Third Way Health, an AI startup for healthcare organizations, raised $15 million in Series A funding to help scale the company, it announced last week.
Los Angeles-based Third Way Health helps medical practices run their front-office operations more efficiently. It combines artificial intelligence with organized workflows to improve tasks like scheduling, follow-ups, insurance verification, referrals and prior authorizations. By managing both the technology and the operational work behind it, Third Way Health helps healthcare organizations see more patients, lower administrative costs and improve financial performance.
“Healthcare providers face rising administrative costs, staffing shortages, and fragmented patient access workflows that erode margins and delay care,” said Frederik Mueller, co-founder and CEO of Third Way Health, in an email. “Third Way Health automates and manages front-office operations –combining AI with human expertise – to increase visit volume, reduce overhead, improve collections, and enable providers to focus on delivering high-quality patient care.”
The Series A round was from Health Velocity Capital, led by partner Kristin Torres Mowat. In total, Third Way Health has raised $22.5 million. This is Third Way Health’s first public funding round.
“Healthcare providers are under significant administrative and financial pressure, and front-office operations are often a source of friction for both patients and clinicians. While AI will play an important role in improving these workflows, it is not a standalone solution,” Mowat said in a statement. “Third Way Health has built a scalable operating model that integrates high-quality operations with targeted automation to improve cost, reliability, and patient access.”
The financing will help Third Way Health redesign front-office operations and expand its team, Mueller said. Specifically, it plans to grow its sales and implementation teams and improve its AI capabilities.
Third Way Health supports practices that collectively serve more than 5 million patients a year. Its clients have been able to decrease front-office administrative costs by up to 40%, increase patient visits by 11% and shorten phone wait times by 50%, according to the announcement.
There are companies that operate in a similar space to Third Way Health, including Hello Patient and Assort Health. However, most AI vendors sell software, whereas Third Way Health “operates the workflow itself,” according to Mueller.
Ultimately, Third Way Health aims to “improve patient experience, reduce administrative costs, increase healthcare providers’ revenue and efficiency, and scale our proven model,” Mueller said. “With our new funding, we look forward to expanding our reach and helping more organizations streamline front-of-house operations.”
Photo: Panya Mingthaisong, Getty Images
