Dozens of startups are looking for ways to reduce the workload of doctors’ documentation by making the health record system more user-friendly or automating parts of the process. A Suki company in Redwood City is taking the approach of building a voice assistant for doctors.
The startup recently completed a $55 million Series C financing led by March Capital. Philips Venture Capital also joined as an investor.
Suki’s voice assistant works a bit like Amazon’s Alexa. Clinicians can use the wake word “Suki” to instruct the assistant to perform tasks. For example, they can ask Suki to extract their schedule or information from the patient record. Clinicians can also dictate notes for patients, and assistants can help with ICD-10 coding.
Suki claims that its tools are suitable for multiple professions, including family medicine, cardiology, orthopedics, orthopedics, ophthalmology, and pediatrics. The company stated that it has been used by more than 90 health systems and clinics.
Wes Nichols, a partner at March Capital, said that Suki aroused his interest after seeing his doctor using it.
“The first time I came into contact with Suki was when my doctor updated his electronic medical records and pharmacy on my mobile phone, which forced me to ask him what he was using. He was excited about Suki as a user, and I knew I had to meet the founder,” he Said at the press conference.
Suki plans to use the funds to expand its user base by collaborating with more health systems and medical groups, as well as adding new features to its voice assistant.
This startup faces some large competitors, especially the voice document company Nuance It was acquired by Microsoft for US$19.7 billion earlier this year. Nuance also acquired Saykara, a start-up company dedicated to developing tools that can record clinical information by “listening” to conversations between doctors and patients.
Amazon is also making progress in using its Alexa devices for healthcare, but so far it has focused more on consumer and patient tools than records.For example, it is Cooperation with hospitals and assisted living facilities Ask patients to ask for help, provide staff with a way to check patients remotely, and also develop a tool Provide information about commonly used prescription drugs.
In an email statement, Suki CEO Punit Soni stated that the company differentiates its services from other services by cost and not relying on back-end personnel. One of the dirty little secrets of voice assistants is that they often rely on people behind the scenes to check for errors.
“Suki is technology-driven, which means tasks are completed in real time, with consistent quality. Suki is also more affordable because there are no back-end labor costs. This means that we can provide services for majors such as family medicine, which may not be affordable. Based on the scribe’s solution,” he wrote in an email statement.
It also does more records by helping doctors to code and retrieve information from the EHR.
Photo: bayhayalet, Getty Images
