“We have to go in and fight for this because people are stuck within the old delivery system of healthcare and human services. It’s still a fight, just a different type of fight than I had when I was in the Army.”
In 2010, Dan Brillman, a US Air Force Reserve pilot, decided to go to Columbia Business School after his first deployment to the Middle East. During his second year, veterans with whom he was deployed called to ask about health and social services. After some inquiries and searching, Brillman found the healthcare system complicated to navigate.
“I became very frustrated because it was so fragmented and I had to sift through the system on behalf of the people I was trying to help,” Brillman told Business Insider.
He wrote a paper on his experience, which was noticed by the dean, who connected Brillman with Brad Harrison, the head of Scout Ventures, who encouraged the business idea.
In 2013, Brillman cofounded Unite Us, a platform that helps connect healthcare providers and hospitals to social-service providers like food banks and homeless shelters. The platform tracks the health outcomes of those they serve.
Unite Us works in 55 communities in 23 states. By the end of the year, over 10,000 healthcare, government, and social-service organizations will be included in its networks. The company recently struck a big partnership with CVS Health to aid some of its insurance customers.