Healthcare AI Guy Weekly | 7/22

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Our Picks ✨

Highlights if you’ve only got 2 minutes…

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OpenEvidence fastest-growing medical app in history

OpenEvidence, the fastest-growing medical app in history, just rocketed from a $1B to $3.5B valuation in five months, closing a $210M Series B co-led by GV and Kleiner Perkins, with other top-tier investors including Sequoia (which led the Series A), Coatue, Conviction, and Thrive joining the round. The LLM-powered medical search engine has become physicians’ go-to shortcut for evidence-based care: reportedly over 40% of U.S. doctors log in daily, driving 8.5M clinical consultations each month and adding 65k new clinicians every month. Strategic content partnerships with NEJM, JAMA, and 11 specialty journals let doctors surface the science in seconds, an edge that’s hard to replicate, especially with exclusive agreements from publishers like Elsevier.

With fresh capital, OpenEvidence is expanding its content library and launching new tools like DeepConsult, a new AI tool for complex clinical questions. It reviews and synthesizes hundreds of studies to generate detailed research summaries, helping physicians ramp up on unfamiliar topics without manually sorting through the literature. All in all, OpenEvidence is positioning itself to be the single source of truth for medical decisions, and in healthcare, being the trusted source might be the only moat that actually matters. (link)(linkedin)

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White House AI & digital health updates

The Trump administration is ramping up support for AI and digital health through new funding, policy proposals, and regulatory signals. Here are three big developments from the last week:

• CMS backs digital health in its CY2026 Physician Fee Schedule proposal: The rule expands telehealth flexibilities, adds new remote monitoring codes, and continues support for digital mental health tools like those for ADHD. It also seeks input on better ways to pay for software and AI used in chronic care. (link)

• Trump announces $92B in AI and energy investments: At the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, President Trump announced $92B in planned investments from Google, Blackstone, and FirstEnergy, including Google’s $25B push into AI infrastructure and $3B to modernize hydropower in the state. (link)

• Federal AI Action Plan incoming: Expected by month’s end, the administration’s plan will emphasize a pro-growth, low-regulation approach to AI, with priorities around infrastructure, exports, and permitting, steering clear of thornier issues like copyright and model transparency. More to come here. (link)

From healthcare reimbursement to AI infrastructure, the federal government is laying the groundwork for widespread adoption of digital tools, especially in chronic care, energy, and national competitiveness.

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Rise of AI companions

A new study finds that 72% of US teens have used AI companions, with over half interacting regularly, often for entertainment, curiosity, or emotional support. One in three teens use bots to navigate relationships, and nearly 40% say they’ve applied social skills from those chats in real life, though most still prefer human connection. Overall, the idea of a “friend in your pocket” is gaining traction to boost folks’ emotional well-being. While Character.AI, Nomi, Replika, and ChatGPT lead the way, newer tools are emerging. Elon Musk’s xAI recently launched Grok companions, and the teen-focused app Tolan raised $20M last week.

These platforms drive 10x more engagement than other AI tools (highlighted below), helping explain the surge in investor interest. But with enthusiasm comes concern. Character.AI has already faced lawsuits from parents, and a Stanford study warns that chatbots can reinforce mental health stigma and often fail in high-risk moments. As more people turn to AI for support, strong safeguards like age verification and content moderation will be essential to ensure technology flourishes in the way it should.

Tools & Partnerships 🔧

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

TOOLS

• FDA updates AI approvals, plans GenAI labeling: The FDA updated its list of AI-enabled devices (now over 1,200) and announced plans to flag GenAI tools in care, though no LLM-based device has been approved yet. (link)

• xAI launches “Grok for Government” with $200M DoD deal: Elon Musk’s xAI unveiled a government-focused suite of LLM tools, including healthcare use cases. Backed by a $200M DoD contract, it's listed on the GSA schedule for federal deployment. (link)

• Tempus AI wins FDA nod for heart failure-predicting AI tool: The newly cleared ECG-Low EF uses AI to identify adults 40+ at risk of low ejection fraction, a potential sign of heart failure, marking Tempus’ second FDA-cleared ECG-AI device. (link)

• CHOP launches Epic-integrated AI assistant “CHIPPER”: Built on GPT-4 and developed in-house, CHIPPER helps clinicians navigate Epic and external resources like PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov, streamlining care with a HIPAA-compliant AI agent. (link)

