This interview is with Jamie Frew, CEO at Carepatron.

Jamie Frew, CEO, Carepatron

Jamie, welcome to Featured! Could you start by telling us a bit about yourself and your journey to becoming a leader in the healthcare technology space?

My name is Jamie Frew, and I am one of the co-founders as well as the CEO of Carepatron. Carepatron is an all-inclusive healthcare operating system (OS) designed to empower field professionals to interact with clients effectively, organize appointments, and handle payments automatically within a unified platform (among other functions). Drawing on my expertise in psychology, product development, strategy, and management, I am dedicated to fostering Carepatron’s ongoing mission to enhance the healthcare sector by prioritizing outstanding client experiences.

Your career path, particularly with Carepatron, sounds fascinating. Can you share a pivotal moment or decision that solidified your passion for leveraging technology to improve healthcare?

My early years were spent immersed in the world of medicine, thanks to my family’s community hospital. This constant exposure fostered a deep connection to healthcare within me. After school, the hospital became a natural extension of my life, ultimately leading me down the path of psychology.

Although my initial career took me into strategic work in completely different fields, the desire to improve healthcare access remained a constant flame. I envisioned a world where all healthcare professionals, wherever they are located, could leverage powerful tools. This vision became a reality in late 2021 when I co-founded CarePatron alongside David Pene, our CTO.

You’ve mentioned Carepatron’s commitment to making healthcare accessible and borderless. Can you share an example of how technology has helped you bridge geographical barriers or reach underserved communities?

This is a tricky question. For one, I believe that almost every type of technology was developed to solve some kind of problem or need in the hopes of bridging gaps, geographical, social, or otherwise. However, as I said: ‘almost.’ It’s worth acknowledging that there are technologies created for the honest purpose of exploiting and taking advantage of an already unfair system. This is where humanity comes in. Technology is merely a tool to do either good or evil. It’s up to us to choose which side of the fence we’re on.

Building a successful team is crucial for any leader. How have you fostered a culture of collaboration and innovation within your team at Carepatron, especially in a remote work environment?

Remote work is here to stay, but managing it can be tricky. Here at Carepatron, we’ve gone all-in on remote because we believe trust and freedom are the magic ingredients for a happy, productive team.

Instead of micromanaging, we empower our crew from the get-go. This means they can bend their schedules and work styles to their personal rhythm, fostering a sense of ownership and responsibility. They’re the masters of their productivity!

Regular check-ins keep everyone on the same page, but as folks settle in and learn the ropes, they gain more and more control over their work. This approach keeps our best people on board and fuels a passionate, driven team who find meaning in what they do.

Many healthcare professionals face challenges when implementing new technologies. From your experience, what is one key piece of advice you would give to leaders looking to integrate technology seamlessly into their practices?

Just believe in finding the right solution for the problem you’re trying to solve, even if it means undergoing various trials. It doesn’t mean wasting resources and time on experimenting between methods and technologies; it’s all about strategizing to see which one would work best in the work culture you’re cultivating.

Looking beyond technology, what do you see as the biggest leadership challenge in healthcare today, and how can we equip future leaders to tackle this challenge effectively?

Our health is fundamentally intertwined with everything we do. It shouldn’t be an afterthought we address only when we’re sick or forced to by an annual check-up. Ideally, healthcare should be an active part of our lives, regardless of how healthy we feel.

Unfortunately, access to quality healthcare remains a significant challenge. The pandemic brutally exposed these issues on a global scale, highlighting the struggle faced by almost every nation.

CarePatron’s mission is to help bridge this gap and make healthcare—good healthcare—accessible, affordable, and most importantly, borderless. We recognize the importance of supporting our communities and understanding that a healthier world benefits everyone. It’s not just about creating a successful business, but about building a legacy of care and support far beyond our immediate reach.

We know it’s idealistic, but maybe being idealistic is what every leader needs. We need to believe in the best so that we can aim for and deliver the best.

You’ve emphasized the importance of continuous improvement. What strategies or practices have you found most effective in encouraging a growth mindset and a commitment to ongoing learning within your team?

Setbacks are like progress reports, but way cooler. They give you valuable feedback that helps you learn and grow—and that applies to everything, not just healthcare tech!

At Carepatron, we launched straight into version 1, soaking up all the feedback we could. It fueled our growth faster than if we’d spent ages perfecting things in private. We embraced our mistakes, learned from them, and came back stronger.

It’s something we follow to this day. Setbacks are treated as launchpads for success, and it’s still the best thing ever.

Finally, what are your hopes for the future of healthcare technology? What innovations or advancements are you most excited about, and what impact do you envision them having on patients and healthcare professionals alike?

There’s so much on the horizon! For us at Carepatron, we’re jumping on the bandwagon with AI, not to replace human care and touch, but to further empower actual practitioners.

AI Assist is an AI-powered solution that addresses a critical challenge for healthcare practitioners — the burden of time-consuming and error-prone documentation. This will demonstrably improve the efficiency, accuracy, and completeness of clinical notes and reports. This translates into tangible benefits for practitioners, including reduced administrative workload and the potential for decreased burnout. Ultimately, AI Assist fosters a more streamlined workflow, enabling practitioners to dedicate more time to patient care.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

You can connect with me, Jamie Frew, on LinkedIn and support our mission for accessible, affordable, and global healthcare by checking out Carepatron.com.