Healthcare AI Guy Weekly | 4/15

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Highlights if you’ve only got 2 minutes…

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How people are using genAI in 2025

A year ago, AI was mostly about boosting productivity and coding faster. Now, emotional support is taking center stage. According to Harvard Business Review, in 2025, the #1 use case for generative AI is therapy and companionship—helping people process grief, find purpose, or simply feel less alone. Whether it’s late-night conversations, daily check-ins, or judgment-free advice, users are using AI for comfort and connection, especially where mental health resources are scarce. It’s affordable, always available, and increasingly sophisticated. This shift highlights how AI is doing more than reshaping work, it’s becoming a real resource for emotional well-being and self-discovery. (link)

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AI’s biggest impact in healthcare?

The area where AI is expected to have the greatest impact in healthcare is assisting with administrative tasks, according to recent survey from AI company Innovaccer. The report surveyed 105 professionals across 73 U.S. healthcare organizations to assess their perceptions of AI. Here are four key findings from the survey:

• Key areas where AI is expected to have the most impact include administrative tasks (52.4%), electronic health record management (47.6%) and diagnostic accuracy (41.9%).

• About 81.6% of physicians and 78.8% of administrators are eager to adopt artificial intelligence tools, citing workforce shortages, burnout and growing administrative inefficiencies. Many see AI as a way to automate time-consuming tasks and boost efficiency and productivity.

• Nearly 64.8% of surveyed professionals view AI as a critical tool for reducing workloads. Respondents, including executives, clinicians, nurses, administrative staff and strategists, emphasized the technology’s value across all levels of healthcare operations.

• Roughly 37.1% of respondents said AI is key to improving decision-making, particularly in precision medicine, diagnostics and treatment planning, by enabling real-time, data-driven insights.

  (link)

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Dr. Oz is pushing for AI in healthcare

In his first all-staff meeting as CMS Administrator, Dr. Mehmet Oz pushed a bold AI-first vision for healthcare. He suggested AI avatars could replace some frontline care, diagnosing conditions like diabetes for as little as $2/hour—far cheaper than human doctors. Oz claimed patients rate AI care as equal or better than traditional visits, despite research showing skepticism remains. While CMS has previously explored AI for data analysis, Oz hinted at expanding its role in direct patient care. Oz seems to be all in on AI. From cutting costs with avatars to scaling “good ideas” through machine learning, he sees AI as central to the future of CMS, whether the agency is ready for it or not. (link)

Tools & Partnerships 🔧

Latest on business, consumer, and clinical healthcare AI tools and partnerships…

TOOLS

• Colossal announces world’s first de-extinction: Colossal Biosciences, the world’s only de-extinction company, announced the rebirth of the once extinct dire wolf, the world’s first successfully de-extincted animal. (link)

• AI surpasses experts in tuberculosis diagnosis: A new study led by Swiss researchers from Lausanne University Hospital demonstrated that AI can diagnose pulmonary tuberculosis with greater accuracy than human experts, exceeding WHO standards for non-sputum TB tests. Presented at ESCMID Global 2025, the study introduced ULTR-AI, an AI system trained to read lung ultrasound images from smartphone-connected devices. (link)

• Google Cloud goes multi-agent: Google Cloud launched new Vertex AI tools and partnerships with Highmark and Hackensack Meridian, including an Agent2Agent protocol for multi-agent collaboration and an Agent Garden to centralize AI agent discovery across use cases. (link)

• AI-powered wearable detects heart issues with 90% accuracy: University of Missouri researchers developed a starfish-shaped wearable heart monitor that achieves 90% accuracy in detecting heart issues with AI-powered sensors. (link)

• MindGlide outperforms MS diagnostic tools by 60%: UCL researchers introduced MindGlide, an AI system that analyzes MS brain scans in seconds and outperforms existing tools by up to 60% in detecting disease progression. (link)

• MDAudit launches plain-language AI assistant for revenue teams: The revenue intelligence solution, MDAudit, released a new “AI Assist” tool that allows users to submit queries and receive responses in plain language. (link)

• OpenAI debuts pioneers program to build industry-specific AI: OpenAI launched the 'Pioneers Program’, aiming to partner with startups on creating industry-specific model evaluations and AI systems for real-world applications. (link)

PARTNERSHIPS

• ApolloMD + Adonis: ApolloMD is expanding its partnership with Adonis to deploy AI agents for revenue cycle tasks, already achieving 90% issue resolution and saving thousands of manual hours. (link)

• Sharp Healthcare + Abridge: San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare is scaling Abridge’s generative AI platform across its organization to create comprehensive, compliant and billable documentation. (link)

• University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center + Qure.ai: The health system will leverage the AI imaging tool to act as a second read to identify lung cancers earlier and fuel future research. (link)

• United Digestive Partners + healow Genie: The GI provider across the Southeast will be using the AI contact center solution for appointment scheduling, billing queries, and prescription and referral requests. (link)

• GI Partners of Illinois + Athelas: Chicago-based GI Partners of Illinois has announced a partnership with Athelas to implement its AI-powered RCM services. (link)

Deal Desk 💸 

Spotlight on latest capital raises, M&A, and investments…

FUNDING

• Bliss Aesthetics, a Bay Harbor Islands, Fla.-based AI-powered cosmetic enhancement platform, raised $17.5M in funding. Shine Capital led the round and was joined by Synchrony Ventures, Sheva Ventures, Point72 Ventures, and Cerca Partners. (link)

• Rematiq, an AI-native platform for automated product compliance in medtech, raised €5.4M in Seed funding. The round was led by Project A Ventures, with participation from Amino Collective and HelloWorld. (link)

• illumicell AI, a Boston-based AI-powered male fertility diagnostics technology company, raised $2M in pre-seed funding from KOFA Healthcare, Harvard Phoenix Venture Fund, MedTechSyndicates, and others. (link)

• Rondah AI, a NYC-based AI-powered patient engagement software provider for dental service organizations, raised $1.8M in pre-seed funding from 2048 Ventures and Twelve Below. (link)

• Thoughtful.ai, an AI platform for revenue cycle management, raised growth funding from New Mountain Capital. (link)

MERGERS & ACQUISTIONS

• Transcarent + Accolade: Transcarent has completed its merger with Accolade and will integrate its services to streamline care and reduce costs for 20M members across 1,700 employers and health plans. (link)

FUNDRAISING

• AI2 + Google Cloud: announced a $20M joint investment to power and accelerate AI-driven cancer breakthroughs with the Cancer AI Alliance’s research platform. (link)

Other Relevant News 🔍

News, podcasts, blogs, tweets, resources, etc…

• How to balance AI adoption with governance (link)

• Definite guide to healthcare AI resources (link)

• How AI is paying off at 4 health systems (link)

• Scientists have made big progress in thought-to-speech brain tech (link)

• AI 2027 - A new report on how exactly AI could take over (link)

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Visuals of the Week 📸

Funny memes, cool pics, and interesting data from around the web…