Artificial intelligence promises to amplify productivity and improve outcomes across industries in the decades to come. However, with the promise of AI comes the obligation and challenge to work with existing industry players, ensuring that they apply AI responsibly as they reshape their workflows. At General Catalyst partnering with the healthcare ecosystem to deploy AI that drives personalization at scale is key to our vision of health assurance.
One segment of healthcare in which AI has proven to be a welcomed tool in improving outcomes is medical imaging and diagnostics. Medical imaging provides some of the most complex data in terms of understanding and interpreting pixels while simultaneously generating massive volumes of information. Imaging touches upon 75% of all patient care today, and while the number of annual CT / MRI exams in the U.S is expected to continue its rapid rise, the number of radiologists available to service them cannot keep pace. We see this radiologist shortage playing out around the world. The impact on our health systems, beyond lengthy wait times for results, can manifest as limitations in patient care and delayed diagnoses with material financial and human cost. Despite the obvious need and large investments in AI start-ups, up until recently traction has been limited due to lack of clear enterprise-level solutions.
Over the past two years, Aidoc has quickly emerged as a category leader, serving major practices and hospitals worldwide with an increasingly comprehensive AI platform. The platform is on a trajectory to become the world’s largest portfolio of FDA-cleared acute AI solutions and this is set to double its current count in 2021.By running seamlessly in the background and flagging anomalies in real-time, Aidoc supports already overworked physicians. The combination of AI and physicians represents the next generation of healthcare – one in which AI analyzes every exam to detect abnormalities and prioritize cases in concert with expert human judgement for decision support. With Aidoc, physicians can efficiently deliver a higher quality service and significantly improve patient outcomes – research by Yale and Cedars shows a reduction of 10-25% in patient stay for certain pathologies. In addition, Aidoc customers have awarded the platform with an NPS of over 80%!
Since beginning their journey four years ago, Elad, Michael, and Guy have developed an outstanding product and built deep partnerships with health systems and radiology practices in the US and Europe. As we spent time with the team, the thoughtfulness and care they demonstrated in tackling the complexity of applying AI to existing physician workflows came through in volumes. As veterans of the elite Talpiot program of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), we expected the founders to be highly capable problem solvers; however, ultimately, it was their compassion and shared vision in leveraging technology to serve medicine, empower providers, and deliver better patient experiences that resonated most with us.
We raised our Health Assurance Fund (HAF) with the aim of identifying enduring companies that could help create a more proactive, resilient, and equitable system of care. In Aidoc, we saw a company and team that will pave the way to a truly intelligent, data-driven hospital workflow. We couldn’t be more excited to lead Aidoc’s Series C and proud to partner with them in this next phase to accelerate the adoption of AI as the standard of care.
