Pharos, a healthcare startup, has recently launched an innovative AI solution aimed at streamlining the cumbersome process of hospitals submitting quality reports to external clinical registries. The company has just completed a $5 million seed round led by Felicis, with participation from General Catalyst, Moxxie, and Y Combinator.
In the current healthcare system, submitting quality reports to agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the United States is an extremely time-consuming task. Healthcare providers need to manually extract data from each patient's electronic health record, with the processing time for a single case potentially lasting up to 8 hours. This not only consumes a significant amount of human resources but also diverts healthcare staff's attention from patient care.
Image source note: The image is generated by AI, and the image is authorized by the service provider Midjourney
Pharos was founded by Felix Brann, Matthew Jones, and Alex Clarke. Leveraging their extensive experience in healthcare data processing, they have developed an AI system that can automatically extract unstructured data from electronic health records and fill out registration forms. Notably, co-founder Alex Clarke is both a practicing physician and holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Imperial College London.
Ryan Isono, a partner at Felicis, stated that Pharos's strength lies in targeting a niche market with a clear demand but less competition. This solution not only saves hospitals money but, more importantly, allows healthcare providers to focus more time on patient care.
Although the team is currently small, Pharos plans to use the new funding to expand its team, enhance product promotion, and maintain customer relationships. Founder Brann is confident about the company's future, believing that their unique combination of hospital sales, deployment experience, and AI technology capabilities will help the company stand out in future market competition.