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Doctors Have Lots of AI Tools. Here’s One for Nurses.
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By Brian Gormley, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Plenty of startups have created artificial intelligence tools to assist doctors. OutcomesAI, which has just raised $10 million in seed financing led by Santé Ventures, focuses instead on nurses.
Boston-based OutcomesAI is a nursing company whose AI voice agents handle inbound and outbound calls for routine matters like scheduling appointments, educating patients and coordinating follow-up care. More serious issues are escalated to human nurses.
The startup also uses AI to equip nurses with information on topics such as guidelines and protocols, said Chief Executive Kuldeep Singh Rajput, who founded OutcomesAI last year. The approach saves money and increases productivity, he said.
“Our model doesn’t replace a nurse,” Rajput added. “We are multiplying nurses.”
“Unless you’re embedded pretty deeply into how our health system works, you can miss how nurses spend their daily lives,” said Dr. Joe Cunningham, founding managing director of Santé. Technology won’t replace nurses, he added, but it can free them from many menial tasks to let them focus on more crucial ones.
And now on to the news...
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Counsel Health founder and CEO Muthu Alagappan, center, poses with the company’s chief medical officer, Rishi Khakhkhar, left, and the director of engineering, Justin Yu, right. COUNSEL HEALTH
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Healthcare AI. Venture capitalists are backing a startup seeking to speed access to medical care by using artificial intelligence to augment human doctors.
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Counsel Health has raised a $25 million Series A round, led by Andreessen Horowitz and GV, to expand a service that uses AI and human physicians to deliver care through its mobile app and website. The company, founded in late 2023, says it serves more than 100,000 people nationwide through employers and health insurers, which offer Counsel’s service as a benefit.
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With this financing, Counsel says it plans to hire more doctors, invest in its AI and add new customers. It also now offers its service directly to consumers.
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After focusing initially on urgent and acute care, Counsel will expand its services to help patients manage chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, said founder and Chief Executive Muthu Alagappan, a former attending physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco.
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$25 Million
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The amount of healthcare-AI startup Counsel Health's Series A financing.
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California Enacts Law to Review More Private-Equity Healthcare Deals
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California enacted its second bill in recent days restricting private-equity healthcare deals, creating what are likely to be the most significant of a wave of new state laws to check corporate investment in medicine. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday signed a bill expanding the state’s authority to review healthcare transactions by private-equity firms, hedge funds and other investors. Starting in January, firms will now have to submit planned medical buyouts to the state’s Office of Health Care Affordability, a division established in 2022 to ensure broad access to high-quality care and slow the growth of healthcare costs. “Californians deserve a full picture of the billions spent annually in our
healthcare system by large private-equity firms,” said Assemblymember Mia Bonta, who introduced the bill, AB 1415.
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Funds
Town Hall Ventures, which focuses on healthcare delivery for underserved communities in the U.S., raised about $440 million for its fourth fund.
AAF Management, which invests across fintech, healthcare, consumer, enterprise software and deep tech, closed a $55 million early-stage hybrid fund.
People
Pediatric mental health startup Brightline named Kari O’Rourke as chief executive officer, replacing Naomi Allen, who will become executive chair of the board.
Ascertain, an agentic AI platform for administrative workflows in healthcare, appointed Molly O'Neill as chief commercial officer. She most recently served as chief strategic partnerships officer at Aegis Ventures.
Doctronic AI, an AI-native health platform, appointed Byron Crowe as chief medical officer.
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Tubulis, a Germany-based antibody-drug conjugate developer, closed a €308 million Series C round led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners.
Veradermics, a New Haven, Conn.-based startup developing an oral therapeutic for hair regrowth, completed a $150 million Series C round. SR One led the funding, with Senior Associate Katarina Pance joining the company’s board.
Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a Los Angeles-based startup developing regenerative medicine treatments for hair loss, collected $120 million in Series B funding co-led by ARCH Venture Partners and GV. Cathy Friedman of GV was appointed chair of the board. Richard Heyman of ARCH Venture Partners will join the board.
MD Integrations, a telehealth platform, picked up a $77 million investment from Updata Partners and Denali Growth Partners. The company also appointed Ramin Zacharia as president and chief operating officer.
Marble, a New York-based mental health platform for teens, raised $15.5 million in Series A funding. Costanoa Ventures led the round, which included participation from Town Hall Ventures and Khosla Ventures.
Medmo, a New York-based orchestration platform for radiology appointments, secured $15 million in Series A financing. Covera Health led the investment, which included contributions from Origin Ventures, Lerer Hippeau and Digital Health Venture Partners.
WellTheory, a San Francisco-based care platform for autoimmune disease, landed $14 million in Series A funding. Led by General Catalyst, the round included participation from 7wire Ventures, Accel and others. Candace Richardson, partner at General Catalyst, will join the board.
Alleviate Health, a Durham, N.C.-based AI recruiter for clinical research, was seeded with a $4.3 million investment led by Andreessen Horowitz.
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Hims & Hers expects the new specialty to help the Hers unit to surpass $1 billion in annual revenue next year. CARLO ALLEGRI/REUTERS
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