From IoT to Infrastructure: Engineering Healthcare in the Real World

Written By Vera

This is a systems record of how healthcare solutions evolve when they are deployed, stressed, and sustained in the real world.

Healthcare Engineer. Engineering Healthcare. At Scale.

Healthcare Engineer did not begin as a company or a brand.
It emerged through years of building healthcare systems, operating them under real-world pressure, and navigating the technical, operational, financial, and legal consequences of doing so.

This is the story of that work.

SharkDreams: When a Simple Hardware Idea Exposed System Complexity

The journey began with SharkDreams, an R&D-focused initiative created to explore how engineering and IoT could address real healthcare problems.

A lightweight hardware chip was designed to capture medication usage events. This immediately attracted interest from specialty pharmacies in the United States, as it solved a critical blind spot—real-time visibility into medication adherence.

However, deploying even a simple device in U.S. healthcare required:

  • Full patient management software

  • Multiple applications

  • Deep IT integrations

  • Strict security and compliance

Very quickly, software, integration, and compliance consumed nearly 80% of project cost in the U.S., making rapid iteration impractical.

Moving Development to India: Engineering Under Constraint

To make learning and iteration viable, core development moved to India, reducing overall development cost by ~70%.

This decision enabled:

  • Faster iteration

  • Complete system build-out

  • Sustainable experimentation

While technically necessary, the move introduced investor anxiety, which later intensified during COVID.

LIVIT: Engineering the Core System

From this work emerged LIVIT, a closed-loop healthcare system integrating:

  • Smart pill bottle

  • Patient and pharmacist apps

  • Centralized data

In 2018, vital monitoring was added.

Technically sound, LIVIT still required real healthcare delivery to validate impact.

Why the U.S. Was Not Ready for Fast Adaptation

Attempts to deploy LIVIT in the U.S. faced:

  • Long sales cycles

  • Heavy regulation

  • Fragmented incentives

  • Slow adoption

The system required speed and scale, which demanded a different environment.

VERA: Large-Scale Proofs, Trust, and the Moment Everything Stopped

VERA was created in India as an execution company, not a technology vendor.

Under VERA, LIVIT was deployed through large-scale PoCs across:

  • Schools

  • Villages

  • Remote towns

  • Institutional environments

These were full operations—staffing, training, logistics—not pilots.

This execution capability led to organic trust from hospitals and government stakeholders.

Then COVID arrived.

COVID Shutdown, Investor Fallout, and Being Stuck in India

In early 2020:

  • Private healthcare companies shut down

  • Movement stopped

  • Contracts froze

You were stuck in India, operating under emergency conditions.

Investor fear escalated.
Legal actions followed.
Some went to default because you physically could not attend proceedings while operating healthcare systems during lockdown.

Staying Active When Others Stopped

Instead of shutting down, you proposed a Travel Tracking System to government—without procurement, without upfront payment.

VERA operated it free of charge to maintain public health continuity.

This decision led directly to what followed.

IMASQ: From Emergency Concept to National-Scale System

As the Travel Tracking System scaled, a new failure became clear:
frontline healthcare workers were being repeatedly exposed.

To solve this, IMASQ was engineered as a protective, mobile screening infrastructure.

Rapid Adoption and National Visibility

IMASQ addressed a visible, urgent problem. As deployments began:

  • The concept spread rapidly across regions

  • Images and on-ground results circulated informally

  • Local officials requested units independently

IMASQ effectively went viral across India, not through marketing, but through necessity.

Government Contracts and Initial Payments

As demand grew, state governments formally engaged.

Contracts were issued.
Payments began.

For the first time since COVID started, operations were officially funded, enabling:

  • Rapid manufacturing

  • Staffing

  • Logistics

  • Continuous deployment

Scaling Under Pressure

Under intense demand:

  • 150+ mobile IMASQ units were built in a short time

  • Units moved between communities and states

  • IMASQ evolved into a movable public health response system

  • On-site quarantine wards were added to immediately isolate positives

IMASQ became critical public health infrastructure.

When Payments Stopped

As the pandemic dragged on:

  • Government finances deteriorated

  • Payment cycles became inconsistent

  • Eventually, payments stopped altogether

Despite continued operation, cash flow collapsed.

This was not a technical or operational failure.
It was a systemic funding failure.

VERA Hospitals: From Screening to Treatment

To survive, the system had to close the loop.

Hospitals were leased, renovated, and operated under VERA, enabling treatment instead of screening-only care.

~2,000 patients were treated.

Clinically successful.
Financially fragile.

FELLOW: When Insurance Broke the System

With ~80% of patients on government insurance, mandated acceptance and delayed reimbursements destroyed cash flow for a smaller, high-volume operator.

This collapse led directly to FELLOW—a smart insurance system designed around:

  • On-time payments

  • Alignment with care delivery

  • Reputable private insurers

Returning, Settling, and Moving Forward

After FELLOW, you returned to the U.S., addressed legal cases, settled obligations, and chose not to declare bankruptcy.

You moved forward by building again.

Dental Units and Assisted Living

  • IMASQ Dental Units scaled across Florida

  • VERA Assisted Living took over operations of two large facilities in 2025

This marked the shift from crisis response to long-term ownership.

Healthcare Engineer

Healthcare Engineer is the name given to this entire body of work.

It includes:

  • Innovation

  • Scale

  • Collapse

  • Legal consequence

  • Recovery

  • Continuation

Not as a defense.
As a record.

What We Believe

Healthcare systems are built by people who stay when it’s easier to leave.

Healthcare does not need more ideas.
It needs systems—and operators—who persist under pressure.

Healthcare Engineer exists to design, execute, and sustain those systems.

Engineering Healthcare. At Scale.

Vera