Inspira Financial Appoints Edward Brann as Chief Executive Officer; Mike Olson as Chief Financial Officer

BOCA RATON, FLORIDA--(Marketwired - March 1, 2017) -

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Inspira Financial Inc. (TSX VENTURE:LND) ("Inspira"), a company focused on providing lending, billing and collections solutions to the highly fragmented U.S. mental health and addiction services market, today announced it appointed Edward Brann, currently the Executive Director, to the added role of Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and appointed Mike Olson as Chief Financial Officer ("CFO").

Mr. Brann, now CEO, joined the Board of Directors in November 2016 as an Executive Director and was assigned the responsibility of improving capital market communications and installing a culture of urgency in the company. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Jaime Gerber was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors.

"As we start the new fiscal year, I am pleased to have Edward leading the company," said Dr. Jaime Gerber, Chairman of Inspira. "Edward has recently acquired a considerable number of shares on the market and I believe his understanding of our market and his vision for revenue growth and technology development combines to make him a very good choice for our customers, employees and shareholders. This is the next move in changing the culture at Inspira. We have been working hard to do that since November and I believe his leadership is crucial to continuing that effort."

"I have been acquiring millions of shares on the market in the past months as I believe in our business model and our future," said Mr. Edward Brann, CEO of Inspira. "I am asking shareholders to join me in supporting our new direction, as well as our new team. As part of that new direction, we have changed our management team and Board leadership to better reflect the culture I am building."

Mike Olson has been appointed CFO subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. Mr. Olson was previously CFO of a healthcare related startup, a Controller for PCH Treatment Centers and a Controller for a medical laboratory (which was successfully acquired by LabCorp). He began his Finance career at The Walt Disney Company, holds a degree from Eastern Washington University, a graduate-level certificate from University of Washington.

"I want to welcome Mike Olson to the team," continued Mr. Brann. "His sense of urgency, ability to streamline processes and decades of experience will be key to our future success."

About Inspira - Lending, Mental Health Billing and Collections

Further information about Inspira can be found at the recently launched beta version of the investor website: www.inspirafin.ca. The mental health and substance abuse market in the United States is a rapidly expanding industry, with current spending exceeding US$35 billion. Within this industry, thousands of businesses have annual revenues in the US$1 million to US$50 million range. Due to the significant increase in addiction treatment as a result of the Parity Act, the large and permanently elevated volumes of claims has led payors to impose upon facilities in the mental health sector similarly complex reimbursement requirements as those imposed in the physical healthcare sector. Substance abuse facilities tend to use several software applications and a non-automated billing company to document services provided and bill insurance companies. This cumbersome process slows down the tracking, billing and collection process as the customer's billings increase, and was not designed to handle the volume or level of detail now required by payors for prompt payment. Thus, across the mental health and substance abuse industry there are collection delays and consequently, need for capital. The newly acquired Inspira technology platform incorporates every aspect of the new insurance reimbursement process to admit, diagnose, track, bill, and collect revenue specific to patients in the addiction recovery market. Inspira is now actively marketing a total cash flow solution for mental health companies and addiction centers.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words "may", "would", "could", "should", "potential", "will", "seek", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to Inspira, are intended to identify forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect Inspira's current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to Inspira, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including: the success of Inspira's sales and marketing efforts effectively growing the total client base; Inspira's ability to satisfy and keep existing clients; management execution, hiring and maintaining qualified staff, and understanding and achieving software improvements within reasonable time frames and costs; the demand for addiction treatment continuing to increase; the new service line being complimentary to existing Inspira clients; Inspira being successful in its integration of the billing company; Inspira's clients maintaining revenue regardless of overall industry demand; the successful recruitment of employee talent in Florida; increasing total clients serviced resulting in a positive impact on revenue; and Inspira being able to use the scale of multiple clients and a larger operation to reduce costs. Material factors or assumptions were applied in providing forward-looking information.
Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information to vary from those described herein should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize. These factors include changes in law, competition, litigation, the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities, state of the capital markets, the availability of funds and resources to pursue operations, dependence on debt markets and interest rates, demand for the lending products Inspira offers at interest rates higher than at which Inspira can borrow, a novel business model, granting of permits and licenses in a highly regulated business, difficulty integrating newly acquired businesses (including the billing company), risks of performance by the target, new technologies, risk of billing irregularities by borrowers, low profit market segments, risks associated with the declaration and payment of dividends, including the discretion of Inspira's Board of Directors to declare dividends, as well as general economic, market and business conditions, as well as those risk factors discussed or referred to in Inspira's annual Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended February 29, 2016, filed with the securities regulatory authorities in certain provinces of Canada and available at www.sedar.com. Should any factor affect Inspira in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, Inspira does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release and Inspira undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law. Unless otherwise indicated, all figures are in Canadian dollars.

In addition to the foregoing, further litigation and administrative actions, even if completely without merit, can be expected to cause Inspira to continue to incur substantial financial expenses to defend its actions. In addition, the litigation may be expected to draw management resources that would otherwise be used to grow and manage the company, and have the effect of impairing or slowing the efforts of Inspira to execute on its business plan. Inspira can offer no guidance on whether or how long such proceedings will continue.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.