Why We're Building Healthcare Infrastructure, Not Just Software

The Question That Changed Everything

I'm a father of a child with autism.

If you're a parent of a child with disabilities, you know the question. It sits in the back of your mind during every workday, every errand, every quiet moment:

"Is my child getting the care they deserve?"

Not "Did the appointment happen?" That's easy to check. A timestamp. A signature. A box checked.

I mean the real question: Is the caregiver actually engaged? Are they working on my child's goals? Are they sitting on the couch scrolling their phone, or are they genuinely present? When I'm not there, what's really happening?

For years, I had no way to answer that question. And neither did millions of other families.

That frustration became the seed of something bigger.

The System Is Broken — And Everyone Knows It

When I started building technology for healthcare providers, I saw the system from the inside. What I found wasn't just inefficiency. It was fragmentation at every level.

Case managers are drowning. They coordinate care for 40-60 families each, working with 10-15 different providers. There's no single system to track whether services are being delivered. Monthly reports require hours of manual compilation — calling providers, chasing paperwork, copying data from one spreadsheet to another. One case manager told me: "There is no cohesive tracking system. It's frustrating to pull reports from different locations, and it takes a long time."

Families are in the dark. They hand their loved one over to a caregiver and hope for the best. They call providers to verify services were delivered. They ask their case manager for updates and wait days for answers. They lie awake wondering if the care plan is being followed.

Providers are stuck between compliance demands and limited resources. The affordable tools are too basic. The sophisticated platforms cost $500-1,000 per month. Small agencies — the ones serving the most vulnerable populations — can't afford the technology that would help them deliver better care.

Everyone wants transparency. Everyone wants connection. Everyone wants to know the truth about what's happening in care delivery.

But no one had built the infrastructure to make it possible.

From Software Vendor to Infrastructure Builder

I spent years building healthcare management software. Custom platforms for providers. Scheduling systems. Billing automation. Compliance tools. The work was good, and clients saw results — one agency grew their revenue by 86% in five months using our platform, verified by state payment data.

I wrote a whole case study celebrating that growth. Revenue metrics. Billing efficiency. Claim acceptance rates.

But something was missing.

I was measuring the wrong thing.

Revenue tells you a provider is capturing more billable hours. It doesn't tell you whether a family finally knows what's happening with their loved one. It doesn't tell you whether a case manager can sleep at night because they can actually verify services are being delivered. It doesn't answer the question I couldn't answer as a parent.

We were optimizing for the wrong outcome.

I was solving problems for individual providers. One agency at a time. One contract at a time. If they left, I started over. If a competitor offered a lower price, I was vulnerable. I was a vendor, not a partner. A tool, not a foundation.

Then I asked a different question:

What if I stopped building for providers and started building for the ecosystem?

What if case managers — the people who coordinate everything — had free tools to see all their providers in one dashboard? What if families could log in and see exactly when services were delivered, what activities happened, and how their loved one is progressing? What if providers joined not because I sold them, but because every case manager they work with already uses the platform?

That's not software. That's infrastructure.

And that's what we're building.

The $1 Trillion Shift — And Why We're Right on Time

I'm not the only one seeing this future.

PwC recently published a landmark report: "From Breaking Point to Breakthrough: The $1 Trillion Opportunity to Reinvent Healthcare." Their research confirms what we've been building toward:

"By 2035, $1 trillion of annual healthcare spending will shift away from fragmented, infrastructure-heavy models and toward empowered 'super consumers' and a digital-first, proactive and personalized system of care."

They outline five principles that will define who wins in the next decade:

1. Consumer-First

"If you don't win with the consumer, you lose. Earn trust with transparent and personalized care."

2. Virtual by Design

"Physical-first models are vulnerable. The default needs to become seamless and trustworthy digital channels."

3. Data-Intelligent

"If you're not leading with algorithms and insight, you're falling behind."

4. Ecosystem-Enabled

"Strategic partnerships will define who leads in the future. Such partnerships will lead to platforms that enable broad orchestration."

5. Disruption-Aware

"If you aren't anticipating new entrants, you'll be outflanked."

When I read this, I didn't feel ahead of my time. I felt on time.

The fragmented systems of today cannot survive. The families demanding transparency will not wait. The case managers drowning in manual processes need relief now, not in 2035.

CareCade Foundation exists to build that future — starting today.

What We're Building: See the Care. Know the Truth.

CareCade Foundation is a nonprofit organization building transparent care coordination infrastructure for developmental disability services. Our platform connects three audiences who have never been connected before:

For Case Managers: Free. Forever.

Case managers are the unsung heroes of the disability services system. They coordinate everything — authorizations, providers, family communication, compliance, reporting. And they do it with fragmented tools that haven't evolved in decades.

