An early-stage healthcare investment firm. We back the founders building software and services for outpatient providers — and our team comes from those settings.
Dscern Health Ventures is a healthcare investment firm. We were founded on the principle that lasting investment success comes from disciplined analysis and independent judgment — even when that means a contrarian view.
The next decade of digital health will be defined by the founders who serve the outpatient buyer — and by the investors with the clinical depth and operator experience to back them. Our name reflects how we work: we read carefully and hold contrarian views when the evidence calls for them.
To perceive and understand something with clarity, often after careful observation or thought.
The American healthcare system is reconfiguring around acuity. The largest cost center — hospital care — is consolidating and getting more expensive. Routine, scheduled, and chronic care is migrating to specialized outpatient settings — accelerated by surgical robotics, minimally invasive techniques, and advanced anesthesia.
80%+ of U.S. surgeries already happen outpatient. The highest-acuity cases are moving fastest — cardiology procedures in ASCs are up 230% since 2018, spine +200%, orthopedics +31%. CMS added 560 more procedures to the list in 2026 alone.
$148B in annual U.S. savings are achievable today from site-of-care shifts — and the opportunity grows to $303.2B over the next 7–10 years as enabling technology matures. Acute-care-at-home alone could shift another $265B of Medicare services out of facilities.
Modern software penetration at independent ambulatory sites sits below 5%. Coordination, eligibility, care-transition, and AI-driven workflows are what unlocks the next tranche. The founders who build them will define the next decade of digital health.
Sources: CMS National Health Expenditure Accounts · MedPAC (2025) · Sahni, Cutler et al., JAMA Network Open (2024) · ASC Association · Vizient (2025) · McKinsey home-care analysis.
We invest at Seed and Series A in companies serving outpatient providers — across Clinical AI, Data Infrastructure, Digital Therapeutics & Monitoring, and Tech-Enabled Care Delivery. The portfolio is concentrated by design, built around three principles.
70%+ of ambulatory surgery centers are independent and physician-owned. We back the software and services that make these operators stronger — alongside the clinicians who run them, not in place of them. Partnership, not control.
A small, sector-specific portfolio means every founder has access to the same 150+ outpatient facility relationships, the same clinical partners, and the same commercialization muscle. Concentration is a feature, not a constraint.
Clinical partners validate the evidence and regulatory pathway. Operators understand how outpatient providers actually buy. Diligence happens where care happens — which is the only place a real edge exists in healthcare investing.
Dscern was founded by operators of the outpatient ecosystem. The relationship network we use to source, pilot, and exit was built before the firm existed — and it compounds with every portfolio company we add.
Surgery centers, multi-site clinics, and surgical practices built and operated during our team's prior tenure. Founders see us as a strategic investor delivering pilots and reference customers — not just capital.
Investment management as an act of service — to our investors, the providers we partner with, and the patients who deserve a better system.The Dscern principle
Most of what gets done at Dscern starts with a direct introduction. We respond personally — usually within 48 hours.
We share materials after a brief conversation. First close targeted for September 2026, final close in Q1 2028.
lp@dscerncapital.comSend a short note on what you're building, your customer profile, and why now. No deck required to start.
founders@dscerncapital.com