Friends of Link Ventures: AI and Healthcare

Speaker Synopsis

Going to a doctor can be wildly stressful, and not just for medical reasons. Healthcare will cause a headache for just about everyone at some point. It’s a fact of life. Why does it have to be, though? In our last FoLV post we talked about how startups that find their particular niche can be drivers of social good — can be world changing, even.

Healthcare is one niche where that’s particularly true. There are so many aspects of the healthcare journey that can go wrong, and unfortunately for most of us, often do. Chances are excellent that at some point in your life, you’ve had an unpleasant healthcare-related experience. Whether it was an unexpected invoice, a dropped referral, a medication mix-up or even a botched procedure, good experiences tend to be the exception rather than the rule. The most common concern is an inflated bill; the National Patient Advocate Foundation says that medical billing errors are so common that fully half of all bills have errors.

Anomaly is working to correct that by developing software that detects billing errors and provides actionable recommendations to providers to streamline billing before the claim even arrives at the payer.

PayZen is a great complement to the work that Anomaly does; they are a patient financing platform that makes healthcare affordable for everyone. No one should have to say “no” to a necessary procedure because of insurmountable costs — so PayZen breaks down those costs into personalized, manageable monthly payments for anyone who applies.

Another hallmark of the healthcare experience is the less-than-desirable customer service interaction. Healthcare.com is focused on a smooth shopping and buying experience — after users answer some basic questions, they are guided to several local options. This takes the “research stress” out of the equation; users won’t miss a key opportunity because they are unsure of the right questions to ask.

If you’re researching healthcare options, you will likely want to discuss your findings with close friends and family. That’s where Intrinsic comes in. Amazon is the world’s biggest e-commerce search engine, and it’s playing a growing role in health and wellness. Intrinsic is building a portfolio of brands on the Amazon platform, which will mean that you can research wellness options the same way you research headphones.

Recon Strategy is also working on the problem of the practice of medicine being first and foremost an information problem. They support companies leveraging consumer thinking and technology to provide better health outcomes; they also help innovators bring groundbreaking health services and technologies to market quickly. With a wide range of experience across healthcare sectors, they’ll help to increase the number and viability of launched companies, which will in turn increase options for both consumers and providers as personalization becomes paramount.

A survey recently conducted by CVS Healthcare found that “consumers and providers are leaning into virtual capabilities even more and continuing to seek more health care personalization, customization and accessibility as they engage with health care differently and more meaningfully.” Given the events of 2020 and 2021, health and wellness are very much top of mind right now, and AI is helping to serve information and options to a ready audience.

Next up in the Friends of Link Ventures discussion: building trusted relationships.