Axios Pro: Health Tech Deals

June 08, 2023

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đź’¸ Situational awareness: Blackstone-owned physician staffing business TeamHealth reportedly received competing offers from two of its largest creditors to repay over $1 billion in debt due next year.

1 big thing: Laudio snags $13M Series B for automation

two medical record clipboards surrounded by circles and cutouts of money

Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios

Laudio, a health care operations management software company, raised a $13 million Series B to shore up AI capabilities, CEO Russ Richmond tells Aaron exclusively.

Why it matters: Laudio automates administrative tasks — a longtime contributor to health system workforce burnout, and an initial use case for generative AI.

Details: This round was led by Define Ventures with participation from existing investors .406 Ventures, InHealth Ventures, MemorialCare Innovation Fund and TeleTracking Technologies.

  • "We should be cash flow positive in the next two or three years," Richmond says, noting the fundraising process took about two months.
  • Boston-based Laudio has raised $25 million to date.

How it works: Laudio automates repetitive work and provides frontline health care workers with recommendations and best practices.

  • "Unfortunately, today’s health systems are stuck in a never-ending cycle: employee turnover creates staffing crisis, which in turn costs health systems more money as they look to inefficient labor pools," says Richmond.
  • Its software automates tasks like employee rounding, checking with new hires, checking in on patients, assessing overtime, and doing audits on the quality of work.
  • One example is let's say a nurse has worked five straight shifts with newly trained employees — Laudio will pick up on this and alert the manager to reach out to that nurse, thank them, and arrange their schedule.
  • Laudio is used by more than 20 health systems.

What's next: "Laudio is making larger investments in its AI and analytics platform, which nudge leaders to take the right action at the right time through real-time recommendations," Richmond says.

  • Richmond wants to establish Laudio as the future of work within the health care space this year.

What they're saying: "Laudio is targeting the number one challenge faced by every health system and every patient in the US: clinician burnout," says A.G. Breitenstein, venture partner at Define Ventures.

  • "Laudio’s team, technology and deep industry leadership are best positioned by far to make the work of frontline health care staff faster, simpler and easier," he says.

The bottom line: "Clinician burnout is the top issue for every single health system in the US, and simply adding more staff is only a partial solution," Breitenstein says.

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