On the heels of his departure as CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health, Jim Hinton is joining a prominent private equity firm focused on healthcare and technology.
Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe announced Thursday that Hinton will join the firm as an operating partner in its Healthcare Resources Group. Hinton retired Dec. 31 as CEO of Texas' largest not-for-profit health system, a position he had held since 2017.
"We are thrilled to welcome Jim to the WCAS team for the next chapter in his career," Brian Regan, head of WCAS' healthcare group, said in a news release. "His decades of experience leading major health systems, partnering with clinicians and focusing on improving the patient experience will be incredibly valuable to WCAS and our portfolio companies."
Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe is a major player in the healthcare and technology industries, having raised and managed funds totaling more than $27 billion in committed capital. In August, the private equity firm launched a new portfolio company, Valtruis, that directs money to healthcare providers and payers that use value-based payment models and has invested an initial $300 million into the venture.
"I have known and respected the WCAS team for many years and look forward to becoming involved in their diverse group of leading healthcare companies," Hinton said in a new release. "I am particularly excited about the track record of WCAS partnering with healthcare systems to improve the quality, experience and value for patients."
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Hinton spent 38 years as a healthcare executive. Prior to becoming Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White's CEO, he worked at Presbyterian Healthcare Services in New Mexico for more than three decades, including as CEO for 21 years. He served as chairman of the American Hospital Association's board in 2014. Modern Healthcare has named Hinton among its 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare five times, most recently in 2021.
Under Hinton's leadership, Baylor Scott & White took an aggressive stance toward outsourcing, laid off hundreds of employees and replaced them with workers from third-party companies. The most recent publicly reported example was early last year, when the system cut about 1,700 jobs across five areas that could be outsourced: revenue cycle, health information management, information systems, finance and analytics.
Hinton told Modern Healthcare in June that outsourcing helps address the single biggest issue facing healthcare: affordability. His successor, Peter McCanna, declined to say at the time whether outsourcing would continue under his leadership.
Baylor Scott & White's finances improved during Hinton's tenure. The system's operating margin went from 3.2% in fiscal 2017—the year he took the helm—to almost 11% in fiscal 2021, which ended June 30.
