Sources say Anterior, an AI-powered health insurance approval business, received $20 million in Series A funding with a $95 million post-money value. In the round, Sequoia and Neo joined NEA.

The fundraising round includes many angel investors, including Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI, who joined Microsoft in March to oversee consumer AI.

The firm was founded by Abdel Mahmoud, a former doctor who switched to technology after growing disenchanted with medical administration. The company developed an AI-powered co-pilot saving healthcare workers time gathering insurance-required medical documents as Anterior wants to lower denial rates and expedite care.

Mohamad Makhzoumi, NEA's healthcare managing general partner, sits on Anterior's board. Makhzoumi invested in Tempus, a genetic testing and data analysis business poised to IPO next week with a valuation of up to $6.1 billion, and Xaira, an AI drug discovery startup founded this year with $1 billion in capital.

Insurance Brokers Adopt AI Tools

The use of AI in health insurance is growing as some organizations employ the tech to simplify health insurance shopping.

According to a report from Axios, AI-powered tools are being embraced by brokers and agents as these resources benefit millions who buy private Medicare Advantage plans or seek ACA Marketplace coverage. Due to the difficulties of estimating their healthcare requirements and comparing plans, many Americans continue with the same health plan year after year, missing out on better and cheaper choices.

While people insured by their employers may have a few plans to select from, the average ACA marketplace shopper during enrollment season has around 100 alternatives, varied in cost and provider availability. KFF, a health policy research group, reports that the average Medicare Advantage enrollee now has 43 options, more than doubling.

In recommending the best health plan, AI algorithms use basic information about an insurance consumer and their predicted health requirements.

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National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals CEO Jessica Brooks-Woods said that health insurance agents believe that AI will help them to have a "more personal" connection with clients as it frees up "routine and automated tasks."

In light of this development, the industry trade body is educating personnel on AI and will create an "app store" in early 2024 to offer members these tools.

AI is Transforming Healthcare, Drug Research

Separately, Kimberly Powell, vice president of healthcare at Nvidia, believes that AI is transforming the healthcare industry, Al Jazeera reported.

Powell remarked at Nvidia's AI Summit during Computex in Taipei that while it's still "early days," AI will influence healthcare the most. She believes the technology will improve pharmaceutical research, patient diagnostics, and post-operative therapy.

Drug research and testing, which may take 15 years and cost $2 billion, is already impacted by AI. Powell remarked that artificial intelligence will allow medical professionals "to do more" and become more efficient in this field. 

Moreover, Powell said AI may help researchers learn how the body reacts to novel chemicals, decreasing the 90% failure rate of most clinical studies. The Nvidia official said that generative AI will enable experts to produce "more ideas" and forecast with higher accuracy and "model biology in new and exciting ways."

The third-largest firm by stock value, Nvidia, develops systems, software, and medical equipment to help doctors with digital imaging, diagnostic scans, and robot-assisted surgery. 

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