How AI is helping healthcare startups multiply their patients and chase profits

Authors: Rebecca Torrence

Publisher:

Business Insider

Published: 7/18/2025

Language:English

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David

Good morning 老张, I'm David, and this is Goose Pod for you. Today is Monday, July 21th, 23:58. We're diving into a topic that's reshaping one of our most vital sectors. It’s a story of technology, health, and high-stakes finance.

Ema

And I'm Ema! We're here to discuss how AI is helping healthcare startups multiply their patients and chase profits. It's a revolution that’s happening faster than you might think, promising to change everything from a routine check-up to chronic disease management.

David

Let's get started. The core of today's phenomenon is a powerful shift. Healthcare startups are facing immense pressure—clinician shortages, razor-thin margins, and widespread physician burnout. They're turning to AI as a potential savior to do much more with much less.

Ema

Exactly! It’s like they've been given a superpower. Take Virta Health, a company focusing on chronic care. Their CEO, Sami Inkinen, said generative AI helped them boost their gross margins from literally zero to an incredible 60%. That’s a stunning transformation.

David

It truly is. That kind of leap isn't just a minor adjustment; it's a complete change in their business trajectory. It shows how AI is not just a background tool but a core driver of profitability and sustainability for these emerging companies.

Ema

And it’s not an isolated case. This is happening across the board, especially in fields like musculoskeletal care. Companies such as Hinge Health and Sword Health are aggressively using AI to make their physical therapists vastly more efficient, which is a game-changer.

David

The numbers are quite startling. Sword Health, for instance, set a goal for 2024 to have its therapists manage an average of 700 patients at a time. To put that in perspective, they were handling 200 to 300 patients at the start of the year.

Ema

That sounds almost impossible! How can one therapist possibly keep track of 700 people? It sounds like you'd need an army of assistants, but instead, they have an army of algorithms. The AI pre-writes messages for clinicians and even prioritizes patients who need more attention.

David

That's the key. It's about augmenting the human clinician, not replacing them entirely. The AI handles the repetitive, time-consuming tasks. Hinge Health is on a similar path, using AI for patient-provider messaging and claiming to have slashed 95% of clinician hours spent on physical therapy tasks.

Ema

Ninety-five percent? That's almost the entire workload! They also use computer vision to guide patients through exercises at home. It’s like having a physical therapist in your living room, watching your form and guiding you, but it's an AI. Pretty futuristic stuff!

David

The CEO of Hinge Health, Daniel Perez, has a bold vision. He said, "The long-term vision is to continue to peel away aspects of in-person care and deliver the care itself via technology." He sees a future where technology automates most of care delivery.

Ema

It's not just physical therapy, either. Virtual pediatric care is another fascinating area. Ellen DaSilva, the CEO of Summer Health, mentioned that their text-based model already allowed providers to see about 10 patients an hour, way up from the typical five to seven.

David

And with AI, she projects that number could easily double. In specialties like pediatrics where there are clinician shortages, this could be revolutionary. It means augmenting the existing workforce to serve more families, potentially reducing burnout for doctors and nurses in the process.

Ema

So, we're seeing this incredible phenomenon where AI is letting a single clinician do the work of two, or maybe even three or four. It’s solving major logistical and financial problems for these startups, allowing them to scale up and reach profitability much faster.

David

It's a powerful narrative of efficiency and growth. But as we'll explore, this rapid automation also brings a host of questions and conflicts about the nature of care itself. The push for profit and patient volume is creating some fascinating tensions in the industry.

Ema

Right. It’s like giving everyone a sports car. It's fast and exciting, but you also have to make sure everyone knows how to drive safely. The potential is huge, but so are the responsibilities. This is definitely a trend with many layers to it.

David

We're seeing a fundamental rewiring of how healthcare is delivered. The traditional model of one-on-one, in-person care is being challenged by these new, technology-driven approaches that prioritize scale and efficiency. This phenomenon is setting the stage for a much broader transformation.

Ema

And it’s creating a divide. Some companies are all in, automating as much as they can, while others are hitting the brakes, worried about losing the human touch. That very conflict is what makes this so interesting to watch. It’s a balancing act on a very high wire.

David

A perfect summary. This explosive growth and the underlying technologies didn't just appear overnight. There's a rich history that has paved the way for this moment, which is essential to understanding where we are now and where we might be heading. Let's delve into that next.

