Case Study: Inspira Health Network achieves half-day shorter hospital stays and streamlined skilled-nursing referrals with Cerner HIE technology

How an HIE cut half a day off hospital stays and united competition in New Jersey

Inspira Health Network, working with the New Jersey South Health Information Network (NJSHINE) and Cerner’s HIE technology, faced slow discharge coordination: nurses spent up to a day calling skilled nursing facilities to find appropriate beds and awaiting responses, delaying patient transitions and increasing hospital length of stay and costs.

By sending standardized referrals via NJSHINE messaging—complete with diagnoses, needs, scans and labs—to multiple facilities at once, Inspira streamlined placement decisions. The change cut average hospital stays by half a day (about $1,200 saved per stay), increased regional HIE adoption (≈400,000 patient records, 300 organizations, 2,500 users, 125,000 weekly transactions), and fostered cross‑provider collaboration across seven counties.

Inspira Health Network

Ed Rodriguez

Director