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Good morning, readers —
It’s been a wild few days in healthcare AI. It feels like the era of generative healthcare is in full swing. With JPM this week the momentum couldn’t be better timed. Let’s get into it.
OpenAI goes all in on healthcare
AI just became legally authorized to practice medicine in the US
Anthropic’s healthcare rollout
17 new tools/partnerships, 10 funding updates, new AI jobs & link-worthy content
Read time: 5 minutes
Our Picks ✨
Highlights if you’ve only got 2 minutes…
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OpenAI goes all in on healthcare
OpenAI has made a clear statement in healthcare over the past few days, rolling out a series of connected announcements that position health as a core pillar of the company’s strategy. From everyday consumer use to regulated clinical settings, ChatGPT is moving beyond simple Q&A toward how health information is actually used, managed, and shared. (link)
ChatGPT as a Health Ally: OpenAI released a new report showing that more than 40M people globally use ChatGPT every single day for health-related questions, and 230M+ use it each week, with over 5% of all global messages now tied to healthcare. Users mainly use it for symptom checks, translating medical jargon, spotting billing errors, and preparing for appointments. About 70% of these conversations happen outside normal clinic hours, including roughly 600K weekly messages from rural hospital deserts. It’s hard to deny that scale! (link)
ChatGPT Health for consumers: OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Health, a dedicated health tab in ChatGPT that lets users connect personal data from Apple Health, MyFitnessPal, Peloton, etc and medical records (enabled via a partnership with b.well). Health conversations live in a separate, encrypted environment with isolated memory, and OpenAI says this data will not be used to train models. The goal is more personalized, context-aware health conversations that help users understand labs, track trends, and prepare better questions for clinicians. (link)
OpenAI acquires Torch: OpenAI also acquired Torch, a healthcare startup that unifies lab results, medications, and visit recordings. Torch will be integrated with ChatGPT Health and accelerate the roadmap to help users to better understand and manage their health data. Torch had 4 employees, was bought for $100M, and was less than a year old! (link)
OpenAI for Healthcare: Rounding out the stack, OpenAI launched a HIPAA-supported enterprise platform designed for regulated clinical environments. The offering includes ChatGPT for Healthcare for clinicians and administrators, plus the API for Healthcare that powers documentation, care coordination, and operational workflows. Major health systems, including HCA Healthcare, Cedars-Sinai, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Boston Children’s Hospital are already using it, alongside health AI vendors like Abridge and Ambience. (link)
PS. We’ve added “ChatGPT as a Health Ally” to our PRO content hub, which curates the best reports in health AI.
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AI just became legally authorized to practice medicine in the US
Utah just became the first state to let an AI system autonomously renew certain prescriptions, launching a pilot with health tech startup Doctronic. We’re finally starting to see some real autonomy without a clinician in the loop! The program covers 191 non-controlled medications, including blood pressure drugs, birth control, and SSRIs, and excludes higher-risk categories like pain management and ADHD treatments.
In testing across 500 urgent care cases, Doctronic’s AI matched physician decisions about 99% of the time, with edge cases automatically escalated to humans. Patients pay $4 per refill, and states like Texas and Arizona are already exploring similar programs.
Doctronic’s FDA bypass strategy positions its system as practicing medicine rather than operating as a medical device, allowing oversight to stay at the state level instead of requiring FDA review. Utah’s pro-innovation AI sandbox made the state a first mover, and the AI system also carries a medical malpractice insurance policy for this work. All to say, this is a super exciting development. The era of the AI doctor may be closer than we think. (link)(tweet)
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Anthropic’s healthcare rollout
Anthropic launched Claude for Healthcare shortly after OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT Health and ChatGPT for Healthcare. While both platforms let users connect health records and ask questions in plain language, the initial focus differs. OpenAI led with the consumer story. Anthropic started with enterprise: hospitals, payers, and pharma.
Claude for Healthcare is HIPAA-compliant and deeply integrated into healthcare infrastructure, with connections to CMS coverage data, ICD-10 codes, the National Provider Identifier registry, and FHIR workflows. Early use cases focus on prior authorizations, claims appeals, care coordination, and regulatory submissions. Banner Health is already using Claude internally, and Anthropic has expanded Claude for Life Sciences to support clinical trials and FDA-facing work.
