Healthcare AI Guy Weekly | 5/27

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Highlights if you’ve only got 2 minutes…

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Google laying groundwork for clinical AI

At Google I/O, the company unveiled major updates across its AI ecosystem, including Gemini 2.5, Deep Think, and real-time search agents. For healthcare, the headline was MedGemma, a new open-source model built for clinical tasks like radiology analysis, triage, note summarization, and medical Q&A. It comes in two versions: a 4B multimodal model for image-based tasks and a 27B text-only model for reasoning and documentation. Both are fine-tunable and designed to run in the cloud or on-device.

Google also showcased how AI Mode, Project Mariner, and Vertex AI Search could streamline healthcare operations by automating scheduling, surfacing insights from EHRs, and reducing administrative waste. The takeaway: Google is building more than consumer tools. It's laying real infrastructure for AI-powered healthcare delivery. (link)(tweet)(linkedin)

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Hinge Health IPO and AI focus

Hinge Health popped 17% in its stock market debut, becoming the first major digital health IPO in years and signaling renewed investor interest in the space. The company, now valued around $3 billion, stands out not just for its strong financials (50% year-over-year growth, 80%+ gross margins, and profitability) but for how deeply it’s integrating AI. Hinge automates 95% of clinician hours in MSK care and is using AI to personalize treatment, predict high-risk patients, and support its care team with tools like auto-generated chart summaries. They’ve partnered with a proactive AI testing company, Autoblocks AI, to help scale AI quickly and safely in healthcare. CEO Daniel Perez puts it simply: Hinge isn’t just enabling care, it’s automating it. The bigger takeaway: AI-native care delivery isn’t theoretical anymore. Hinge is showing it can work and scale! (link)

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AI raises the bar for clinical reasoning

A new study from physicians at Harvard, Stanford, and other top academic centers found that OpenAI’s o1-preview model outperformed expert clinicians on some of medicine’s toughest diagnostic tasks, including emergency room second opinions. Across six experiments, the LLM showed "superhuman" medical reasoning, beating physicians at triage, differential diagnosis, and clinical decision-making. It even solved real hospital cases using unstructured EHR data. The results go beyond test scores: this is one of the first real-world demonstrations of an AI model outperforming doctors across multiple stages of care. And this is just o1-preview. Newer AI models like Gemini Flash and o3 are even stronger. The broader takeaway: AI isn’t just catching up in medicine. In some areas, it’s starting to lead. (link)(linkedin)

Tools & Partnerships 🔧

Latest on business, consumer, and clinical healthcare AI tools and partnerships…

TOOLS

• Microsoft pilots AI agent orchestrator, starting with cancer care teams: Microsoft is testing an AI tool to coordinate multiple agents (like radiology, pathology, and clinical trial assistants) for tumor board support. The system integrates into Teams and Word, aiming to streamline decision-making across specialties. (link)

• AI microscope from University of Tokyo detects blood clots in real time: Researchers developed a microscope system that uses AI to monitor and identify blood clot formation from standard blood tests. (link)

• FutureHouse AI makes first discovery in eye disease research: Its multi-agent system “Robin” identified ripasudil, a glaucoma drug, as a potential treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration. Robin generated hypotheses, analyzed data, and designed experiments. Humans handled the lab work. (link)

• Omada launches AI agent to support nutrition and behavior change: Omada Health introduced OmadaSpark, an AI tool that works alongside care teams to deliver real-time support for nutrition questions, emotional eating, and habit-building. It's part of a broader push to reshape members' relationships with food. (link)

• AI headphones translate multiple speakers in 3D space: University of Washington researchers developed a system that translates conversations in real time while preserving each speaker’s voice and location. The prototype uses extra mics and local AI to track and translate up to 360 degrees. (link)

• GHX adds AI tools to streamline healthcare supply chain management: Global Healthcare Exchange launched new features including conversational data reporting, backorder forecasting, and an order copilot to improve procurement efficiency. (link)

• MedBridge expands AI motion capture for remote MSK care: MedBridge is enhancing its AI-powered motion analysis tools to better support remote musculoskeletal assessments and personalized treatment plans. (link)