• AI outperforms cardiologists in heart disease detection: EchoNext, trained on 1.2M ECG-echo pairs, detects structural heart disease from ECGs with an AUROC of 0.85, outperforming cardiologists in a prospective study. (link)

• Neuralink brain chip implanted at University of Miami: A paralyzed U.S. veteran became the fifth person to receive Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain implant (and the first at UHealth), regaining the ability to control his phone and computer with his thoughts. (link)

• Regard debuts ‘proactive documentation’ AI tool: The new capability combines EHR data and live patient conversations to draft notes, surface missed conditions, and recommend diagnoses, now rolling out across all 150 of its hospital partners. (link)

• AI-powered lab finds new materials 10x faster: NC State researchers built a self-driving chemistry lab that continuously tests reactions, speeding up discovery for materials used in clean energy, electronics, and possibly medical devices. (link)

• Inbox Health launches AI billing assistant: Inbox Health’s 24/7 HIPAA-compliant AI resolves 70%+ of billing inquiries via chat, text, phone, or email in 60+ languages, integrating with dozens of practice systems. (link)

• Proscia 4x’s AI pathology volume, adds new revenue tools: The company now diagnoses 32K patients daily, launched bundled AI suites for cancer, hit 100+ LIS integrations, and helps labs earn via data licensing & pharma partnerships. (link)

• HL7 to develop AI standards using FHIR foundation: HL7 International will create new AI interoperability standards by building on existing frameworks like FHIR and SMART on FHIR. Focus areas include AI transparency, data lifecycle tagging, and safe model deployment. (link)

• OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Agent with virtual computer control: ChatGPT can now autonomously browse, code, and complete tasks like booking travel or generating reports, marking a leap in agentic AI. (link)

PARTNERSHIPS

• Kootenai Health + Ambience: Kootenai Health is expanding its partnership with Ambience to equip 175 clinicians by year-end and scale enterprise-wide in 2026, after pilot results showed a 48% drop in documentation time and 22% more patient face time. (link)

• Evidently + Allina Health: Allina Health is expanding its use of Evidently’s AI platform across all care settings to surface key clinical information and improve documentation accuracy for quality and reimbursement. (link)

• Hippocratic AI + Sheba Medical Center: Sheba is partnering with Hippocratic AI to deploy generative AI agents for triage and patient intake, enhancing care coordination from the start of the patient journey. (link)

• IntelePeer + SOAP Health: IntelePeer is partnering with SOAP Health to combine AI-driven patient interviews with automated phone call workflows, creating a more intelligent and efficient patient engagement solution. (link)

Deal Desk 💸 

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

FUNDING

• Anthropic, the foundational AI model startup, is in early talks to raise at a valuation over $100B. (link)

• OpenEvidence, a Cambridge, Mass.-based AI medical assistant for doctors, raised a $210m Series B round co-led by Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, valuing it at $3.5b. Coatue, Conviction and Thrive also participated. (link)

• Fortuna Health, a consumer Medicaid navigation platform, raised $18M in Series A funding. The round was led by a16z with participation from YC and others. The funding will accelerate Fortuna’s investments in AI-powered workflows. (link)

• One Biosciences, a Paris-based AI-driven driven oncology solutions company, raised $17.4M in Series A funding. Redmile Group and Blast led the round and were joined by others. (link)

• Asepha, a Toronto-based startup leveraging AI agents for pharmacy automation, raised $4M in seed funding. Glasswing Ventures and Core Innovation Capital led the round and were joined by others. (link)

Other Relevant News 🔍

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

• Blue KC sued over AI-driven claims denials (link)

• Where are all the AI drugs? Jury’s still out (link)

• Most CIOs want AI built into EHRs (link)

• Google forms new health advisory board (link)

• Researchers hide secret prompts to trick AI peer review (link)

AI Job Opportunities 💼 

Contact us to feature roles in our newsletter…

• Head of Product at Layer Health, a VBC enablement platform for PCPs

  $260 - $300k | Remote (link)

• Chief of Staff at Neon Health, an AI-powered patient access platform

  $125 - $195K | SF (link)

• Applied AI Systems Engineer at Neon Health, an AI platform for patient access

  $140 - $200K | SF (link)

• Strategic Growth Director at Aidoc, a clinical AI imaging platform
  $NA | USA (link)

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

  $NA | NYC (link)

Visuals of the Week 📸

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