Consumer features are part of the launch as well, allowing users to upload lab results and medical records for plain-language explanations and appointment preparation. Different positioning, same direction. Both OpenAI and Anthropic are clearly all in on healthcare AI. (link)(tweet)
Tools & Partnerships 🔧
Latest on business, consumer, and clinical healthcare AI tools and partnerships…
TOOLS
FDA eases path for consumer wearables and AI devices: The FDA updated guidance to allow more health and AI-enabled wearables to qualify as low-risk wellness devices, reducing regulatory barriers to market entry. (link)
Amazon expands wearable health AI after Bee acquisition: Amazon shared details on Bee, a wrist-worn AI device that generates personalized insights from daily interactions and health data, with user-controlled recording and privacy safeguards. (link)
Mount Sinai launches AI platform for trial matching: Mount Sinai introduced an AI-powered platform that scans EHR data to match patients with clinical trials, aiming to expand access and reduce enrollment delays. (link)
Mayo Clinic debuts EHR-based AI cancer tool: Mayo launched an AI agent embedded in the EHR to personalize prostate cancer education and decision support using patient-specific clinical data. (link)
Elon Musk says Neuralink will automate surgeries: Musk said Neuralink plans to scale production and eventually automate surgical procedures using robotics and AI to expand access to brain-computer implants. (link)
AI accelerates drug discovery timelines: Drugmakers including GSK and AstraZeneca are using AI to shorten discovery cycles, improve early trial success rates, and model “synthetic patients,” reshaping pharma R&D. (link)
Penn Medicine develops AI to speed EHR data retrieval: Penn Medicine built an AI tool that helps clinicians quickly find, synthesize, and summarize relevant patient data buried across the EHR, cutting chart review time. (link)
Amigo introduces action-based AI architecture: Amigo outlined a new AI architecture designed to move beyond chat by enabling models to take structured actions across healthcare workflows, from data retrieval to task execution. (link)
Transcarent expands agentic AI for care navigation: Transcarent added agentic AI features to its WayFinding platform, including voice-based scheduling and advanced symptom checking to support benefits navigation and clinical guidance. (link)
PARTNERSHIPS
b.well + ChatGPT: b.well integrated ChatGPT into its consumer health platform to support AI-driven guidance, navigation, and personalized health experiences. (link)
HealthEx + Anthropic: HealthEx partnered with Anthropic to connect consolidated personal health records to Claude, enabling users to access medical histories and receive personalized health insights through natural language. (link)
Hippocratic AI + Huron Consulting Group: Hippocratic AI partnered with Huron Consulting Group to support health systems in deploying agentic AI solutions across clinical and operational workflows. (link)
Abridge + Availity: Abridge and Availity partnered to enable real-time prior authorization using shared clinical context from clinician-patient conversations. (link)
Boston Children’s Hospital + AWS: Boston Children’s Hospital is working with AWS to develop AI-powered clinical doppelgangers that simulate patient journeys to support research, care planning, and operational decision-making. (link)
LifePoint Health + iScribeHealth: LifePoint Health selected iScribeHealth as its AI scribing partner to reduce documentation burden for physicians across its national hospital network. (link)
Pfizer + Boltz: Pfizer partnered with Boltz to deploy biomolecular AI foundation models for protein structure prediction, small-molecule affinity, and biologics design. Boltz will refine its models using Pfizer’s historical data and co-develop custom workflows to accelerate preclinical drug discovery. (link)
Deal Desk 💰
Spotlight on latest capital raises, M&A, and investments…
FUNDING
Soley Therapeutics, a South San Francisco, Calif.-based drug discovery and development company, raised $200M in Series C funding. Surveyor Capital led the round. (link)
Apella, an OR optimization platform, raised $80M in Series B equity and venture debt. The round was led by HighlandX. (link)
Protege, an AI data platform, raised $30M in Series A extension funding ($65M round total). A16z led, joined by insiders Footwork, CRV, Bloomberg Beta, Flex Capital, and Shaper Capital. (link)
Botlz Lab, a bio-focused applied AI research lab, raised a $28M seed round from Zetta, Amplify, a16z and others. (link)
Tucuvi, an NYC-based developer of an AI voice agent designed for care teams, raised $20M in Series A funding. Cathay Innovation and Kfund led the round. (link)
Topos Bio, an SF-based AI drug discovery startup, raised $10.5M in seed funding. Backers include Boldstart, Threshold, Neo, and others. (link)
TJM Labs, a pharmacy AI automation company, raised a $10M Series A led by Arthur Ventures. (link)
Oasys, an NYC-based developer of an AI-powered operating system for behavioral health, raised $4.6M in funding. (link)
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS:
OpenAI + Torch: OpenAI just acquired Torch for $100M, a healthcare AI startup that unifies lab results, medications, and visit recordings. Torch will be integrated with ChatGPT Health. (link)
Hippocratic AI + Grove AI: Hippocratic AI acquired Grove AI to expand its life sciences division and apply agentic AI to pharma R&D and clinical trial operations, including participant engagement and recruitment. (link)
as of 1/12/26
Other Relevant News 🔍
News, podcasts, blogs, tweets, resources, etc…
AI Job Opportunities 💼
Explore our AI Job Board or contact us to feature roles in our newsletter…
Visuals of the Week 📸
Funny memes, cool pics, and interesting data from around the web…
That’s it for this week friends! Back to reading — I’ll see you next week.
Stay classy,
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