KenSci raises $22m to predict patients’ risk of illness (and save hospitals money)

The days of maverick, cane-wielding doctors riding on a hunch and a whiteboard to make medical decisions may be numbered — at least, if KenSci, an artificial intelligence startup out of Seattle, has anything to say about it.

3-year-old KenSci just raised a $22m Series B to advance its predictive AI platform, which uses aggregate data to forecast patient risk for things like sepsis, heart attacks, and even cancer.

Armed with a hashtag (#deathvsdatascience) and a dream, KenSci seems poised to take the ward by storm. 

It’s a win for patients, but it’s an even bigger win for hospitals

KenSci provides a “risk prediction” dashboard for healthcare practitioners to track cost of care, no-show appointments, and readmission rates — all in the hopes of lowering expenses for providers.

And a little help with resourcing could go a long way: VentureBeat writes that in 2017, US health care costs hit $3.5T (17.9% of the US’ GDP).

It also has potential to help doctors make bigger patient decisions… 

Like when it’s time to throw in the towel 

Research from KenSci shows that patients on average “transitioned to end-of-life care too late: 28% of patients transferred to hospices died or were discharged within a week.”

In other words, KenSci’s system could use data to predict mortality rates and make heretofore personal decisions between a patient and doctor about their end-of-life care more quantitative.