Breaking Health, Episode #147

Like many healthtech leaders, Walter Jin didn’t start his career in this industry. He began as an investment banker and then joined what was a much smaller Carlyle Group based in Washington DC in the 90’s. The firm had originally focused on aerospace defense but wanted to diversify, and since Walter happened to be doing healthcare deals for them, he was then asked to start their healthcare group. In 2008, he retired from Carlyle and started his own investment firm Three Fields Capital, but after a few years, he decided to take a step back from the finance world when his parents got sick. Walter continued some investing on the side via a family office and was eventually approached by Oscar Salazar (Uber co-founder) about Pager. Originally the “Uber for Doctors and Nurses,” Pager had promise but was plagued by challenges with affordability, supply chain, and access. Walter saw potential though, so he invested in the company, served as Chairman for about 3 years, helped it pivot to a platform focused on access and steerage, and then became CEO, the role he has had for about 3.5 years. Tune into this episode to learn more about Pager’s origins, its new focus and business model, how the company has been able to white-label its platform to embed within many provider/payer stacks, and healthcare’s response to this rapidly growing company, plus Walter’s thoughts on the future of the health system and digital care.