From Acute Care to Continuous Care

Mariano Garcia Bellino, CEO of AXENIA and author of 'Inedible', dismantles the myth that healthcare is simply slow to adopt technology. He argues that the real issue is a fundamental mismatch between the industry's acute-care model—built for infectious diseases—and the chronic, long-term conditions that now dominate global health. The result? A system where patients are left to manage complex conditions like diabetes with minimal support, leading to 60% of healthcare costs being driven by preventable patient errors. Bellino reveals that true transformation requires more than software: it demands continuous monitoring hardware, AI-powered analytics, and a radical rethinking of incentives. His company AXENIA succeeded by bypassing traditional sales channels and instead targeting employers—through brokers—who have the longest-term stake in employee health. The key insight? Monetization isn't a future goal; it's the foundation of survival. Bellino warns founders: don't chase a billion-dollar exit. Focus instead on avoiding the 'killing' risks—cash burn, poor team alignment, and misaligned incentives—and let survival compound into scale. The future of health tech, he says, belongs to data-rich, capital-efficient platforms that grow through volume, not just vision.