Ema

I’m ready. It's easy to think of AI as this brand-new thing, but it sounds like the seeds were planted a long, long time ago. It’s like an overnight success that was actually decades in the making. Let's dig into that story.

David

Indeed. The story of these startups is really the story of AI itself, a journey that began long before the first line of code was written for any of these companies. The conceptual roots go back to the mid-20th century, a period of bold ideas and theoretical exploration.

Ema

It’s fascinating to think that while people were listening to Elvis Presley, scientists were already dreaming up intelligent machines. The term "artificial intelligence" itself was officially coined in 1956 at the Dartmouth Summer Research Project. It must have sounded like pure science fiction back then!

David

It certainly did. Early applications in healthcare started to emerge in the 1960s and 70s. These weren't the sophisticated systems we see today, but foundational "expert systems." A notable one was MYCIN, developed to diagnose bacterial infections and recommend antibiotics. A truly pioneering effort.

Ema

So, MYCIN was like an early version of a medical chatbot? I imagine it was quite basic. You can think of these early systems as toddlers learning to speak. They had a limited vocabulary and understanding, constrained by clunky hardware and not nearly enough data to learn from.

David

That’s an excellent analogy. They were rule-based, meaning they followed a strict set of "if-then" instructions programmed by humans. They couldn't learn or adapt on their own. Progress was steady but slow. A key moment came in 1973 with the SUMEX-AIM project at Stanford, which fostered collaboration among researchers.

Ema

It’s amazing how collaboration sparks innovation. And then came the 80s and 90s, when things started to pick up. I read about a program from the 80s called DXplain, which took a list of symptoms and provided potential diagnoses. It was like a digital medical encyclopedia for doctors.

David

Correct. DXplain expanded on the capabilities of earlier systems. The 1990s saw further growth in these diagnostic support tools. But the real turning point, the moment that truly set the stage for companies like Hinge Health and Virta, was the revolution in deep learning in the 2000s.

Ema

Right, deep learning! That term gets thrown around a lot. In simple terms, it's a type of machine learning that uses "neural networks" with many layers. It’s inspired by the human brain, allowing the AI to learn from massive amounts of data and recognize complex patterns.

David

Your explanation is spot on. This advance, combined with the digitization of health records and the explosion of computing power, overcame the limitations of the early systems. Suddenly, AI could analyze medical images, understand clinical notes, and make predictions with incredible accuracy. That's when the market began to boom.

Ema

So it was the perfect storm of more data, better algorithms, and faster computers. I remember reading about IBM's Watson in 2007. It was famous for winning on the game show *Jeopardy!*, but its real potential was in analyzing huge datasets, which was perfect for healthcare.

David

Precisely. By the 2010s, Watson was being applied to healthcare challenges, like identifying proteins linked to diseases. This period saw AI integrate more deeply into clinical practice, with predictions of a 40% compound annual growth rate for the AI healthcare market by 2021.

Ema

And that brings us to today, in the 2020s, where AI is transforming everything. We're seeing it in early detection and diagnosis, precision medicine that customizes care for each patient, and even in robotic surgery. It feels like we're living in the future that those 1950s scientists dreamed of.

David

We are. And this historical context is crucial. The startups we're discussing today are not just building on a cool new trend; they are standing on the shoulders of giants, benefiting from over 70 years of research, development, and iterative progress in the field of artificial intelligence.

Ema

It makes you appreciate their innovations even more. They’re taking these powerful, general-purpose AI technologies and cleverly applying them to solve very specific, very pressing problems in healthcare. They’re the ones connecting the deep history of AI to the real-world needs of patients and doctors today.

David

And it also helps explain the different philosophies we're seeing. The aggressive, all-in approach of some startups is a bet on the maturity of this technology. They believe it's finally ready for prime time in direct patient care, a conclusion built on decades of incremental advances.

Ema

While the more cautious companies might be remembering the earlier days of AI, the "AI winters" when progress stalled and promises were broken. They want to be absolutely sure the technology is safe and effective before letting it interact with patients unsupervised. It’s a fascinating legacy.

David

This long journey has led us to a pivotal moment. The technology is powerful, the business incentives are strong, but this has created a fundamental conflict within the healthcare industry. It's a clash of visions about the future of care. Let's explore that tension.

Ema

Yes, this is the really juicy part! On one side, you have the tech evangelists pushing for full automation. On the other, you have the guardians of traditional care who are worried about losing the human element. It's a classic battle of innovation versus tradition.

