Healthcare AI Guy Weekly | 6/24

Subscribe | Advertise | AI Startup Database | Feature AI Jobs

Our Picks ✨

Highlights if you’ve only got 2 minutes…

1/

Health AI funding frenzy

This week’s flurry of major raises in healthcare AI is a clear sign: investor appetite for category-defining platforms remains strong, especially for companies proving real traction and revenue growth. From ambient AI to virtual MSK care, the race to own core healthcare workflows is accelerating and the check sizes are keeping up. The rounds are also coming together super quickly and tend to be oversubscribed due to all the interest.

• Commure, AI infrastructure for health systems, raised $200M from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund to scale its AI platform powering 15M+ visits/year, with ARR doubling 3 years in a row. (link)

• Tennr, AI for automating patient referrals, raised $101M at a $650M valuation to expand its referral automation tools; revenue has tripled since October. (link)

• Nabla, an AI scribe company, raised $70M to evolve from ambient AI into agentic tools for coding, pre-charting, and more; now used by 85K clinicians. (link)

• Sword Health, virtual MSK care and AI mental health, raised $40M at a $4B valuation, launching a new AI mental health product, Mind, alongside its MSK platform. (link)

2/

Thinking with machines

A new Stanford-led study shows that doctors working with a custom GPT-4 system achieved 85% diagnostic accuracy, up from 75% with traditional tools. Surprisingly, GPT alone scored even higher at 90%. The study tested two workflows: AI-first (AI suggests first) and AI-second (doctor goes first), both of which improved physician performance. The key insight: AI should be a reasoning partner, not just a tool. This raises tough questions about liability, the evolving standard of care, and how we design AI-clinician systems. Better training helps but thoughtful system design matters more, mirroring how aviation optimizes for human-machine collaboration. As real-world trials begin in 2026, clinical AI’s future may depend less on model performance, and more on how well humans and machines think together.

New research from MIT that caught a lot of buzz this weekend adds a note of caution. Students who used ChatGPT to write essays showed significantly weaker brain activity and memory retention than those using traditional search or no tools at all. That said, over-relying on AI may hurt human cognition. The challenge ahead will be designing systems that maximize AI’s strengths while preserving, and even enhancing, human judgment, attention, and expertise. (link)

3/

AI voice agents ready for prime time

With advances in speech recognition and LLMs, voice agents can now hold natural, humanlike conversations, and they’re already being deployed at scale. eHealth uses one to triage calls. Relatient handles appointment scheduling. Limbic manages mental health intake, 24/7. Voice is no longer the product; it’s the interface layer powering real workflows. Startups like Hippocratic AI, Infinitus, and Assort are verticalizing fast, streamlining everything from prior auths to pharmacy coordination. For more complex workflows like prior authorizations, pharmacy coordination, and appeals, companies like Tandem, Squad Health, and Tennr are layering voice onto existing platforms to reduce costs, increase transparency, and improve outcomes. Meanwhile, Epic, Zocdoc, and Solv are building in-house. Over $2 billion has flowed into voice AI this year, and call centers (a $314 billion market) are just the start. The takeaway: voice is no longer just cool. It’s cost-saving, patient-ready, and increasingly essential. We think this is further underscored by OpenAI’s recent acquisition of io and its rumored plans to reshape how people interact with technology. (link 1)(link 2)

Tools & Partnerships 🔧

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

TOOLS

• Mass General Brigham develops AI tool to detect heart disease in CT scans: The AI-CAC model identifies calcium deposits in chest CTs, flagging early signs of heart disease quickly and non-invasively. (link)

• Sword Health unveils always-on AI mental health platform: Sword launched Mind, a continuous care model combining AI and licensed clinicians to deliver proactive, personalized mental health support. The system includes an AI therapist, wearable sensor, and 24/7 access to Ph.D.-level clinicians. (link)

• Abridge expands platform with inpatient scribe & outpatient med ordering: Abridge introduced two new features—an ambient scribe for inpatient care and a tool for outpatient medication ordering—to broaden its clinical documentation capabilities. (link)

• AI voice agent Meela tackles loneliness in nursing homes: A pilot featured in WSJ, shows Meela making personalized weekly calls to seniors. The startup charges $65/month per resident and is expanding to more facilities. (link)

• Intelligent Internet upgrades II-Medical model, outperforming MedGemma: The latest version of II-Medical, an open medical AI model, surpasses Google’s MedGemma on key benchmarks despite being smaller in size. (link)

• Medsender updates MAIRA AI voice agent for patient calls and referrals: New features improve MAIRA’s ability to handle scheduling, manage medical records, and streamline referral processes. (link)

• SandboxAQ releases SAIR, a synthetic dataset for drug discovery AI: Backed by Nvidia, SandboxAQ launched SAIR, a dataset of 5.2 million synthetic protein-drug pairs to support AI model training in pharmaceutical research. (link)

• Talkdesk launches CXA platform with fully autonomous AI agents: Talkdesk CXA automates patient experience operations and integrates with third-party systems via its new AI Gateway—eliminating the need to rip and replace existing contact centers. (link)

