Healthcare technology company Ascertain announced it secured $10 million in Series A funding.
The round was led by Deerfield Management with participation from Northwell Health.
WHAT IT DOES
Ascertain is an AI-enabled case management assistant that automates administrative tasks. It helps health systems, payers and independent provider groups simplify operations and lower their administrative workload.
The company assists with care transitions by providing case managers with access to information and automating policy review, record summarization, payer communication, post-acute referrals documentation and repetitive tasks associated with disability claims processing.
Ascertain will use the funds to grow the company and increase access to its AI-powered platform.
Northwell Health’s transitions-of-care administration team has been piloting Ascertain’s platform to process authorizations with the goal of allowing case managers, nurses and social workers to spend more time on patient care as opposed to administrative work.
“This collaboration has demonstrated that Ascertain’s technology effectively addresses the unique challenges of complex healthcare organizations. Building on the experience with Northwell, Ascertain is well positioned to partner with fellow health systems to drive greater efficiency and improve patient care,” Mark Solazzo, president of strategic initiatives and COO at Northwell Health, said in a statement.
Dr. Mark Michalski, CEO of Ascertain, pointed out that there is a need to develop and implement AI solutions to enhance operational efficiencies, lower the administrative burden on payers and providers, and expedite information sharing.
“Collaborating with Deerfield, Northwell and Aegis provides Ascertain access to a range of distribution channels, workflows and data, which we believe will unlock new levels of efficiency for healthcare workers,” Michalski said in a statement.
In addition to his role at Ascertain, Michalski will become the chief information officer at Deerfield Management.
MARKET SNAPSHOT
In 2023, Aegis Ventures and Northwell Holdings launched Optain, which uses AI-backed retinal imaging to catch early signs of disease. The partners provided an initial seed investment of $12 million.
Optain offers screening for diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.
Optain was the first company Aegis and Northwell launched through Ascertain.
In 2022, Northwell Holdings and Aegis Ventures launched Upliv, a virtual menopause care company. Upliv was the first company formed through Northwell and Aegis’ partnership to focus on equity in women’s healthcare.
Other companies in the AI-driven documentation space include Suki, a maker of an AI-backed healthcare voice tool.
In March, Rush University System for Health expanded its partnership with Suki to deploy its AI clinical documentation assistant system-wide after a successful trial.
The rollout gives clinicians across 28 specialties access to Suki’s AI Assistant, which aims to reduce administrative tasks and improve workflow efficiency by generating patient summaries, answering questions and simplifying coding.
The two organizations also collaborated to develop an AI-driven dictation feature within Epic, Rush’s electronic health record system, to integrate ambient and dictation technologies into a single platform.
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