David

Exactly. The central conflict is this: how far is too far? We have CEOs like Daniel Perez of Hinge Health envisioning a future where care is almost fully automated. His goal is to "peel away aspects of in-person care" and deliver it via technology. It’s a vision of ultimate efficiency.

Ema

But then you have the other camp, represented by people like Sean Duffy, the CEO of Omada Health. He’s much more skeptical. I love his quote: "I've yet to find someone who feels accountable to Chat GPT." It perfectly captures the concern about replacing human connection and responsibility.

David

He also quipped, "there's a reason that artificial intelligence is a buzzword and artificial empathy is not." This highlights the core tension. Can an algorithm truly replicate the empathy and nuanced understanding of a human clinician? Or will something vital be lost in the pursuit of scale?

Ema

That's the million-dollar question. This conflict leads to very different strategies. Some startups are automating clinical tasks, like patient messaging or even parts of therapy. Others are drawing a clear line, keeping AI strictly behind the scenes for administrative work only, like scheduling or billing.

David

NOCD, a startup focusing on obsessive-compulsive disorder, is a prime example of this cautious approach. CEO Stephen Smith emphasizes that they are treading carefully because they deal with a serious mental illness. For them, patient safety and the therapeutic alliance are paramount. It’s not their short-term goal to increase caseloads with AI.

Ema

And that makes total sense. For a condition like severe OCD, the trust and relationship between a patient and therapist are a huge part of the treatment. You wouldn't want an AI to misunderstand a situation and give harmful advice. The stakes are just too high.

David

This introduces a deeper, ethical conflict around bias. AI algorithms are trained on data, and if that data reflects existing societal biases, the AI can perpetuate or even amplify them. A significant 2019 study found that a major healthcare algorithm was systematically discriminating against Black patients.

Ema

That's horrifying! So the AI, which is supposed to be objective, was actually making health disparities worse? It’s like building a system that’s programmed to be unfair. It shows that you can't just unleash this technology without intense scrutiny of the data it's learning from.

David

Precisely. There's also the conflict between different stakeholders within healthcare institutions. One report highlighted this tension with the headline: “Hospital bosses love AI. Doctors and Nurses are worried.” Administrators see the potential for cost savings and efficiency, while frontline clinicians worry about errors and the depersonalization of care.

Ema

It's a classic disconnect. The person managing the budget has a very different perspective from the person holding a patient's hand. And what about patient consent? Do patients really understand how their data is being used to train these AI systems? It feels like a grey area.

David

It's a huge ethical gray area. The principles of beneficence—acting in the patient's best interest—and autonomy—letting patients control their own decisions—are central to medical ethics. The push for AI challenges us to ensure these principles are not compromised for the sake of technological progress or profit.

Ema

So, the conflict is multifaceted. It's about safety, empathy, bias, and control. It’s not just a simple case of "AI is good" or "AI is bad." The reality is much more complex, and these startups are right in the middle of navigating these thorny issues.

David

They are. And their choices will have a profound impact on what healthcare looks like for all of us. This brings us to the tangible effects we are already seeing from the deployment of AI in these startups—effects on finances, on clinicians, and on patients themselves.

Ema

Let's talk about that impact. Because despite the conflicts, this technology is being rolled out and it's already making waves. On the business side, the impact is undeniably huge. As we mentioned, Virta Health went from negative margins to a 60% gross margin. That’s not just a wave, that's a tsunami!

David

That's a powerful financial turnaround. Similarly, NOCD's CEO, Stephen Smith, credited AI with helping the company reach profitability. By automating administrative tasks like clinical note dictation and revenue cycle management, they could keep operating expenses low while still expanding their therapist network. It's a direct, positive impact on the bottom line.

Ema

So for startups that might have otherwise struggled and gone out of business, AI is a lifeline. It’s allowing them to become sustainable, which in turn means they can continue to provide their services and have a long-term impact on patients. It's a win-win in that sense.

David

Beyond individual companies, the broader economic impact is projected to be massive. One study by leading economists estimated that AI could raise healthcare productivity by 5 to 10 percent within five years. That translates to potential savings of $200 to $360 billion in the U.S. alone.

Ema

Wow, those numbers are hard to even wrap your head around! A 5 to 10 percent productivity boost is huge in any industry, but in healthcare, where costs are constantly rising, it could be a game-changer for the entire system, making care more affordable for everyone.

