AI primary care platform K Health raises $50M

K Health uses AI and machine learning to take some of the burden off of primary care physicians

Primary care is the gateway for healthcare, serving as the entry point for how most people receive their care, with over one billion visits annually to primary and urgent care facilities. However, this has led to burnout and a projected shortage.

K Health is a company that uses AI and machine learning to take some of the burden off of primary care physicians by allowing users to look up their symptoms, and then see how doctors diagnose and treat similar people with similar symptoms, for free on its app. 

This week, the company announced a $50 million round of funding led by Claure Group, with participation from investors, including Royalty Pharma founder and CEO Pablo Legorreta, and existing investors Mangrove Capital Partners, Valor Equity Partners, and Atreides Management, LP. 

The idea behind K Health is that, instead of doctors taking up their time with patients going through investigations and manually piecing together medical history from their EMR, K’s AI co-pilot takes patients through a personalized chat and then delivers providers a medical chart with patient insights so they can make better diagnoses and treatments.

K Health users first chat with an AI that has been trained on a dataset from billions of anonymized clinical data points, taking into account a user's gender, age, acute symptoms, and other biomarkers, to accurately show users how other people like them dealt with symptoms and conditions. That can include anything from mental health to back pain, headaches, abdominal pain, chest pain, rashes, fatigue, STDs and bladder infections, among numerous others.

If it is determined that patient does need to speak to a doctor, they then pay for that appointment in one of two ways: either per session, which costs $19, or they can pay a $27 subscription fee, which lasts for three months and also includes unlimited follow-up and remote visits. In addition, the company also offers mental health services, which is separate from its primary care membership; patients pay $19 a month to access this care. 

K is available in all 50 states, and K Primary Care, the option to chat with a doctor, is available in 48 states, covering 300 million people.

The company partners with health systems; in October, K Health teamed up with Cedars-Sinai in October to launch it new virtual healthcare option, Cedars-Sinai Connect, allowing patients in California to access Cedars-Sinai experts for sick, chronic, and preventive care anytime they need. Cedars-Sinai Connect uses artificial intelligence technology developed by K Health

“K Health solves the need to make primary care visits highly personalized by giving doctors AI super powers that enable them to practice at the top of their license. Our primary care platform offers a concierge medical experience, with an assigned provider and 24/7 access to care," Allon Bloch, founder and CEO of K Health, said in a statement.

"When partnered with leading health systems like Cedars-Sinai, this model creates significant benefits to access, clinical outcomes, and patient experience. All you need to get care is your health insurance, a stark contrast to concierge medicine services that typically cost thousands of dollars."

(Image source: khealth.com)