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In today’s episode, Ron chats with Sam Moen, Co-Founder, President & COO of MDDirect and Michelle Golden, the Interim Executive Director for Administration for the Eau Claire Area School District. They talk about how MDDirect is transforming specialty care by producing faster outcomes with lower cost of care. They also share insights into Michelle’s former organization’s experience partnering with MDDirect, how lessening the amount of unnecessary surgeries has tremendously helped lower costs, and much more.

Sam Moen

Sam is a recognized leader and published author on innovative healthcare solutions.  He currently leads the industry’s first direct to specialist company’s operations MDDirect.

He engages with organizations to reduce their overall healthcare costs by getting employees to the clinical expert immediately reducing unnecessary care.

Sam is focused on making healthcare a better experience and delivering higher quality (quality = outcomes / cost + time).  MDDirect brings tools such as a web-based platform, evidence-based medicine, bundled payments contracts, and results oriented employee training.

He helps organizations improve employee care for Orthopedics (musculoskeletal), Workers Compensation Injury, Gastrointestinal, OB/Maternity, ENT, while continuing to add additional services.

He has built and taken to market several innovative solutions for some of the nation’s largest healthcare stakeholders. He has worked with over 50+ organizations such as Stanford Health Care, Intermountain Health System, Ascension, United Health Care, Optum, Twin Cities Orthopedics, Dignity Health and many more reducing healthcare’s overall expense. He has worked on the surgical bundled payment model with some of the largest orthopedic groups totalling in over 10,000 completed bundled surgeries. His work spans leadership of all facets in implementing a bundled solution: employer, payer and provider partnerships, contracting, clinical management, physician buy in, care coordination and management, patient optimization and complication reduction.

Sam was born, raised and educated in the Twin Cities.  He loves spending time with his family, friends a. He enjoys the process of learning whether it be downhill skiing, reading, coffee, traveling, golfing, meditation, the body’s production of energy and somehow most conversation turns back to the family business of healthcare.

Michelle Golden

Michelle Golden recently retired from the Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District in June of 2023, as the Executive Director of Human Resources & Public Relations. She became the Executive Director of WASPA (Wisconsin Association of School Personnel Administrators) in July 2023. She is also the Interim Executive Director for Administration for the Eau Claire School District. She has a master’s degree in educational leadership, as well as Human Resource Management.

She lives in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, with her husband, Tim, and has two daughters, Hannah and Hailey who are off pursuing their dreams.

While in the Chippewa Falls School District, she and her team planned and implemented an onsite clinic, which saved the district over $18 million over six years. Michelle presented this information in various venues, such as a local SHRM group, an insurance group, and other direct primary care providers. Her primary goal was to help other companies save money by providing high quality health care that does not cause financial hardship to schools and other businesses.

Michelle Golden has spent 30 plus years in public education, including teaching, coaching, principal, and administrative leadership in human resources. Her expertise is in Employee Relations, coaching and mentoring, performance improvement, risk management, leadership development, strategic planning, compliance, compensation analysis, and insurance.