David

There's also a significant impact on the healthcare workforce. The narrative isn't just about replacing jobs. It's about reducing burnout. Generative AI tools have been shown in pilots to cut the time physicians spend on documentation by over 50%. That's a massive quality-of-life improvement.

Ema

That’s huge! I can't imagine any doctor who would complain about having to do less paperwork. This frees them up to do what they were actually trained to do: care for patients. It could help restore the human connection that many feel is being lost in modern medicine.

David

And for patients, the impact is more direct access to care. Through AI-powered chatbots, they can get answers to nutrition questions 24/7. Through computer vision, they can get guided physical therapy at home. It's making healthcare more proactive, personalized, and accessible than ever before.

Ema

So the impact is a triple-win: it's good for the business, it's good for the clinicians, and it's good for the patients. Of course, this is the ideal scenario, and it hinges on getting the implementation right, but the potential positive effects are incredibly compelling.

David

They are. But it's important to remember this is all still relatively new. The long-term impact is yet to be fully understood. This leads us to our final consideration: the future. Where is all of this heading? What can we expect in the coming years?

David

Looking to the future, the trajectory seems clear, even if the timeline is fuzzy. Hinge Health's CEO, Daniel Perez, made a bold prediction that eventually, care delivery will be automated by technology, and he believes that's a good thing. This points to an increasingly tech-driven healthcare landscape.

Ema

It sounds like science fiction, but the pieces are already falling into place. The future likely involves a healthcare system that is much more proactive than reactive. Imagine wearables that monitor your health in real-time and AI that predicts potential issues before you even have symptoms. That's a powerful shift.

David

That will require a significant evolution in the skills of our healthcare workforce. Digital and AI literacy will no longer be optional; they will be core competencies for every doctor, nurse, and clinician. Education will have to adapt to prepare them for this new reality.

Ema

And the technology will keep getting smarter. We'll see more advanced AI integrated directly into clinical practice, serving as a co-pilot for doctors to help with complex diagnoses and treatment plans. This will be supported by robust evidence from clinical trials to ensure it is both safe and effective.

David

However, for this future to be equitable, we must address the challenges of regulation and access. Strong ethical frameworks and laws, like the EU AI Act, will be essential to govern the use of AI, protect patient data, and prevent algorithmic bias. We can't innovate in a vacuum.

Ema

Absolutely. The future of AI in healthcare is incredibly bright, but it's a future we have to build carefully and thoughtfully. It’s not just about what the technology can do, but about how we choose to use it to create a healthier society for everyone. It's a big responsibility.

David

And that brings us to the end of our discussion. We've seen how AI is dramatically reshaping healthcare startups, driving profits and efficiency. It’s a powerful tool, but one that comes with significant ethical and practical challenges that must be navigated with care and precision.

Ema

The journey of AI in healthcare is a perfect example of technology's double-edged nature. It offers incredible promise but demands equal parts of wisdom and caution. That's the end of today's discussion. Thank you for listening to Goose Pod. See you tomorrow.

