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CoPatient co-founders Rebecca Palm and Katie Vahle.

After a temporary stay in Portland, the folks at CoPatient have returned to Bean Town.

The 3-year-old startup, which helps customers identify overcharges for healthcare services, had spent the past two years in Portland after launching the company across the country in Boston.

Co-founder Rebecca Palm told GeekWire that the decision to return home was based on proximity to investors and healthcare technology talent acquisition.

“Boston has a larger base of institutional investors and healthcare is one of the largest industries in the city, so it was the right decision for us at this point,” she said.

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CoPatient last week month raised $3.6 million in a funding round led by Boston-based .406 Ventures to push total funding near $5 million.

The company helps users automate a large portion of the manual work required to conduct medical bill reviews and provides them with a free report to figure out if they’ve been overcharged for healthcare services. Customers can then opt-in to work with an expert, who will help them identify how exactly they can save money.

The startup, which was in the first class of the Portland Development Commission’s Startup Challenge, makes revenue by taking 35 percent of the savings it produces. Palm notes that more than two-thirds of personal bankruptcies are associated with medical debt, while 43 percent of employees cite medical bills as their biggest financial worry.

“The pressure this is putting on individuals and their employers is enormous, so we felt strongly that technology could be applied to bring together disparate intelligence to combat these alarming trends,” she said.

Palm added that CoPatient has worked with “thousands of consumers” and has saved them an average of $3000 each.

“We’ve reviewed medical bills ranging from $100 all the way up to over $1 million and we identify errors in 80 percent of the cases that consumers submit to us,” she said.

While returning to Boston makes sense financially, Palm said her company enjoyed its time in Portland.

“We will definitely miss the creative talent, as well as the food trucks and gorgeous summers,” she said. “We’d love to keep one foot in Portland if possible, though, as we really like the people and culture.”

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