In a bid to tackle clinical burnout, Ambiance raises $70 million in funding for AI tools

Ambiance Healthcare is placing its faith in artificial intelligence (AI) as a prospective antidote in response to escalating burnout among healthcare professionals. The San Francisco-headquartered startup is crafting an array of tools to incorporate generative AI into the workload of clinicians. Recently, its aspirations to broaden the scope of its technology received a significant boost through a $70 million funding round.

The financing, labeled as series B, was jointly spearheaded by Kleiner Perkins and OpenAI Startup Fund, supplemented by support from Andreessen Horowitz and Optum Ventures, as disclosed in Ambiance’s recent announcement. All four entities were already backers of the company, which has now amassed $100 million in total funding over its lifetime.

Mamoon Hamid, a partner at Kleiner Perkins, highlighted the hurdles inherent in addressing the healthcare industry’s demands, notwithstanding recent strides in generative AI. “Devising effective solutions in this realm entails navigating a multitude of challenges, from refining medication protocols to optimizing user experience,” remarked Hamid. He further noted that Ambiance has garnered acclaim from its user base—comprising clinicians and healthcare administrators alike.

A noteworthy inclusion in the funding round was the invitation for contributions from hospital partners, a move embraced by Memorial Hermann, based in Houston. The healthcare institution opted to invest an undisclosed sum in Ambiance after experiencing the benefits of its technology throughout its network.

At present, Ambiance’s operating system encompasses four AI-powered tools. AutoScribe swiftly generates patient notes in real-time and seamlessly integrates them into electronic health records. AutoCDI analyzes clinical documentation to ensure precise billing. AutoRefer streamlines the drafting of referral letters between primary care providers and specialists, while AutoAVS compiles after-visit summaries for patients and caregivers in multiple languages, summarizing key discussion points from appointments.

A fifth application, AutoPrep, is currently in development. This tool will analyze patients’ medical histories before appointments, offering agenda suggestions for clinicians and flagging potential risk factors necessitating screening tests.

These tools are engineered to cater to all medical specialties and hospital departments. According to Ambiance, its platform significantly enhances hospitals’ coding accuracy and reduces clinicians’ documentation time by nearly 80% on average. Besides Memorial Hermann, other notable healthcare systems such as UCSF, John Muir Health, and The Oncology Institute have already integrated Ambiance’s generative AI technology.

The recent surge of investment in Ambience Healthcare mirrors a broader trend in the healthcare sector: an increasing fascination and assurance in the promise of ambient AI. The ambiance is now among the ranks of Nabla AI, AbridgeHQ, and Microsoft’s Nuance as they compete to advance state-of-the-art AI technology in healthcare.

Established in 2020, Ambiance Healthcare has been aiming to spearhead integrating AI technology into healthcare operations. Its AI operating system encompasses various applications aimed at streamlining clinical workflows, enhancing efficiency, and delivering high-quality care. Notably, these applications have demonstrated significant reductions in documentation time and improvements in coding accuracy, yielding substantial returns on investment for healthcare organizations.