K Health
 | This article needs more reliable medical references for verification or relies too heavily on primary sources. (September 2024) |  |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Healthcare |
| Founded | 2016 in New York, NY, USA |
| Founders | Allon Bloch, Ran Shaul, Israel Roth & Adam Singolda |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Allon Bloch (Co-founder & CEO), Ran Shaul (Co-founder & Chief Product Officer), Adam Singolda (Co-founder & board member), Mark Tluszc (Chairman of the Board), Yaron Savoray (CFO), Ashok Balakrishnan (CTO) |
K Health (formerly Kang Health) is a privately-owned, clinical artificial intelligence (AI) company. It provides virtual primary care through health systems and insurers, and via its mobile app.[1][2]
History
[edit]K Health was founded in 2016 in New York City by Allon Bloch (CEO), Ran Shaul (Chief Product Officer), Israel Roth (former Chief Technology Officer) and Adam Singolda (Board Member and CEO of Taboola).[1][3][4] Bloch was previously co-CEO of Wix.com, where he's still on the board of directors, and CEO of Vroom.[5]
K Health was launched in 2018 as a free medical app for personalized health information.[6] In 2021, K Health acquired text-based therapy company Trusst.[7]
Finances
[edit]K Health has raised $380 million in funding and the company was valued at $900 million as of July 2024.[2] K Health investors include Claure Group, Valor Equity Partners, Mangrove Capital Partners, Notable Capital, 14W, Comcast Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Primary Venture Partners, and PICO Capital Partners. Cedars-Sinai and Elevance Health are strategic investors, and Gal Gadot and her husband Yaron Varsano have also invested.[8][unreliable source?] In 2022, the company earned $52 million in revenue, though it is not profitable.[1]
Primary care app
[edit]K Health's main service is its primary care app. The app includes a chatbot called "K", which asks series of questions to identify a diagnosis. It uses data from Maccabi Healthcare Services, a health maintenance organization (HMO) in Israel, and Mayo Clinic.[9][10][11] The app itself doesn’t provide medical advice but connects users with doctors. Its AI offers a list of potential diagnoses, which the doctors can review while chatting with the user online.[1] In 2021, virtual providers became available in 48 states.[2]
A 2022 study found that K Health performed moderately compared to other symptom assessment apps. It provided suggestions for 74.5% of clinical vignettes (case reports). Its top-3 diagnoses had an accuracy of 36%, which was significantly lower than general practitioners (82.1%). In terms of urgency advice, K Health provided safe recommendations in 81.3% of cases. This was below the performance of general practitioners, who achieved 97% accuracy.[12]
Partnerships
[edit]In 2019, K Health partnered with Elevance Health (formerly Anthem) for the Elevance mobile app, Sydney Health. Anthem also invested in K Health.[13][14] In 2021, K Health, Elevance Health, and Blackstone Growth began a joint venture called Hydrogen Health to offer K Health through private employers and insurers.[15]
In 2020, K Health announced that it began working with Mayo Clinic Platform.[11] In 2022, K Health launched its predictive hypertension treatment model that uses Mayo Clinic data to help doctors personalize treatment.[16] In 2024, K Health entered into a know-how agreement with Mayo Clinic to develop a preventive cardiac solution.[17] Cedars-Sinai launched its virtual care app in 2023, Cedars-Sinai Connect, which was built using K Health's AI.[18]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Jennings, Katie (17 July 2023). "This AI Chatbot Has Helped Doctors Treat 3 Million People–And May Be Coming To A Hospital Near You". Forbes. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ a b c Landi, Heather (1 July 2024). "Digital primary care startup K Health raises $50M in equity funding round". Fierce Healthcare. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ O'Reilly, Lara (16 November 2016). "This startup wants to stop sick people Googling their symptoms and worrying they're about to die". Business Insider. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ Orbach, Meir (27 February 2020). "K Health Raises $48 Million". CTECH. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ "Crain's New York Business 2020 Notable in Healthcare". Crain's New York Business. 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ Mack, Heather (17 July 2018). "K Health Launches Symptom-Checking Chatbot With $9.5 Million". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ Coward, Kyle (25 August 2021). "Virtual Primary Care Provider Acquires Mental Health Platform Trusst". Behavioral Health Business. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ Rubinstein, Carrie (9 December 2021). "Millions Of Americans Will Now Be Eligible For Superhero Healthcare". Forbes. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (17 July 2018). "Online symptom checker K Health raises $12.5 million, launches in New York City". VentureBeat. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ Lieber, Dov (15 September 2019). "Israel Prepares to Unleash AI on Health Care". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ a b Landi, Heather (18 November 2020). "K Health scores new funding from SpaceX, Tesla investor and a new partnership with Mayo Clinic". Fierce Healthcare. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ Gilbert, Stephen; Mehl, Alicia; Baluch, Adel; Cawley, Caoimhe; Challiner, Jean; Fraser, Hamish; Millen, Elizabeth; Montazeri, Maryam; Multmeier, Jan; Pick, Fiona; Richter, Claudia; Türk, Ewelina; Upadhyay, Shubhanan; Virani, Vishaal; Vona, Nicola (2020-12-01). "How accurate are digital symptom assessment apps for suggesting conditions and urgency advice? A clinical vignettes comparison to GPs". BMJ Open. 10 (12): e040269. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040269. ISSN 2044-6055. PMC 7745523. PMID 33328258.
- ^ Wilde Mathews, Anna (22 July 2019). "Consumers Will Be Able to Pay for Doctor Visits on Their Phones, Via Anthem". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ Landi, Heather (22 July 2019). "Anthem launching new app offering personalized health information, texting with doctors". Fierce Healthcare. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ Tepper, Nona (9 December 2021). "Hydrogen Health Banks on Texting, AI in Crowded Virtual Care Market". Modern Healthcare. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ Landi, Heather (20 June 2022). "Mayo Clinic, K Health team up to use AI for personalized hypertension treatment". Fierce Healthcare. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ "K Health Partners with Mayo Clinic for AI-Driven Cardiac Care Initiative". The Healthcare Technology Report. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ Gliadkovskaya, Anastassia (10 October 2023). "Cedars-Sinai, K Health launch AI-driven virtual care app for new, existing patients in CA". Fierce Healthcare. Retrieved 26 July 2024.