• Ambience Healthcare outperforms in KLAS ROI study: A KLAS report found Ambience’s AI-powered scribe significantly improves coding accuracy and generates a strong return on investment for healthcare providers. (link)

• Allina Health debuts Alli, an AI voice agent for patient engagement: Powered by SoundHound, Alli answers patient calls, handles scheduling, and integrates with Allina’s EHR to authenticate callers and deliver personalized responses. (link)

• Wysa launches AI Gateway for mental health intake and assessment: The new tool expands Wysa’s chat-based platform with AI-driven patient intake and clinical triage capabilities. (link)

• AdvancedMD adds AI workflow tools and partners with Waystar: The EHR vendor released new patient portal features and AI automations, alongside a clearinghouse integration with Waystar. (link)

• Lark Health launches LarkVantage to manage GLP‑1 therapy costs: The AI-driven LarkVantage tool helps payers and patients streamline cost management for GLP-1 medications through predictive insights and optimized prescription pathways. (link)

PARTNERSHIPS

• Universal Health Services + Hippocratic AI: UHS is deploying Hippocratic AI’s generative agents to conduct post-discharge patient engagement calls—covering medication review and wellness checks—with high patient engagement scores (~9/10), now rolling it out across its 29-hospital system. (link)

• Intermountain Health + Layer Health: Intermountain Ventures has invested in Layer Health to deploy its AI-powered chart-review platform across 33 hospitals, optimizing registry and quality reporting for conditions like stroke, bariatric surgery, and cardiovascular disease. (link)

• Notable + MUSC Health: MUSC Health is expanding its use of Notable’s AI platform across its 16 hospitals and 830+ care sites to automate workflows like scheduling, voice notifications, and revenue cycle tasks. (link)

• Notable + Southwest General: Southwest General Health Center is adopting Notable’s AI agents to streamline scheduling, intake, and care gap closure, easing administrative burden and improving patient access. (link)

• Stanford Health Care + Kivo Health: Stanford is partnering with Kivo Health to deliver AI-powered virtual pulmonary rehab for COPD patients, aiming to improve access, outcomes, and reduce hospitalizations. (link)

• Christ Hospital + Epic: Christ Hospital’s use of Epic’s AI Extracted Findings tool has flagged over 7,000 lung nodules and enabled early lung cancer detection in 185 patients, boosting early-stage diagnosis rates to 69%—far above the 46% national average. (link)

Deal Desk 💸 

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

FUNDING

• Commure, the healthcare AI infrastructure startup, raised $200M in growth financing from General Catalyst's "customer value fund." (link)

• Tennr, New York-based patient referral automation company, raised $101M in Series C funding. IVP led the round, with participation from new and existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, GV, Foundation Capital, Lightspeed, ICONIQ and Frank Slootman. (link)

• Nabla, a Brooklyn-based clinical AI assistant, raised $70M in Series C funding. HV Capital led the round and was joined by Highland Europe, DST Global, and existing investors Cathay Innovation and Tony Fadell’s Build Collective. (link)

• Sword Health, a Draper, Utah-based virtual physical therapy provider, raised $40M at a $4B valuation. General Catalyst led, joined by Khosla Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Lince Capital, Oxy Capital, Armilar Ventures, Indico, and Shilling. (link)

• Zorro, a NYC-based provider of a benefits administration platform, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by Entrée Capital, with participation from existing investors 10D and Pitango. (link)

• Extend, a NYC-based document processing platform, raised $17M in funding. Innovation Endeavors led the $15M Series A round and $2M seed round and was joined by existing investors YC, Character VC, and angel investors. (link)

• HOPPR, a Chicago-based medical imaging startup, raised $31.5M in Series A funding. Kivu and Greycroft led, joined by PSG Equity, Morningside Capital, Fortitude Ventures, and Health 2047. (link)

• Layer Health, a core platform for AI chart review, received a strategic investment from Intermountain Ventures. (link)

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

• Quantum + Embold: Quantum Health acquired data analytics firm Embold Health to bolster its care navigation platform with “proprietary physician-level analytics” and an AI-powered provider recommendation engine. (link)

Other Relevant News 🔍

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

• A look at Google’s healthcare moves (link)

• Catching the right wave in Digital Health (link)

• CIOs weigh in: Is EHR AI delivering? (link)

• 10 stats reveal the toll of prior auth on doctors (link)

• The state of AI, from the seat of the CIO (link)

• Indiana system expects $10M in savings from AI (link)

AI Job Opportunities 💼 

Contact us to feature roles in our newsletter…

• VP Marketing at Nabla, an AI scribe company

  $NA | Remote (link)

• Senior Product Manager, Digital Health at NVIDIA, an AI chips/software maker

  $168 - $328K | Santa Clara (link)

• Product Ops, GTM at Commure, an enterprise health AI platform

  $125 - $150K | Mountain View (link)

• Founding Engineer at Autoblocks AI, an LLM proactive testing startup

  $NA | NYC (link)

• Director of ML at HOPPR, an AI-powered medical imaging startup

  $NA | Remote (link)

Visuals of the Week 📸

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