Welcome to Coastal Medical Transportation Systems! What drew you to working at CMTS at this stage of your career?
Alex (CMTS founder and CEO) and I previously worked together at his startup, Acuity Link, where we developed a strong relationship working together to address some of medical transportation’s most pressing logistics challenges. Over the last year he shared with me his vision for growth at CMTS, spanning the care continuum from the hospital to home. Hospitals face significant challenges in achieving efficient patient throughput while minimizing readmission rates. The potential impact these issues can have on both patient satisfaction and cost is substantial and likely one of the top three concerns for most hospital executives. At this point in my career, being part of a team that is providing innovative solutions to tackle these issues head-on is extremely motivating.
What makes your partnership with Alex so successful?
Like any healthy relationship, it must be based on trust and respect. When you are working at a fast-paced healthcare startup like Acuity Link, you share a lot of varied experiences in a very short period of time. You face adversity and make decisions quickly, while trying to disrupt an entrenched industry. In these situations, you must take risks and trust your team. My time spent with Alex at Acuity Link is the key factor in my decision to join his team at CMTS.
How would you describe your current roles and responsibilities with CMTS?
At a high level, my primary job focus is centered around developing and implementing strategies that promote CMTS growth through market differentiation. I’m also charged with ensuring that customer feedback is always top of mind and incorporated into everything we do as an organization.
Over the course of my career, I’ve worked with many high performing organizations, from startups to Fortune 15 companies. The key attributes they all shared were a sense of mission, winning and a strong alignment of goals and expectations. At these organizations you knew you were part of a larger team, not simply working in an individual silo. To that end, I am committed to ensuring that the business development team is consistently aligned and in constant collaboration with the key decision makers across the CMTS enterprise.
You’ve been in the healthcare space in some capacity for decades. What is it about the industry that appealed to you initially and what made you commit to it for the longer term?
I was recruited by Baxter Healthcare through their JMO (junior military officer) program in 1990, so your statement is very true, it has in fact been decades. I started my career selling medical devices in the operating room. My interest in a technical sales role was probably related to my engineering background and the satisfaction in observing improved patient outcomes. Longer term, I would have to say what kept me working in the healthcare space was that shared sense of mission. Everyone in healthcare has the singular goal of providing the best patient care possible. Being married to an RN for 37 years probably helped as well.
What are you most looking forward to in your new role?
I believe that the CMTS team has a unique opportunity to be part of a paradigm shift in patient care that will have a simultaneous impact on improving patient outcomes, while reducing cost. In my role, my goal is to contribute my commercial leadership experience in the development of solutions that help achieve these goals.
What’s next for CMTS?
We have a diverse team, the best in the business, that is singularly focused on execution. So, I would say to anyone who asks what’s on the horizon to just wait and see. We are just getting warmed up!