(98point6 Image)

Seattle startup 98point6 just raised $43 million to help increase capacity for its virtual healthcare technology amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Patient volume has increased 200% since January, the company said, and 40% of patient visits have been COVID-19 related over the past three months. The fresh cash will help 98point6 increase its physician total by 3X this month.

(98point6 Image)

The 5-year-old startup provides primary care in all 50 states to more than 3 million patients, connecting them in real-time to doctors through an AI-powered chatbot, along with texts and digital images. 98point6 added coronavirus screening questions to their app in late January.

“Virtual care plays an important part in enabling self-quarantine and physical distancing to help flatten the curve and slow the spread of COVID-19,” Brad Younggren, chief medical officer, said in a statement.

98point6 is among a bevy of health-tech startups seeing increased usage during the coronavirus crisis. The FCC this week approved a $200 million program to fund telehealth services and devices.

The power of telemedicine is not so much creating a chatbot that can definitively diagnose the disease — the symptoms are too generic — but as a tool for providing healthcare virtually, allowing people to stay home and reduce the infection’s spread.

Delivering care through digital channels keeps people who are contagious, though not seriously sick, at home and isolated. The approach also allows non-coronavirus patients to get the care they need, including renewed prescriptions or other services outside of a clinic or hospital where they might risk infection.

By using AI to streamline the patient intake and documentation process, 98point6 also aims to lower healthcare costs.

Patients access the 98point6 app through employer-funded plans or they can buy a $20 annual subscription. When they log on, an automated response asks what brought them in. If patients report flu-like symptoms, they are connected with a 98point6 physician.

98point6 recently launched a patient dashboard that shows average wait times from the previous day, among other features.

The company notes that its aim “is not to replace your primary care provider; rather, 98point6 is another way to access high-quality medical care when you need it — a convenient and complementary partner meant to work alongside your existing care network.”

Investors in the $43 million round include Goldman Sachs’ merchant banking division; BlackRock CEO Larry Fink; Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal; former Goldman Sachs CFO David Viniar; and Frazier Healthcare Partners Managing Partner Nader Naini.

Total funding to date in the 5-year-old startup is $129 million. The company has 241 employees and expects to reach 350 people by 2021. It has more than 200 commercial contracts with employers, health plans and retail partners.

“The priority for everyone right now is working together to ensure the health and safety of ourselves, our loved ones and our communities,” CEO and co-founder Robbie Cape said in a statement. “Challenging times like this often bring out the best in all of us, and there is no greater example of that than what we’re seeing from medical professionals and every individual practicing physical distancing to stop the spread. We’re going to get through this, stronger, together.”

Cape sold his previous company, the family scheduling app Cozi, to Time Inc. in 2014 and spent 12 years at Microsoft. He founded the company alongside Gordon Cohen, a professor at Arizona State University.

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