We're building free dashboards that let case managers:

See all their providers' service delivery in real-time
Generate monthly reports in 30 seconds instead of 4 hours
Verify services were delivered without making phone calls
Track client progress across every provider they coordinate

Free. No catch. No "freemium" upgrade pressure. Just tools that make their impossible job possible.

For Families: Transparency They Deserve.

Every family with a loved one receiving disability services deserves to answer the question I couldn't answer:

"Is my child getting the care they deserve?"

Our family portal provides:

Real-time service tracking — see when appointments start and end
Activity logs — know what happened during each session
Goal progress — track how your loved one is advancing
Caregiver profiles — know who is providing care before they arrive

This isn't surveillance. It's transparency. It's peace of mind. It's what every family deserves.

For Providers: Affordable. Connected. Trusted.

Providers who join the CareCade ecosystem get:

Full platform access — scheduling, billing, compliance, mobile apps
Automatic connection to case manager dashboards
Family visibility that builds trust and referrals
Nonprofit pricing — $200-300/month, not $500-1,000

But the real value isn't features. It's being part of an ecosystem where case managers recommend you because they can see your work. Where families trust you because they can verify your care. Where your quality speaks for itself — in real-time, verified data.

The Micro Features That Make the Difference

Big visions are built from small details. In the past few weeks, I've been doing something most software founders don't do: delivering care myself. Working as a community engagement coach. Visiting clients in their homes. Using my own platform in the field.

What I discovered changed how I build.

The "On My Way" notification. Driving to a client's home, I realized the family had no idea I was coming. What if they weren't ready? What if the client didn't want to go out? Now, when a caregiver heads to an appointment, the family receives an automatic notification with the caregiver's name, photo, arrival time, and planned activities.

Mid-appointment engagement prompts. Visiting a nonverbal client in his twenties, I thought about future caregivers. How would I know they're actually working on his goals? A caregiver could clock in, sit on the couch for three hours, and clock out. The family would never know. Now, the system periodically prompts caregivers: "What are you working on?" Their responses — or silence — are logged.

Incident reporting. The client I visited has behaviors. His father told me he sometimes hits. What if something happens and it's not documented? What if — worst case — a client passes away during a session? Now, caregivers can tap one button to report incidents instantly, with automatic timestamps, GPS location, and immediate notifications to managers and case managers.

These aren't features I designed in a conference room. They're problems I felt in the field.

That's the difference between building software and building infrastructure. Software solves problems you imagine. Infrastructure solves problems you experience.

Why Nonprofit? Why Now?

Some people ask why we're building this as a nonprofit instead of a traditional software company.

The answer is simple: mission over margin.

If we charged what the market would bear, case managers couldn't afford it. Families would be locked out. Small providers would be priced out. The people who need transparency most would be the last to get it.

A nonprofit structure means:

Free tools for case managers and families — permanently
Affordable pricing for providers — cost recovery, not profit maximization
Grants and donations that fund expansion to underserved areas
Partnerships with government agencies built on trust, not sales pressure

We're not building this to exit in five years. We're building this to last.

The Invitation: Join Us

CareCade Foundation launches in early 2026. But we're building now. And we're building with the people we serve.

If you're a case manager: We want to hear about your workflow. What takes too long? What frustrates you? What would save you hours every week? Our tools are being designed around your real needs — not our assumptions.

If you're a family member: You deserve to know. You deserve transparency. You deserve peace of mind. When CareCade launches, you'll have a portal that shows you exactly what's happening with your loved one's care.

If you're a provider: The future isn't competing on features or price. It's being part of an ecosystem where your quality is visible, verifiable, and trusted. Join early and help shape what we build.

If you believe in this mission: We're forming our nonprofit board and seeking founding supporters. If transparent, connected, family-first care coordination matters to you, let's talk.

The Future is Transparent

Ten years from now, families won't wonder if care is being delivered. They'll know.

Case managers won't spend hours compiling reports. They'll generate them in seconds.

Providers won't compete on promises. They'll compete on verified outcomes.

The fragmented, frustrating, opaque system of today will be replaced by infrastructure that connects everyone who touches a person's care.

We're not waiting for that future. We're building it.

See the care. Know the truth.

That's not just our tagline. It's our promise.

About the Author:

Ibrahim Elhag is the founder of INFINITYOPS LLC and CareCade Foundation. He builds healthcare technology in Washington State and is a parent advocate for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Connect: ibrahim@infinityops.co | Schedule a Conversation

Learn More:

PwC: The $1 Trillion Opportunity to Reinvent Healthcare
CareCade Foundation
How INFINITYOPS is Building Healthcare Infrastructure

References: PwC Health Research Institute, "From Breaking Point to Breakthrough: The $1 Trillion Opportunity to Reinvent Healthcare," 2024