## AI Revolutionizing Healthcare Startups: Boosting Patient Caseloads and Profitability This report from **Business Insider**, authored by **Rebecca Torrence**, explores how healthcare startups are leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address critical industry challenges like clinician shortages, tight margins, and physician burnout. The article, published on **July 18, 2025**, highlights a significant trend: a growing number of startups are betting on AI to enable them to care for more patients and achieve profitability. ### Key Findings and Trends: * **AI as a Solution to Healthcare Pressures:** Startups are increasingly turning to AI to help clinicians multiply their patient caseloads and improve financial performance without compromising care quality. This is particularly relevant given the existing pressures in the healthcare sector. * **Divergent AI Adoption Strategies:** While some companies are fully embracing AI for automating care delivery, others are adopting a more cautious approach, using AI primarily for behind-the-scenes, non-clinical tasks to mitigate risks to patient safety and experience. * **Impact on Profitability:** For some startups, AI has been instrumental in achieving profitability, allowing them to sustain operations and continue their impact. ### Key Statistics and Financial Data: * **Virta Health:** * **Gross Margin Improvement:** CEO Sami Inkinen stated that Virta Health has used generative AI to boost its gross margins from **0% to 60%**. * **AI Integration:** The company has been using machine learning since **2017** and has integrated AI into various aspects, including patient interactions, personalized care plans, and 24/7 AI-powered chatbots for nutrition questions. * **Financial Journey:** Between **2015 and 2020**, Virta Health experienced negative gross margins as it focused on technology for better outcomes. Generative AI has since helped it achieve a positive gross margin. * **Sword Health:** * **Caseload Expansion Goal:** In **2024**, Sword Health aimed to increase its physical therapists' patient management capacity from an average of **200-300 patients** at the beginning of the year to **700 patients** by the end of the year. * **AI Applications:** AI has been used to pre-write patient messages and help physical therapists prioritize patients needing more attention. * **Hinge Health:** * **Clinician Hour Reduction:** The company claims to have used AI to reduce clinician hours spent on physical therapy by **95%**. * **AI for Home PT:** Hinge Health also utilizes computer vision technology to guide patients through at-home physical therapy sessions. * **Future Automation:** CEO Daniel Perez envisions a future where care delivery is largely automated by technology. * **Summer Health:** * **Patient Capacity Increase:** The virtual pediatric care startup anticipates that AI could **double** the number of patients its providers can see per hour, potentially increasing capacity from approximately **10 patients per hour** to **20 patients per hour**. * **AI for Clinical and Administrative Tasks:** Summer Health is working on automating both clinical and administrative tasks. ### Notable Companies and Their Approaches: * **Hinge Health and Sword Health:** These companies are aggressively using AI in musculoskeletal care to enhance physical therapist efficiency and expand patient reach. * **Virta Health:** While using AI extensively, including in patient-facing tools, Virta Health emphasizes that AI is not making clinical decisions or replacing providers. * **Omada Health:** This chronic care company has been slower to introduce patient-facing AI, preferring to wait for significant LLM improvements and proprietary data training. They prioritize a "proactive people component" and do not intend to replace patient-provider interactions with AI. * **NOCD:** This mental health startup uses AI for administrative tasks like clinical note dictation and revenue cycle management, which has helped them reach profitability. They use an AI chatbot called Robin, but it only assists therapists and does not interact directly with patients. ### Risks and Concerns: * **Patient Safety and Experience:** Some companies remain cautious about AI due to concerns regarding patient safety and the potential impact on the patient experience when clinician tasks are automated. * **Mental Health Considerations:** NOCD, focusing on patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, is proceeding with caution, emphasizing the need for extensive research to ensure AI is effective and creates a safe experience for both patients and therapists. ### Recommendations and Future Outlook: * **AI as a Multiplier:** The overarching sentiment is that AI can serve as a powerful tool to multiply the capabilities of healthcare professionals, allowing them to manage larger patient volumes and improve operational efficiency. * **Long-Term Vision:** The long-term vision for many of these startups involves a continued shift towards technology-driven care delivery. In essence, the report underscores a transformative period in healthcare startups, where AI is being strategically deployed to overcome operational hurdles, expand access to care, and drive financial sustainability, albeit with varying degrees of AI integration and a shared emphasis on maintaining care quality and patient well-being.

Read original at Business Insider →

Virta Health CEO Sami Inkinen said the chronic care company has used generative AI to help boost its gross margins from 0% to 60%.Drew Bird Photography Healthcare startups increasingly want to use AI to care for more patients.Others are keeping the tech at arm's length over concerns about patient safety and experience.

Here's how startups are upping caseloads, boosting margins, and hitting profitability with AI.A growing number of healthcare startups are betting that artificial intelligence can help them do more with less — including, in some cases, to care for more patients.The stakes are high: clinician shortages, tight margins, and mounting physician burnout are putting pressure on healthcare delivery businesses.

Startups say AI could be the breakthrough that helps clinicians multiply their caseloads and earn extra cash without sacrificing care quality."The long-term vision is to continue to peel away aspects of in-person care and deliver the care itself via technology," said CEO Daniel Perez, the cofounder and CEO of newly public physical therapy company Hinge Health, in a May interview with BI.

But while some companies are leaning all the way in to automate more and more care, others are keeping the tech at arm's length, wary of the safety risks or the patient experience of turning clinician tasks over to AI.Instead, they're pushing AI behind the scenes to automate non-clinical tasks only.

For some, that approach is offering a new lease on the startup's life."It's allowing companies that historically would not have gotten to profitability, that may have had to go out of business, to sustain and to be able to keep driving impact long term," said NOCD cofounder and CEO Stephen Smith.More patients, more moneySome of healthcare's biggest AI moves are happening in musculoskeletal care, where companies like Hinge Health and Sword Health are aggressively using the tech to help make their physical therapists more efficient.

