Aiming to solve healthcare’s biggest challenges, Northwell Health and its joint-venture partner Aegis Ventures have announced its first company, Ascertain.
With $100 million in seed money, Ascertain will deploy artificial intelligence to develop new healthcare firms that aim to improve quality and access to care and close health equity gaps.
Ascertain’s “sole focus” is to launch “effective solutions that can be rapidly brought to market.” The enterprise is fueled by a combination of clinical, business and technical expertise, driven by Northwell’s data and supported by capital resources.
Ascertain aims to launch multiple companies in 2022, bringing effective innovation to maternal health, chronic disease detection and management and “next-generation AI tools,” according to Northwell.
“Ascertain brings a unique structure, an innovative approach, and a compelling vision to create breakthrough healthcare AI companies that are set up for success,” Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health, said in a statement.
“We are all driven by the idea that everyone deserves access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. Our aim is clear: to find new, cost-efficient ways to create and accelerate companies that deliver real, equitable solutions,” he said.
Northwell Health and Aegis Venture first announced their joint venture in October of 2021.
And Ascertain’s first portfolio of companies was created in partnership with Northwell’s clinicians and administrators. This venture seeks to bring “substantive improvements” in women’s health. For example, it is working with Northwell new Center for Maternal Health to enhance the detection and management of “serious complications for expectant mothers and babies,” according to the healthcare system. Here, Ascertain’s data science team is working with Northwell’s maternal and fetal medicine team to examine tens of thousands of cases of preeclampsia, a hypertensive pregnancy complication that disproportionately affects Black mothers across the nation.
“Existing approaches to the detection of preeclampsia often occur too late in pregnancy, once the condition has begun to manifest. An important enabler for a solution to this challenge is predictive analytics, applying available knowledge of a patient’s history to enable action far earlier with simple, yet life-saving, clinical interventions. We believe the AI solution Ascertain is currently developing will enable this,” Dr. Burt Rochelson, Northwell’s chief of maternal medicine, said in a statement.
“Aegis and Northwell’s multidisciplinary teams are pursuing innovation through a systematic approach that will bring validated solutions to patients more quickly and at a lower cost,” Bill Schoenfeld, Aegis Ventures chairman, said in a statement.
“Our skillsets are extraordinarily complementary and enable us to address healthcare’s most entrenched quality, equity, and cost problems far more powerfully than either organization could alone,” he added.