PayZen raises $232 million for AI-powered healthcare affordability program.
The Series B funding, led by NEA and announced on Tuesday (August 13), came in the form of $32 million in equity and $200 million in credit.
“This latest funding round is the next step in our efforts to remove financial barriers to patient care,” Pazen co-founder and CEO Itzik Cohen said in a news release. “We're honored to have found partners in both investors and health system networks that share the same vision for the future. This highly competitive and oversubscribed funding round provides the foundation for us to further perfect our platform and permanently close the financial gap in healthcare.”
According to the release, PayZen uses technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to simplify the patient payment process for health systems, making it easier for patients to access and pay for care.
The company said it has achieved six times year-over-year growth over the past two years, with 100% customer retention and a 132% net retention rate. PayZen has raised an additional $200 million in fall 2022.
In connection with the financing, Mohammad Mahzoumi, Co-CEO of NEA, will join PayZen's board of directors. Mahzoumi has over 20 years of experience at NEA and has worked with healthcare startups at all stages of their formation.
“Healthcare costs are a major pain point for U.S. patients and healthcare providers,” said Mahzoumi. “We see Paizen's AI-enabled platform as a leader in the space, as evidenced by its explosive growth over the past year and its ability to revolutionize a previously hard-to-serve market.”
The funding for PayZen comes at a time when AI has the potential to “transform the health insurance industry, reducing costs and increasing revenue for payers struggling with economic pressures,” PYMNTS reported last month.
As insurers face increasing utilization rates and costs of care delivery, as well as tighter Medicare Advantage reimbursements, AI and automation technologies are pointing the way to potential solutions that can improve efficiency and profitability.
And AI chatbots that write letters to insurance companies in seconds are reportedly speeding up the fight to get costly claims approved, allowing a growing number of doctors to accomplish in minutes what years of advocacy have failed to do.
“This shift in technology comes as major insurers face class action lawsuits for using their technology to quickly deny large numbers of claims,” PYMNTS wrote. “Experts warn this could lead to an AI-driven 'arms race' in the pre-approval process, pitting bots against each other for insurance coverage.”
Read more: AI, AI in Healthcare, Artificial Intelligence, Funding, Healthcare, Healthcare AI, Healthcare Payments, Health Tech, Investing, News, PayZen, PYMNTS News, Featured News
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