FLIGHT PATH
Welcome to Flight Path — where career paths aren’t linear, leadership isn’t boring, and pivots are basically a superpower. I’m Rebecca Woods. Let’s take off.
FLIGHT PATH
Rebecca Woods & Harold Mondschein
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🎙️ Bluebird Leaders Executive Sales Forum | Rebecca Woods & Harold Mondschein
Join Rebecca Woods as she sits down with Harold Mondschein for an insightful conversation at the Bluebird Leaders Executive Sales Forum in Boston, Massachusetts.
Welcome to Flipk, the podcast where we explore the journey behind bold leadership, innovation, and lasting impact. Each episode we sit down with leaders, innovators, and bold breakers, build their success by doing the work, learning the lessons, and sometimes ignoring the map altogether. Whether you're navigating leadership, healthcare, technology, entrepreneurship, or simply trying to figure out what's left without losing your mind. Before we take life, we'd like to thank our sponsor. Open businesses and professionals. Get ready for storage insight on the internet. Welcome aboard.
SPEAKER_02Hey everyone, and welcome to another episode of Flight Path brought to you by eFacts throughout 2026. So we're super excited to have them as our podcast sponsor today. And through the rest of the summer, we are doing the podcast train where we are interviewing somebody and then handing it off for them to interview the next uh person on the train. So today we have Harold from MedTel. Welcome.
SPEAKER_01Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Can you explain MedTel, what you do, your position, all that good stuff?
SPEAKER_01Yes, so uh I'm the CEO of Medtel, I also was the founder. Um Medtel, our mission is pretty simple. We want to improve the lives of not only the providers, but also the patients that they serve throughout their surgical experiences.
SPEAKER_02And you have two offerings?
SPEAKER_01We have two different products. The first is Surgiscript. Surguscript is a care coordination solution. It's really geared to being more proactive and making sure that we close the loop, whether it's clinical, clinically, financially, or operationally, so that when the patient shows up, there's really no surprises. And then the second product has a lot to do with surgical profitability as well as clinical appropriateness based on site of service. So depending on how organizations are reimbursed, we want to make sure that those patients end up on the most clinically appropriate setting, but also in some instances, some sometimes the most profitable.
SPEAKER_02So you're saving hospitals lots of money?
SPEAKER_01We are helping them make a lot of money, but most importantly, um do right by the patient.
SPEAKER_02And do you go in at risk? How is the initial sign-up uh procured?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and Rebecca, that's a great question. So we have some flexibility in terms of how we price. Typically, we've found that most organizations will sign up for just a monthly subscription fee. But we have been willing and are always willing to go at risk. Um we've been able to generate uh rapid ROI for organizations in less than 10 weeks. They see you know meaningful contribution margins. So if risk is uh the way that they want to go, we're certainly willing to do that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think of the all of the rural healthcare. I mean, I was a critical access CIO, so they they need any help they can get.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and that's why we want to make sure that we're able to meet that organization where they need to.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. And uh so you're entrepreneur.
SPEAKER_01I am an entrepreneur.
SPEAKER_02First company, second company. Usually the year's serial.
SPEAKER_01So how many has it been? Serial has such a negative connotation. It does. Not for this stuff. Well, it's it's interesting. My background originally was in physical therapy. I worked predominantly in pediatric and adult neurology and neurosurgery for about the first decade of my career. Um, and then pivoted right after 9-11 and uh ran a medical distribution company. And we went from skin to skin and neuro. So that was really my first bite at the entrepreneurial apple. Um, and it's kind of stuck with me. And then unfortunately, over that decade, I saw the inefficiencies that just continued to plague the surgical care process despite large sums of spend on EHRs and some of the other uh solutions. So we went in and um created an opportunity to make sure that um when patients showed up, there were really going to be no surprises, and that's whether it's clinical surprise, financial, or operational.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I love bridging the gap between IT and operations. I find myself daily in both buckets. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's such an interesting, and we use the term bridge all the time. Yeah. Um so what we found, I'm a bit of a workflow geek, was that the surgical office is really the opportunity to capture information at the earliest, right? As we start to think about facilitating an episode of care. So as you consume that clinical, financial, or operational information, you're able to disseminate it to the different stakeholders throughout the organization. And sometimes outside the organization, right? Whether it's vendors, prior author uh teams that are maybe even uh consulting for other organizations. We want to make sure that folks are leveraging good data early on in the process.
SPEAKER_02Good data. That's usually the problem. Are you finding that there's good data or are you having to go in and help clean it up?
