Health Services, Health Tech

Symptom checker K Health raises $132M for push into pediatrics

K Health raised $132 million in funding, which it plans to use to expand its platform into pediatric patients. The company has built a symptom-checker app and lets patients text a primary care physician for an additional fee.

K Health plans to push into pediatrics with $132 million in new funding. The New York-based startup offers a free symptom-checking app as well as access to a text-based visit with a provider for a small fee.

The recent funding round, led by GGV Capital and Valor Equity Partners, will be used to launch a virtual pediatrics offering for kids ages 3 to 17. For example, parents can share what symptoms their child is experiencing, and get suggestions of what might be happening.

Currently, K Health builds its predictions based on what other people with similar symptoms reported. The system was developed using data from managed-care organization Maccabi in Israel, and K Health also recently struck a partnership with Mayo Clinic to access de-identified data for its assessments.

Building a version of this system that would work for younger patients brought new challenges, since parents must answer questions for their child.

“It involved another level of complexity because you are not speaking to the child,” K Health Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Ran Shaul said in an interview. “If I can ask you, ‘how are you feeling,’ ‘how painful is it,’ you can be subjective about it and you can answer that. With a child next to you, it’s harder to do that.”

As to whether parents would feel comfortable using the symptom checker for their kids, Shaul said some were already using the app on behalf of their children before they launched the new service.

He emphasized the company’s app was an “informational system,” not a diagnostic tool. As such, it and other symptom checkers are not currently regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

There’s also the question of accuracy. A study recently published in BMJ Open by one of K Health’s competitors showed that primary care physicians still did much better than symptom-checkers in identifying the correct diagnosis, as well as in appropriately triaging patients based on their symptoms.

K Health also offers text-based pediatrics visits in 15 states, though there are some limitations on what it can treat. For example, it can’t treat conditions like strep throat or an ear infection, which require an in-person diagnosis, according to its website. Physicians working for K Health also cannot prescribe high-risk medications at all, and with some medications, can only offer prescription refills.

The biggest differentiator for K Health is its price. It costs $9 per month or $19 for a one-time visit.

“This is going back to the competitive advantage we believe we have of AI augmenting our doctor. That’s how we think we can scale,” Shaul said.

As part of the funding round, K Health will gain two new board members: Valor Equity Partners Founder and CEO Antonio Gracias, who sits on the boards of SpaceX and Tesla, and GGV Capital Managing Partner Hans Tung.

“GGV backs companies with potential to serve the greatest number of people, and by solving the healthcare inequities of access and affordability, K Health is one of the most impactful consumer health companies constructing the future of care for us all,” Tung said in a news release.

The startup’s most recent series E round comes in addition to two previous funding rounds the startup closed last year.  Prior to its most recent raise, K Health was valued at more than $1.4 billion, CEO Allon Bloch told Bloomberg.  

Photo credit: K Health

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