Babette Hankey, President & CEO, Aspire Health Partners

Invest: spoke with Babette Hankey, president and CEO of Aspire Health Partners, about a transformative year for integrated behavioral healthcare in Central Florida, the expansion of access across multiple entry points, and the partnerships shaping long-term community well-being. “To build a healthier community, we must address food security, housing, and transportation alongside healthcare. Those factors shape whether someone can access and sustain care long-term,” said Hankey.

How would you describe the past year for Aspire Health Partners, and what does that tell us about the broader state of behavioral and mental healthcare in Central Florida?

This year has been truly transformative for Aspire and for behavioral healthcare regionwide. At every level — Federal, State and Local — there’s a renewed emphasis on holistic, integrated care. Locally, we helped lead the Community Health Needs Assessment with AdventHealth, Orlando Health, the Florida Department of Health, and our Federally Qualified Health Center partners. The findings reinforced what we see daily: our community needs innovative, accessible, integrated services.

For Aspire, that means aligning psychiatric, addiction and primary care together under one umbrella and making it easy to navigate. We’ve established four Centers of Excellence that facilitate the integration of these services, as well as virtual care, ensuring there is “no wrong door” for those accessing care. Whether someone arrives in person, calls our call center, or connects virtually, we want to move them quickly to the right level of care while continuing to strive for excellence.

Access to services has been our unifying theme. Our call center receives over 100,000 calls a year, so we redesigned processes to link individuals immediately to a virtual queue, assess complexity, and direct them either to on-site services or telehealth care. We have also invested in infrastructure for specialty populations, including a new state of the art, 48-bed facility in downtown Orlando that will provide long-term housing and wraparound services for homeless veterans.

In addition, we contracted for a mobile medical unit launching this spring that will bring primary care, addiction care, and psychiatric services directly into neighborhoods and community locations. Our 24/7 Mobile Response Teams in Orange and Seminole counties have responded to more than 7,000 crises, with only about 200 requiring acute care admission. This service is keeping thousands of individuals out of emergency rooms or higher-level interventions while connecting them to the right level of care.

To build a healthier community, we also must address housing, transportation and food security alongside healthcare. These factors are instrumental in shaping whether someone can access and sustain care long-term with positive outcomes.

What new digital tools or AI-enabled capabilities are you exploring or adopting now, and where do you see the greatest impact?

We are taking an intentional approach to AI. Integrated Behavioral Health requires strict confidentiality and strong clinical judgement, so our goal is to support — not replace — our workforce. Our early focus has been on how AI can help providers streamline administrative tasks while ensuring that diagnostics and treatment decisions remain with the practitioner.

We have not implemented an AI tool for clinical documentation, but we are exploring models we can customize to our programming needs. Currently, behavioral health lags behind other fields in AI tools that integrate seamlessly with medical records, which is why we are partnering with companies interested in developing solutions with us. With our research and clinical trial arm, we are well positioned to help shape those tools.

We have made significant progress on the business and operational side. We built sophisticated dashboards for revenue cycle management and patient service delivery that combine human oversight with AI-supported insights. That real-time visibility has elevated our efficiency and financial transparency.

Customer relationship management is another major area of focus. With over 100,000 calls annually, AI could help with routine questions, reminders, and routing, allowing staff to focus on high-risk cases. Access is everything. I never want us to miss a call, because it may be the moment when we can change or save someone’s life. 

You also mentioned evolving regulations around behavioral health parity and accountability. How is Aspire engaging in those conversations?

Aspire operates a full continuum of services from community-based prevention to hospital-based psychiatric care.

Aspire operates inpatient crisis stabilization and detoxification units for individuals with mental health, substance use, and co-occurring disorders. Often this leads to the identification of emerging trends and we are able to use this timely knowledge to take an active role in policy development. At the state level, we are engaged in initiatives to update the Baker Act, the Marchman Act, and accountability standards for our field. We advance this work through the Florida Behavioral Health Association and direct collaboration with state legislators. As a CARF-accredited organization and a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, we operate under a model that integrates primary and behavioral care. That experience positions us well to share best practices that yield great outcomes.

I also serve as vice chair of the Florida Behavioral Health Association and sit on statewide committees addressing workforce violence and behavioral health through the Florida Hospital Association. As one of the largest not-for-profit, integrated behavioral healthcare companies in the state of Florida, participating in these associations enables Aspire to be a leader in developing, implementing and measuring related services to ensure individuals receive the right care, by the right professionals in the right settings. 

Workforce remains an urgent area. Through our partnerships with the University of Central Florida and Nova Southeastern University, we host psychiatric residents and clerkship students who learn in an integrated environment. Often these students stay with us after graduation. That “teach, learn, keep” model strengthens the workforce pipeline and informs our policy recommendations.

Parity continues to be a major concern. We are cognizant and focused on how potential reductions in coverage could leave more people underinsured or uninsured, which would strain an already stretched system and could increase pressure on emergency departments and jails. Our message at the national, state and local levels is that behavioral healthcare must remain a priority, with adequate funding and flexibility to attract and maintain qualified professionals   enabling individuals the ability to access and receive care when they need it.

What is your outlook for Aspire and for the broader behavioral healthcare sector in Central Florida over the next three to five years?

In the next three to five years, I expect an even stronger focus on stabilization, transitional housing, and long-term safety nets. Aspire serves more than 40,000 people annually. While individuals  are with us, we provide treatment and prevention across the continuum of care, but long-term success depends on ongoing community-based support.

That is why partnerships — with governmental entities, community based services, not-for-profits, hospitals, primary care providers, and business leaders — are essential. As new trends emerge in substance use and mental health, data and collaboration must guide our response. We are already sharing information directly with AdventHealth and Orlando Health, which improves continuity of care, and I see that unified approach growing.

Internally, we are conducting a facility optimization review to ensure our 50+ sites align with where the need is highest and that our footprint supports access. What will not change is our mission. Aspire has long been the community answer for people who are uninsured or underinsured who struggle to access services. 

Regardless of circumstances, every person is a human being deserving of care and the opportunity to develop skills for long-term stability. Through the multitude of partnerships we aim to help individuals move toward the best version of themselves while strengthening the broader community.