SPEAKER_01We um uh we typically take yellow sticky notes, um you name it yellow pieces of paper off of surgical schedulers' desks. Yeah. And um, yeah, it's really important that we clean that data up and then um by cleaning that data up, create a really solid foundation to build a surgical episode.
SPEAKER_02So are you working mostly with the OR and surgical surgery, or you also collaborate with IT and that data governance?
SPEAKER_01So we try to collaborate with IT whenever possible. Um, it typically will start in the operating room for us where they've identified a problem. Whether it's, hey, we have capacity constraints in the inpatient setting and we need to figure out a better way to migrate and bring less complex cases to their ASCs. Um we we start a lot of times in the OR, we clean that data up and then work in in lockstep with the the IT team to make sure that everyone is now speaking the same language as they move forward.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because as you're under undercovering what you're seeing in the OR, which then reveals uh workflow problems and then opens up a whole can of worms and data problems. And so you're helping with that.
SPEAKER_01Uh sometimes it's item master list items, right? So um semantics are a big part of that. If I call something a cage and you call it an inner body um and we're not speaking the same language, that creates downstream impact, right, from an operational perspective. So maybe the vendor doesn't know what to bring, or maybe the person in the scrub uh the scrub tech doesn't know what to bring to the operating room for that particular case. So it's important to get it right early.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I just learned uh yesterday actually checking in that even for hotels, they have adjoining rooms and they have connecting rooms. I thought that was always the same thing. They actually treat them different. I've been staying in hotels for like my whole life and like, oh, that's why they're not anyways. It's the same thing as the like as you're referring to other things, right? Like, oh, I didn't know they were separate. All right, you ready to have some fun?
SPEAKER_01Uh absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Are you sure? I can wing it, I can wing it, these questions. All right, fine. We're gonna switch to some summer questions. So, uh, what is your summer personality? Beach, mountain, lake, or city?
SPEAKER_01Beach.
SPEAKER_02Beach, me too. Okay. What song would be the soundtrack of your leadership journey?
SPEAKER_01Uh, pretty much anything with chaos in the title. Um, Heartbreak Hotel.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay. What's one thing people would be surprised to learn about you? Even your daughters. Dig deep.
SPEAKER_01I had lunch with a Dalai Lama.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's cool.
SPEAKER_01It was awesome.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. In a big group of people, or like one on one?
SPEAKER_01It was about 10 or 12 of us.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01That was really cool. Oh, it was it was fascinating.
SPEAKER_02Um was he speaking the whole time or didn't know?
SPEAKER_01He didn't speak the whole time. So it was when I was a physical therapist. Um, we were trying to mix Western and Eastern philosophies together. And um he had come into the place that we were working. I I worked at this Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Um, the best part about this story is that in typical hospital fashion, you know, they wanted to create a marketing campaign around it. Um, so they had a bunch of children in a playroom, and they had the lights and the cameras and news, and um what was really interesting is when you have children with pediatric, you know, cancer, um it's very, it's it's not a they're not very happy, right? Um but when he was in that room, the calming influence that he had, it was profound on not only the children, but the adults in the room. It was it was like nothing I've ever experienced in my life. They would walk up and touch his face, sit on his lap. It was um one of the most powerful moments in my life.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was great.
SPEAKER_02Okay, what was your very first job you ever had?
SPEAKER_01I worked on a farm.
SPEAKER_02Like cow, like cows, chickens, what it was.
SPEAKER_01So it was called the circus with a purpose. It was in Somers, New York, and um it was for a uh an organization that was trying to teach inner city kids how to share and care for and with one another through the use of their circus acts. And um I was taking care of the animals. Uh a couple of guys that I worked with actually got me to ride a cow, which was dangerous, and you know, I don't know why my parents let me do that, but um anyhow it was a pretty pretty awesome experience.
SPEAKER_02My mom grew up on a cow farm in Connecticut. Yeah, like milking.
SPEAKER_01In Cornwall?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, in Cornwall.
SPEAKER_01Oh my goodness, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, dairy farm. Dairy farm. Yeah. We used to like go down and like get fresh milk, like it was just like that's where it was from. It was crazy. Yeah, it's awesome. Her and her well, there's eight of them, so she had five brothers, and so it was like the whole family was Yeah. All right, what's one lesson leadership has taught you about yourself?
SPEAKER_01God gave you uh two ears and a mouth for one reason, and you should listen. Um and it really takes a village to be successful, um, whether it's with your own team or helping to facilitate other teams and organizations. And um I I just think listening is uh it's taught me so much, especially when you come out of college and you're like a 22-year-old narcissist, you know how most men are at 22. Screw the so you've been humbled. A little bit. Listen.
