Health systems are under pressure to improve patient outcomes while managing staffing shortages and rising costs. Healthleap, a clinical AI platform which works within the EHR to screen hospitalized patients for conditions that might otherwise go undiagnosed and untreated – such as malnutrition – is supporting hospitals in finding at-risk patients sooner.
The San Francisco-based company announced last week that it has secured $38 million in combined seed and Series A funding from Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital, and Hummingbird Ventures. The company plans to use the funds to expand its screening technology to more conditions, including congestive heart failure, aspiration pneumonia, delirium, pressure ulcers, and certain hospital-acquired infections.
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“Every week, millions of patients leave hospitals with unresolved health conditions that will erode their health and cost up to 10x more to treat late,” said Healthleap CEO Josiah Meyer in a news release. “Finding them now is prevention, and it’s a win for everyone. Patients get treated before they get sicker.”
Healthleap’s platform is currently used by more than 50 hospitals, including Penn Medicine, Houston Methodist, Cedars-Sinai, Emory and UMass Memorial. Its current focus is malnutrition, which can often go unnoticed and worsen patient outcomes.
“The model uses weight, body mass index, lab results, diagnoses, medications, intake and output, nutrition orders, and vitals,” said co-founder and clinician Jemima Meyer in an email. “The AI system combines all of these signals into one priority score from 0 to 10 for each patient. A second column shows whether the patient’s risk changed since the last assessment. Dietitians see both columns in their existing EHR worklist every morning. The dietitians sort the list and start with the highest-risk patients.”
Healthleap’s technology screens every adult inpatient daily. Typical malnutrition screening relies on a manual process conducted by the admitting nurse or an in-hospital dietitian. Patients who are confused, intubated, or critically ill are often unable to answer, putting them at particular risk for being missed. The company’s website claims that its model showed 88% higher sensitivity than the nursing screening, linking to a peer-reviewed study which backs that number. Each severe malnutrition diagnosis and treatment supports improved patient outcomes and, according to Healthleap, allows hospitals to claim around $11,000 in reimbursement. Each patient flagged had a 1.6-day shorter average hospital stay, according to Jemima Meyer.
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As Healthleap expands into screening for additional conditions, each must first undergo further clinical validation, with a focus on smoothly integrating into provider workflows.
“Every condition runs on the same nightly chart review and the same EHR connection”, she said. “Healthleap does not send interruptive alerts. Physicians and nurses see no pop-ups. The score appears as a column in a worklist that the care team already uses.”
Healthleap wants to turn earlier risk detection into better patient care – their next challenge is expanding the results achieved with their malnutrition screening platform across a broader range of conditions.
Photo: John Lund, Getty Images