2026,
• 18:06
  - we don't look anything like we did one
• 18:07
  - hundred and twenty seven years ago, but the
• 18:10
  - reality is we are still,
• 18:12
  - motivated by the same things. This health care
• 18:14
  - system in the next five years is going
• 18:16
  - to change just like every health care system
• 18:18
  - in the country, But we're gonna be in
• 18:19
  - it together, we're gonna be learning it together,
• 18:21
  - we're gonna be figuring it out, and I
• 18:23
  - think with their knowledge that we're all in
• 18:26
  - this together, all learning, all trying to face
• 18:28
  - these issues and and talking about them. Right?
• 18:31
  - Not being afraid to say, look, this is
• 18:32
  - you know, there are gonna be some really
• 18:34
  - hard decisions left that have to be made.
• 18:36
  - I I I say often at the senior
• 18:38
  - team, there are no easy decisions left. Any
• 18:40
  - easy decision we've made already.
• 18:42
  - And as you're looking down the nose of,
• 18:43
  - you know, $6,000,000,000
• 18:45
  - in New Jersey that's gonna come out, there
• 18:46
  - are nothing left but hard decisions. But we're
• 18:48
  - in it together,
• 18:50
  - our patients need us, and we need to
• 18:51
  - figure it out. And, one thing I do
• 18:54
  - know about us is that we are a
• 18:55
  - resilient group of people and that we will
• 18:57
  - absolutely always
• 18:59
  - rally for the occasion, rally for our patients,
• 19:01
  - and most importantly, do what's best for our
• 19:03
  - communities.
• 19:05
  - I love that. Amy, thank you so much
• 19:07
  - for joining us on the podcast today. This
• 19:08
  - has been such a fun conversation, really truly
• 19:11
  - inspiring
• 19:12
  - to think about what you're doing in Inspira
• 19:13
  - Health, and I look forward to connecting with
• 19:15
  - you again soon. Thank you, Laura. I always
• 19:17
  - appreciate your time, and thank you for all
• 19:18
  - the great things that you were doing, the
• 19:20
  - education that you all provide. We all learn
• 19:22
  - from each other and we, you know, we
• 19:23
  - steal shamelessly because when there are great things
• 19:25
  - that are happening, we wanna replicate them. So
• 19:27
  - thank you for the role you play in
• 19:28
  - that.