• OmniMD launches AI Clinician copilot for documentation and summaries: OmniMD’s new AI assistant combines scribing, agentic support, and clinical summarization to streamline workflows in its EHR platform. (link)

PARTNERSHIPS

• Viz.ai + Regeneron + Sanofi: The trio is collaborating to study Viz.ai’s AI-powered COPD care coordination tool, which uses EHR data and NLP to identify and manage high-risk patients. (link)

• Onvida Health + Ambience Healthcare: Onvida is piloting Ambience’s AI documentation suite across outpatient, inpatient, and ED settings to streamline clinical workflows and reduce burnout, with real-time note generation directly in Epic. (link)

• White Plains Hospital + Layer Health: White Plains Hospital is partnering with Layer Health to automate clinical registry reporting using AI-powered chart review, cutting down on manual data entry and freeing up staff time for patient care. (link)

• McFarland Clinic + Nabla: Iowa’s largest physician-owned group is rolling out Nabla’s ambient AI assistant after a successful pilot, aiming to cut documentation time and boost physician well-being across specialties. (link)

• Radiology Associates, P.A. + Harrison.ai: The Arkansas-based radiology group is adopting Harrison.ai’s Annalise Critical Care AI to boost efficiency and shorten turnaround times for high-priority imaging cases. (link)

• Avanade + Duke Health: Avanade and Duke Health are launching an AI governance platform to evaluate and monitor clinical AI tools, supporting safe and effective adoption in healthcare. (link)

• WellDyne + Waltz Health: Pharmacy benefit manager WellDyne is integrating Waltz Health’s AI-powered Waltz Connect platform to improve patient engagement and transparency in specialty pharmacy, helping members find the most affordable medications through real-time prompts and pricing insights. (link)

Deal Desk 💸 

Spotlight on latest capital raises, M&A, and investments…

FUNDING

• Dazos, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based software platform for behavioral health providers, raised $25M in Series A funding led by Radian Capital (link)

• Rhino Federated Computing, a startup building AI collaboration tools for regulated industries, has raised a $15M Series A round led by AlleyCorp, with participation from returning investors. (link) 

• Biostate AI, a Houston-based GenAI developer for disease and drug response prediction, raised $12M in Series A funding. Accel led the round and was joined by others. (link)

• Axle Health, an LA-based provider of scheduling and workforce management software for in-home care providers, raised $10M in Series A funding. F-Prime Capital led, joined by YC, Pear VC, and Lightbank. (link) 

• Ontrak, (NASDAQ: OTRK) a value-based behavioral healthcare company powered by AI and engagement technology, announced it secured a $10M financing commitment from Acuitas Capital, LLC. (link)

• Rad AI, an SF-based radiology AI startup, raised $8M from Advocate Health, Memorial Hermann Health System, Corewell Health, and Atlantic Health System. (link)

• Optura AI, an AI-powered enterprise operating system for healthcare, raised $6.5M in seed funding from Susa Ventures and Matrix. (link)

• Celery, an AI-driven financial operations platform for healthcare, announced $6.25M in seed funding. (link)

• WellTheory, an Atherton, Calif.-based AI-powered autoimmune care platform, raised $5M in funding from Samsung Next, Opal Ventures, Up2 Fund, and existing investors Accel, OVO Fund, and BoxGroup. (link)

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

• Datavant + Aetion: Datavant, backed by New Mountain Capital, agreed to acquire Aetion, a NYC-based real-world evidence platform for health care decision-making. Financial terms were not disclosed. (link)

Other Relevant News 🔍

News, podcasts, blogs, tweets, resources, etc…

• Agentic AI data breach exposes 483,000 New York health system patients (link)

• A framework for considering the use of genAI for health (link)

• PHTI report on virtual solutions for depression and anxiety (link)

• AI trust gap divides patients & providers (link)

• The next 5 years of AI in healthcare (link)

• Are LLMs medical devices? (link)

Visuals of the Week 📸

Funny memes, cool pics, and interesting data from around the web…