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Inspira Health CEO on Importance of Leveraging Partnerships Within Local Community

Analysis  |  By Jay Asser  
   January 27, 2025

Working with federal or state funded institutions is one way health systems can make the most of government influence, says Amy Mansue.

Regardless of size or stature, hospitals and health systems often improve their ability to tackle their biggest challenges and serve their community when they form local partnerships.

That strategy has benefited South Jersey-based Inspira Health, which has utilized those connections to strengthen its workforce and increase access to care for patients.

Some of Inspira's partnerships are with government-backed institutions, allowing the system to leverage government reach that's unlikely to be affected by potential policy changes as administrations turn over.

"The truth of the matter is that no one entity, no one hospital is going to be able to solve the healthcare issues of our communities alone," Inspira president and CEO Amy Mansue told HealthLeaders.

Mansue, who has been at the helm of Inspira since August 2020, believes provider organizations should understand how they can partner with federally qualified health centers (FQHC), for example. These federally funded nonprofit centers or clinics serve medically underserved areas, providing primary care services on a sliding fee scale.

For Inspira, the collaboration with public institutions Rowan University and Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) has been particularly fruitful. The trio partnered to create the Pathway to Nursing program in 2023, which enables Inspira employees to have their fourth-year tuition at Rowan University paid in full by the system after they complete their first three years at RCSJ. Additionally, Inspira employees have received a 50% discount on tuition and fees for RCSJ's degree and certificate programs since 2022.

"We've done a lot of work with our local county college, trying to make sure that our staff have the ability to go back to school for free, encouraging that education component part of their career trajectory with us," Mansue said. "All of that helps our local community as well as helps each of us."

Inspira has also fostered a relationship with its academic partner, Cooper University Health Care. The pair formed Cooper and Inspira Neuroscience and Cooper and Inspira Cardiac Care to enhance local access to care in those two specialties.

According to Mansue, that commitment is significant for bringing physicians to Inspira's community.

"Part of that opportunity is just trying to keep things close to home," she said. "The less [the doctors] have to travel to the academic center, the better, and for the academic center, it works out great because they keep the high CMMI and then we have the ability to do new procedures at our facilities close to home that we otherwise wouldn't have had the opportunity to have."

Pictured: Amy Mansue, president and CEO, Inspira Health.

While these types of partnerships can provide health systems with some stability, a new presidential administration, on the other hand, can bring plenty of unpredictability.

Even in the case of President Trump serving a second, nonconsecutive term, Mansue doesn't think there's much leaders can take away from his first stint in office to prepare them for the coming four years.

Not only was a good chunk of his time spent on the pandemic, skewing his approach to healthcare policies, but his current administration also features new faces, bringing their own set of beliefs, Mansue highlighted.

Hospital and health system CEOs may not know how the government will act going forward, but keeping an open mind is how Inspira's guiding hand is operating.

"Obviously, every time a new administration comes in, they bring in new ideas, new opportunities," she said. "We are willing and really excited about the chance to work with new folks. At the end of the day, the federal government makes up about 39% of the spend of our national healthcare expenditures and so with all these new ideas, there's still the running of that operation, which is a huge responsibility.

"We all will step forward and partner with them in any way we can. We all understand that the economic pressure on healthcare costs are continuing, so I think we would continue to work with this new administration to think about new ideas and figure out how to create those opportunities for all of us to become more efficient."

Jay Asser is the CEO editor for HealthLeaders. 


KEY TAKEAWAYS

Inspira Health's local partnerships are improving its workforce development and expanding access to care.

CEO Amy Mansue believes provider organizations can take advantage of initiatives with federally qualified health centers, local colleges, and academic health systems.

Though leaders can't fully anticipate how a new presidential administration will impact healthcare policies, Mansue espouses a collaborative mindset.


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