From Bandwidth to Bedside: The Journey from Tech to Healthcare, and Why the Skeptics are Wrong Again

After spending decades immersed in the tech industry, I took a transformative detour into healthcare twelve years ago. This career pivot deserves a story for a later date but for now, let's focus on the convergence of my two worlds: healthcare and technology. I carry the unique vantage point of understanding the striking similarities and disparities between these sectors (aka, i am old)

Streaming Against the Current: The Early Days

Back to 2007—a time when the thought of streaming high-definition movies seemed like a moonshot. When we pitched the idea of a box (The Boxee box) that could stream internet videos directly to a home's big screen, venture capitalists scoffed. "The bandwidth constraints will make this impossible," they said. "People will always return to the reliability of cable TV." Well, as hindsight would prove, that skepticism was misplaced.

Introducing Dimer Health: A Solution for Today’s Challenges

Fast forward to today. We’re championing Dimer Health, designed to tackle the pressing issues of hospital readmissions and post-discharge care. Utilizing AI-powered software, we identify patients most at risk for readmission and construct tailored discharge plans. The plans are then implemented through a combination of medical playbooks and services. Yet, the skepticism endures; venture capitalists are quick to tell us that melding software with clinical services is not scalable.

The Misguided Assumptions: Technology vs Humanity

Here's the thing: this skepticism echoes the early criticism of streaming technology. Of course, there are plenty of tech-only solutions that offer value. However, for anyone who's cared for a patient and their loved ones, it's clear that the landscape is far from simple. Disease states, emotional conditions, and circumstantial realities make healthcare exceedingly complex. The notion that software alone can drive and improve outcomes is, frankly, naïve. As Oliver Kharraz aptly puts it, we must value solutions that synergize technology with human intervention. They may require more upfront capital and have slower growth trajectories, but they're the real game-changers and potentially lucrative unicorns in the making.

Our aim is to shift paradigms and prove that our solution is not only viable but revolutionary. Stay tuned for more updates.

Gidon Coussin, DMSc, PA-C, Co-founder Dimer Health