Major inefficiencies are often caused by pixel-sized pain points that are hard to see one at a time, so Artisight just closed $42M in Series B funding to help hospitals combine those pixels into high resolution images of their operations.
To unlock new efficiency gains, Artisight is turning to new methods. Its Smart Hospital Platform consists of ambient IoT sensors coupled with two-way audio and video, improving the coordination of people and processes so that clinicians can focus on caring for patients.
- In patient rooms, that looks like using cameras and microphones to support tasks such as fall prevention and pressure ulcer prevention, as well as more robust use cases like virtual nursing (popular among current partners like WellSpan).
- In the OR, the same platform is used to automate documentation, enhance communication, and provide data for real-time decision making.
- All of that data then feeds into Artisight’s platform to glean insights into process improvement and train its task-specific algorithms.
Although patients probably don’t jump at the idea of having a camera pointed at them during some of the most vulnerable situations of their lives, it’s also safe to say that many of them would prefer a camera over having their health deteriorate due to a preventable cause.
- The same goes for providers, where the tension of having an observer is offset by the fact that the same observer is helping monitor patients, coordinate supplies, and reduce administrative burden.
The Series B is going toward scaling the Smart Hospital Platform across more organizations, as well as deeper into the 11 systems where it’s already deployed.
- Artisight is also looking to expand the number of workflows that can be improved or automated using its algorithms, and $42M should go a long way toward making that happen through new health system partnerships.
- The partnership component is key, given that Artisight trains its algorithms locally to address specific issues at each site – an approach that seems to be resonating with the partner health systems that participated in the round.
The Takeaway
While Artisight’s quest to redefine hospital efficiency involves the unenviable task of introducing cameras into delicate situations, it believes that improving the outcomes of those situations is worth the effort, and it has a roster of strategic investors who seem to share that belief.