SPEAKER_02I like it, I like it. All right, flipping here, sorry for my all right. Do you have one book or podcast that you enjoy listening to that you're hooked on?
SPEAKER_01All right, so um the degenerate side of me says spitting chiclets, do you know that? No podcast. It's a hockey podcast. Okay. So that's the degenerate side of me. Um so that's uh spitting chiclets podcast, is a good one. And then um I do listen to a lot of other podcasts. Uh Pivot is one with Scott Galloway and uh Kara Swisher. There's a whole host of others that I I listen to.
SPEAKER_02Okay. How about TV series? Are you hooked on any TV series right now?
SPEAKER_01Uh right now I watch Friends and Neighbors every Friday with my wife.
SPEAKER_02No, I love that. And you are you having pizza, ice cream, glass of wine?
SPEAKER_01I would say um all the three.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_01Definitely the wine and then substitute, you know, beverage, but uh, you know, definitely wine and and some some food. And yes, there's usually um I would say chocolate-covered raisins.
SPEAKER_02Oh. I like the chocolate-covered espresso beans, but if I eat too many I'm gonna be. Okay, what do you do besides uh watch show with your wife um outside of work to recharge?
SPEAKER_01Uh I do gardening now for the summer and then uh play hockey.
SPEAKER_02Ice hockey.
SPEAKER_01Ice hockey.
SPEAKER_02Are you on like a men's league?
SPEAKER_01Yes. And I'm the worst skater ever. I just started skating when I was 45, so I've been skating just a decade. Yeah, very new. I love it. And really and really bad.
SPEAKER_02Okay, what's one non-negotiable in your daily routine that you like just have to do every day? Like I have to make the bed or I'm like twitching.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I have to make the bed or I'm in a lot of trouble. Oh, okay. Um and and beyond brushing your teeth? Yeah. Um I would say uh my ritual, not that I have to do, but I bring the dog every day to work.
SPEAKER_02You do? Oh, bring the dog. What kind of dog?
SPEAKER_01Um, she's a rescue lab hound mix kind of thing. So I bring her every day to work. That's my thing. I love that.
SPEAKER_02That's a lot of people that bring their dog to work.
SPEAKER_01The chief bark officer.
SPEAKER_02The chief bark officer. I love it. All right, some rapid fire. So coffee or tea?
SPEAKER_01Coffee.
SPEAKER_02Sunrise or sunset.
SPEAKER_01Sunrise.
SPEAKER_02Your favorite summer snack.
SPEAKER_01Vanilla ice cream cone with colored sprinkles.
SPEAKER_02Colored sprinkles, yeah. I always go to the chocolate ones. I love okay. My kids always get gummy bears on top. Uh uh. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Illustrated, soft serve, vanilla. I love it. Very boring.
SPEAKER_02We all travel a lot for work, so are you a window seat or an aisle?
SPEAKER_01I'm an aisle seat.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think everybody has said aisle so far. Uh let's see. Your favorite vacation that you've ever taken?
SPEAKER_01The last one with my family. We were just in Italy and Copenhagen together. That was off the charts.
SPEAKER_02How long were you there?
SPEAKER_01We were there for a week.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Yeah. And you were just saying how your kids are getting older and yeah.
SPEAKER_01I have two that are pretty much out of the house. But uh, we were visiting, my daughter was doing her junior year semester, spring semester in Copenhagen. So we went to visit her, which was awesome.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So you're here for Bluebird Leaders, which is bringing a you know, creating a community to have more women and IT and healthcare IT. How do you feel about supporting that? Why support Bluebird Leaders? I know you have daughters, but um Yes.
SPEAKER_01Um, well, if you look at our own organization, um we have just, I don't know if I'm allowed to say badass, but um You're allowed to say that.
SPEAKER_02Real badass. We can say that.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I we work with some real badass women, and um, and throughout my entire career, I've been blessed to work for some real powerhouse women. Um I find they taught me how to listen a whole lot better. Um, but it's an easy cause to promote. Uh I've been pretty much involved with the YWCA now in terms of uh women in leadership and things like that. So it's um it's it's a near and dear cause to my heart.
SPEAKER_02So awesome. Yeah, we love your support. So thank you for joining Flight Path.
SPEAKER_01Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Now you have to record with somebody else and keep the train going through the summer.
SPEAKER_01I'm in. Sign me up.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you.