Columbia, SC – South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) investment affiliate, SC Launch, Inc. has made its second investment into Hank AI. This $200,000 investment will help the artificial intelligence company continue its strong growth track of helping health care providers streamline their medical billing processes.
Hank AI became an SCRA Member Company in 2019 and received a $50,000 Acceleration Grant from SCRA in 2020. Later that year, they became an SC Launch, Inc. Portfolio Company by receiving their first $200,000 investment. They celebrated the second round of funding during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at their new Lexington location.
Recognizing the need to simplify and improve efficiencies in medical billing, Hank AI built a cognitive automation platform that combines traditional machine learning with crowdsourced knowledge to automate repetitive decision-making tasks. This helps medical coders increase their productivity and accuracy by providing an easy-to-use interface for manual keyword searches against a database of medical codes. The platform also allows coders to transform free-text medical records into a list of the most probable codes.
“Health care providers want to spend more time with their patients and less time on arduous administrative tasks, which include medical billing. Led by a renowned anesthesiologist, the Hank AI team figured out a way to create efficiencies, which ultimately result in faster claims processing that benefits the patient and the health care provider,” said Lee MacIlwinen, SCRA Investment Manager.
CEO and founder of Hank AI, Dr. Jack Neil said, “As a physician and part of the hospital executive team, it infuriates me that up to 50% of our workday in health care is spent on paperwork and data entry, not patient care. When was the last time your physician looked you in the eyes? That’s why we created Hank AI to augment and automate data-oriented tasks to reduce cost and allow organizations to better serve their patients. Our focus today is on reducing the cost of medical coding, but our AI technologies have high-impact applications across countless industries and sectors.”
“Hank AI is applying technological solutions to create efficiencies. This is a key factor in the startups we support. They are on their way to reaching their next level of success and helping patients in the process,” said Bob Quinn, SCRA Executive Director
Hank AI’s interface has resulted in up to a 50% cost reduction of the traditional document management process while simultaneously enabling customers to leverage data for better outcomes.
About SC Launch Inc.
Established in 2006, SC Launch, Inc. is the investment affiliate of the South Carolina Research Authority. The independent nonprofit corporation provides loans and investments to selected South Carolina-based companies participating in the SC Launch program.
Media Contact
Adrian Grimes
Director of Marketing and Communications, SCRA
O: (854) 888-2033
C: (843) 277-7295
adrian.grimes@scra.org
