AI meets the transition to care: How a startup seeks to reduce readmissions and costs
Transferring patients from one care environment to another is one of the most risky and dispersible moments in healthcare. Each transition involves multiple handovers between different providers and systems – each of which introduces an opportunity for lost, delayed or misunderstood information.
This week, a Boston-based startup aims to solve the problem, raising millions of dollars in seed capital.
Cascala Health ended a $8.6 million seed financing, with total fundraising reaching $11.23 million. The round is led by Flare Capital Partners and Eniac Ventures, with participation from digital health partners, Omega Healthcare Investors, Tau Ventures and Ziegler Link-age Fund.
The startup was founded a year ago and uses AI to improve the transition to care through easier information flow and employee communication. Its platform flag takes risks in real time and helps nursing teams take action before it becomes an emergency.
Cascala CEO Matt Murphy pointed out that by identifying risks early, the platform could help reduce unnecessary hospital readmissions. He also highlighted that personalized interventions can improve rehabilitation and satisfaction.
“Patients, caregivers, providers and organizations that take risks are all informed of the patient’s status, risks and needs to ensure everyone is consistent in providing the best care,” Murphy said.
He explained that Cascala's technology aggregates patient data from different sources, such as hospital records, laboratory results and clinician care notes, and instantly transforms it into an easy-to-read summary.
He added that the platform provides interpretable, auditable output so clinicians can trust the recommendations. It also emphasizes collaboration with physicians and aims to maintain control by supporting what they see as appropriate care plans.
Overall, the startup attempts to represent responsible care organizations, take risks providers and health plans to identify key pain points in the care transition.
He noted that achieving this will reduce the overall care costs of risk-taking organizations. Preventing readmissions and complications avoids expensive inpatient and emergency care, which is the biggest driver of spending during the transition period of care.
In Murphy's eyes, some of Cascala's major competitors include companies such as Wellsky and Optum, which provide post-acute coordination tools, as well as companies such as Innovaccer and Health Catalyst, which offer a broader platform for population health data. He believes there is a distinction between Cascala and competition from competition because it is built by groups to conduct a transition to care rather than extensive data management.
“It uses clinically responsible, AI-driven reasoning to generate actionable, context-aware insights, not just dashboards,” Murphy said.
He also mentioned that there are also some EHR native tools that can help with better care transitions, but these tools are limited to their own ecosystems.
Cascala currently serves more than 1,000 acute and post-acute facilities that care for 300,000 patients.
Photo: Alvaro Gonzalez, Getty Images