Sword Health spent 2024 ramping up its AI applications for clinicians. While its physical therapists were expected to manage between 200 to 300 patients at a given time at the beginning of the year, the company wanted those providers to manage 700 patients at a time on average by the end of 2024, BI reported in November.

Sword declined to comment for this story.Sword's efforts toward that goal included using AI to pre-write messages for clinicians to send along to patients, per BI's reporting. The company also said at the time that its AI helped physical therapists prioritize patients who might need more attention.

Hinge Health has taken a similar approach in implementing AI, including for patient-provider messaging. While Hinge Health declined to share its providers' caseloads for this story, the company says it's used AI to slash 95% of clinician hours spent on physical therapy.Hinge Health also uses computer vision technology to guide patients through PT sessions at home.

Following its May IPO, the company says it's actively working on more applications of AI to further automate care delivery, and has a large research and development team focused on that goal."At some point, whether 10, 50, or 200 years in the future, care delivery will be automated with technology.

And that's a good thing," Hinge Health CEO Daniel Perez told BI in May.Daniel Perez, Co-Founder & CEO of Hinge HealthHinge HealthVirtual pediatric care startup Summer Health is also working to use AI to multiply the number of patients its providers can care for. While founder and CEO Ellen DaSilva doesn't think AI will replace doctors, she said the startup is working on automating some clinical tasks as well as administrative ones.

Whereas a healthcare business with minimal technology implemented might expect providers to see five to seven patients an hour, Summer Health's largely text-messaging-based care model initially allowed its providers to see about 10 patients in an hour, DaSilva said. And with AI, "that number could pretty easily be doubled," she said.

"Our providers still have a lot of room to run."That could be especially good news for specialties like pediatric care where there's a shortage of clinicians. DaSilva said AI can help augment the remaining clinicians to help more patients get care, while hopefully reducing provider burnout along the way.

Balancing operations and outcomesAs some healthcare startups go all in on AI, other companies aren't quite as sold on its potential for improving care.Chronic care company Omada Health, which went public in May, has long used AI behind the scenes, like to suggest educational videos in Omada's content library for clinicians to send to their patients.

But it's been slower to bring AI in front of patients, waiting until the company could point to significant LLM improvements and train the models on its own clinical data.The company released its first patient-facing AI tool earlier in May, an AI agent that answers members' nutrition questions. But Omada Health cofounder and CEO Sean Duffy said the company has no intention of meaningfully replacing patient-provider interactions across its business with AI."

I've yet to find someone who feels accountable to Chat GPT," Duffy told BI in May at Omada's IPO. "I always quip that there's a reason that artificial intelligence is a buzzword and artificial empathy is not. You can expect us to always have a proactive people component."Omada's diabetes care peer, Virta Health, has been using machine learning since 2017, per founder and CEO Sami Inkinen.

Between 2015 and 2020, as Virta was figuring out how to use technology like machine learning to deliver better outcomes, it was turning a negative gross margin. But generative AI has helped the startup get that number in the green; today Virta boasts a roughly 60% gross margin, according to Inkinen.

Virta has injected AI into many parts of its business, including into patient interactions, with AI-powered personalized care plans and chatbots available to help patients answer nutrition questions 24/7. But Inkinen said AI isn't making clinical decisions and won't replace providers in Virta's business.

He added that Virta doesn't have caseload targets for its providers, and said the company is rigidly focused on delivering better patient outcomes and improving its financials along the way.Sami Inkinen, cofounder and CEO of Virta Health.Virta HealthMental health startup NOCD is using AI to tackle a broad range of administrative tasks, including clinical note dictation and revenue cycle management.

CEO Stephen Smith said the tech has helped the company to reach profitability, allowing NOCD to grow its therapist network while keeping operating expenses low.The startup does have a chatbot called Robin that therapists can ask for information during sessions. But that AI doesn't interact directly with patients, nor does it intervene unless the clinician seeks out its help.

Smith said he's treading carefully given the company's focus on patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is typically classified as a serious mental illness. While NOCD may be able to increase its providers' caseloads with AI eventually, it's not a short-term goal for the company, he said."

All these different projects, we know we have to proceed with some caution since we're dealing with a severe group of people," Smith said. "Bringing AI to the clinical delivery of care is going to require a lot of research, largely because we want to make sure it's super, super effective, and that we can create a safe experience for our members and our therapists."

Analysis

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Conflict+

Background+

Impact+

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